Play The Part (Player Next Door Book 3)

92 | My Graduate

I wrote this chapter last week but it was only half as long. I know you prefer longer ones, so I took the time to double it up... enjoy...

Chapter 92: My Graduate

I sat on an uncomfortable plastic chair, sandwiched between two mothers. Unfortunately, one of them was mine.

Almost everyone around me was either a parent or a sibling. A giant mass of us, like cattle on a farm, dressed in our best, watching graduation take place.

A ceremony that felt like an ending as much as it did a new beginning.

Would I ever see 95% of these people again?

No.

My behavior changed as the principal got further into the alphabet. I went from texting Jake and counting flower hats, to paying vivid attention to each graduate who walked across the stage.

We all know A B C, but it's D I'm waiting for.

"Chloe Day."

My heart started beating. I sat up in my chair, peering between the two heads in front of me, trying to catch sight of him before he stepped onto the stage.

The long line of graduates beside the stage blurred into a faceless blob.

"Luke Dawson."

Luke stepped onto the stage, his black robe hanging neatly over his broad shoulders, the red cord around his neck marking him as an athlete.

Phones lifted everywhere, tiny rectangles capturing this moment.

"He's a handsome one, isn't he?" the mother next to me mused.

"Good luck to his mother when this one goes off to college," said a mother a row in front, her voice carrying just enough for us to hear.

Luke walked across the podium, his black gown flowing behind him in his confident stride. He shook the principal's hand before accepting his diploma.

My graduate.

The applause was loud for Luke, as everyone always seems to know of him. But not know him.

With a casual tilt of his head, he shifted the tassel from the right side of his cap to the left. Sunlight caught the edge of his jaw. He walked off the stage in a measured pace, with his usual confidence and with no desire to hang up there an extra moment.

"Chioma Dozie!"

Oma went next and I clapped loudly, watching how elegant she was as she accepted her diploma. I felt so proud of them, but also sad to see them go. After this summer, they would all be spread far away from this town. I wondered how often they would visit.

"Don't ugly cry," my mother elbowed me.

I wiped the tear off my face. I didn't realize I was.

**

~After Graduation~

The graduates took endless photos and shook so many hands. Everyone was congratulating them, hugging them, celebrating them.

I gave my congratulations to my sister who didn't seem too eager to see me. Her attention was focused on group photos with her friends and her boyfriend.

So I left my mother taking yet another picture of her to go find Luke.

He wasn't hard to find.

There was a crowd around his area. A lot of the basketball team players and parents were chatting with each other.