Royal and Rebel Complications

Graduation Part 4

Daring's POV

It was less than two hours before we all walked across the stage as students one last time. The guy's and I had all been chatting and getting ready. I put on a smile as usual, but deep down my mind was on my parents and what they had told me earlier this morning. How could I possibly remain with Cerise, but live up to my parents hexpextations at the same time?

I was straighting my tie in the mirror on the wall and making sure that every single gorgeous blonde hair on my head was perfectly in place. "Hey Daring." said Hopper. "What is it?" I said trying to concentrate on my almost 110% perfect hair. "Take a break from the mirror and answer your phone." said Hopper handing me my MirrorPhone. I had about seven messages, some from Darling and Mom, but mostly from Dad. "Don't forget to smile so that I can take good pictures" said one of Mom's texts. "Make everyone remember who Daring Charming is." said a message from Dad and finally a message from Darling said "Mom and Dad are like super eager to hear you're speech so good luck with that" and she also put a smiley face. I tossed my phone back at Hopper, and of course it landed perfectly in his hands. "Hey, you guys need to hurry" said Dexter. "Its almost time and none of you have your gowns on." he continued. "Oh curses! Your right! I have to go meet Ashlynn." said Hunter practically busting through the door. "He can be such a mess sometimes" said Sparrow tipping his fedora back. "Hey, Daring shouldn't you be getting ready for your speech?" Hopper asked. "Shouldn't you be wooing Cupid right about now?" I said dodging his question. "How did you kno--" Hopper started. "Everyone knows!" said me, Dexter and Sparrow cutting him off. "Speaking of wooing, I gotta go give Poppy a lil graduation present. C'mon Hopper. I'll teach you how to get Cupid on the way." Sparrow said. Hopper shamefully followed Sparrow out of the door. "I better go find our family before someone steals our seats." said Dexter heading to the door. I sat in a chair and slouched a little. "Aren't you coming?" asked Dexter. "Dexter when you got hexpelled did you feel like you failed dad?" I asked randomly. "Not just dad. I felt like I failed Mom, Headmaster Grimm, and mostly you." he said. "Me!? How could you have possibly failed me?" I asked surprised. "When I got kicked off of the bookball team I felt hextremely bad. Because I know how badly you wanted to win knowing that Dad was there." Dexter explained. "But we did win" I said. "Thanks to Cerise" he stated. "Yeah..." I said remembering that awesome day. "Anyway, why are asking?" said Dexter. "Mom and Dad hexpect me to marry Apple, become the perfect King, and so much more. But honestly I don't know if I'm ready for that responsibility...I don't want to be with Apple. I love Cerise...a lot..." I said worrying. "Well its not like you have do it all by tomorrow. You have choices, if anything, you should at least speak your mind and hope that Mom and Dad will understand. I think they're still getting used to me being with Raven, but its a start" Dexter said. "I'm just worried that Dad will be disappointed. All of my life he's had this vision that I'll be the son every father wants and the king that every kingdom should have. I know I've always acted like it's no big deal, but to be honest it's the scariest responsibility ever after. I don't want to fail this family" I said feeling a little nervous. "We're all scared of something. No matter what our stories say. We just have to be brave...we all do." Dexter said wisely. "How is it that you're not graduating today? You deserve to be on that stage, giving a speech, and making our family proud." I said. "Well, I'm not hexactly the hero today. So all of that's up to you. Now come on. Everyone's waiting." said Dexter opening the door. I followed him and turned around as I closed the door. I took a quick glance at the dorm. Remembering everything that's happened this year. Now I'm about to leave this school and begin a new chapter. I closed the door and followed Dexter. As we walked down the halls, I realized that after this day, Prince Daring will be no more. I would from now on work hextra hard to become King Daring.

Cerise's POV

"I can't believe we actually made it this far" said Ashlyn stepping into her glass espadrilles. "I know right? Everything we've prepared for...its finally here." said Briar. I stayed quiet and listened to my friends continue to talk about today. I was feeling a little anxious so I tugged on my hood for comfort. "You know something? Since it's probably our last day together we should confess something that we've never told anyone." said Apple. My heart fluttered and the first thing I thought of was my ears. I would show everyone and explain things, but it's so sudden and unexpected. "I'll go first!" said Briar standing up. "I used to have a pretty big crush on Daring in ninth grade. Which is weird to think about because now he's just another guy friend." said Briar sitting back down. "Well that's not surprising at all. Every girl has liked Daring at some point. Isn't that right Cerise?" said Apple looking at me. I let out a soft giggle and tugged on my hood again. "Me next!" said Ashlynn. "Before I met Hunter I always thought that my prince would be Centaur." said Ashlynn giggling. "When I was little I used to think I had ice powers since mom's name is Snow" said Apple. They all looked at me waiting for my confession. I was about to say something, but then Hunter walked in with a pink tulip. "Hey everyone. Ashlyn we have to hurry or we'll be late" he said. Ashlynn got up and took the tulip from Hunter's hand then kissed the tip of his nose. They walked out the door laughing. "We should get going too. I can already hear Grimm scolding us" said Briar.

I didn't see the point in rushing everything. The girls were way ahead of me by the time I left the dorm. I just wanted to enjoy walking around campus before leaving. I never thought things would end up this way. I never saw myself with Daring or with anyone for that matter. I never saw myself becoming friends with royals. I mostly counted on being the loner I've always been. While I walked I could see the enchanted forest. I never noticed how visible my tree was. Of course its not the tallest tree there, but it's visible from a distance. Some of the other seniors walked by me. They all looked so happy and prepared for this day. They looked as if their lives had just begun and that their stories had nothing to do with it. Personally I was just glad to be finished with school. I had finally reached the stage where everyone else was. I could see Daring and Apple getting ready for their speeches. Raven and Maddie were smiling and laughing. I looked in the audience and could see my parents. My mom and Grandmother were sitting together, and I could see Dad sitting with the other staff members. "Are you guys ready to finally leave this school!" Sparrow shouted. "What about the actual graduation party! Its gonna be a real page ripper" Briar yelled. Everyone was so happy, I'd never seen anyone smile so brightly. Raven had appeared behind me. "Hey" she calmly said. I was hexpecting a "can you believe we're graduating?!" or maybe even an innocent "are you nervous?",but instead it was just a simple calm yet timid "Hey". "Hi. You ready to do this?" I asked hoping she'd be a little more enthusiastic. "Are you okay with where our last year ended up?" Raven asked. She had a serious glare in her eyes. What do you mean?" I asked. "Changing the rules, dating people in the Royal class. This year has got to be the most interestingly odd year. Not just for me, but for all of us at Ever After High." she said. I thought about what she said. It put me into deep thought. It has been an odd year. I didn't hexpect anything at all to be the way it is now. I looked over in the audience. I could see Dexter looking around and eventually he looked at Raven in awe. I've noticed how he looks at her, even before they dated. Its as if he couldn't be happier. I looked at Raven who was looking down at her feet. "Look." I said pointing to Dexter. She followed my finger and her face flushed with red and her eyes lit up. She too returned the feelings for Dexter. "A lot of people here look up to students like you and Dexter. I know that Daring and Apple have always been on the tallest pedestal, but if there was an even taller one. I'd place you and Dex right at the top. And yeah I am happy with how this year ended, you should be too." I said resting my hand on her shoulder. Headmaster Grimm walked onto stage. The audience fell silent and the students started to take their seats. "You're right. Now let's go graduate!" said Raven pulling my hand. We sat in our seats and Headmaster Grimm began his opening speech. My heart started to flutter and a smile curved on my face. "Its time. Its finally time." I said finally feeling excited about today.