Childhood Crushes

Chapter Seveteen - Congratulations Graduates!

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Congratulations Graduates!!

The banner made me proud. I'm one of those graduates, I worked my butt off to get here. Wearing my cap and gown, I felt like freaking God. Like there was nothing I couldn't do. Of course, I can't stop a speeding bullet... But God never did that, he flooded places and had people build him big boats... I poured a water bottle over an ant hill this morning, does that count? Hey, I told them the other day I could do it! I gave them a rubber duckie!

"You, Belle, are a crackhead." Hazel tapped my shoulder. I ignored her and just kept staring at the sign. It was in the schools colors; emerald and silver, just like the cap and gowns. Hazel thought I had an obsession for the sign now, and I may fall in love with it at any moment.

"I'm just proud is all. We've come a long way." I said.

She nodded, "I remember when a little country hick showed up at my house, talking about 'Wranglin' Chickens!' or something like that."

I laughed, "Calves! Calves! Get it right, dude." She rolled her eyes at me and said 'same thing'.

"At least you got rid of that accent. People gave us the weirdest looks when we started high school."

"I told you, those looks were for you." I reminded her. "You were the one wearing a huge bow on your head every day for the first few weeks."

"Yeah, and you walked in saying 'Heyyyyy y'alllllllll!'!" We both walked away from the sign, laughing our heads off. We both had bumpy starts, but had a good time in the long run. Hazel fell for every boy she saw, but I kept my distance. For some reason, they never appealed to me. The only date I went on was with some kid in Hazel's class, and that was to kick his ass afterwards for making her trip in the hall.

Yes, we sabotage like that.

My mom and Hazel's parents were waiting for us beside the stage. They were all dressed up real fancy, like us... Well, I was wearing shorts and a tank top under my cap and gown, but no one had to know.

"Are you excited, Belly?" Mom asked. Ugh, I keep telling her to stop calling me that. I'm not a kid anymore!

"Mom!"

"Sorry!" She remembered. "Still, same question."

"Sooo excited. But it doesn't start for another thirty minutes." I growled.

"Yeah, why are we here so freaking early? It's just a piece of paper with my name on it!" Hazel huffed. "Here, give me a pen, I'll sign one now and we'll be done."

I laughed and started fussing with her cap and gown, and she with mine. She really was just trying to mess it up, while I was fixing hers. When she hit my tassel and made it go to the wrong side, my mom flipped. She began screaming 'does anyone know which side the tassel goes on!', making all of our class mates stare at me. Great.

"Mom, chill!" I yelled over her, putting the tassel on the side it was before. Hazel couldn't stop laughing, but my mom glared at her. This was her baby's graduation, and she swore if anyone messed it up, she would personally take them down. I believed her too.

After a minute, she shook her head, remembering something. "Oh, um... honey..." She pulled an envelope out of her purse. "Your father sent this, this morning." She handed it to me and looked down at the ground.