The Beautiful Ones

49- Maybe We're Something More

“Once upon a time, there was a kingdom. Cheesy, I know, because that’s how all fairytale’s start but just hear me out, because this one is different than all of the rest, I promise. Anyway, this kingdom is on a mountain, a very large and very sacred mountain to the people. The castle to the royal family is perched on top of the highest peak of this sacred mountain and the royal family reside there, they’re worshiped by the kingdom’s people. They were perfect, flawless, idols, role models, the king and queen, the princes and princesses, they were all the most perfect of people. God’s proudest creations.

“At least, that’s what everybody assumed. With the magazines and the news broadcasts of their designer clothes, of course they had to be perfect. They were rich, famous, pretty, and they were always smiling such believable smiles so they were obviously happy. They were always laughing so obviously, their lives were perfect.

“However, these beautiful ones had secrets. Nobody could ever tell, but they weren’t perfect, not even by a long shot. The king and queen didn’t care about their family, not even the oldest princess cared. Nobody cared, they were all so careless. The princesses, they dreamed of being wanted and cared for because it’s really all they ever wanted. They searched high and low in the kingdom for somebody to care for them. They searched in all of the kingdom’s bachelors, but they only provided brief satisfaction.

“They were alone but even worse than that, they were lonely. These kids were not alright, they were not perfect, they were nothing like what people believed them to be. They had money and they had looks but they had nothing else except for each other and as much as they wanted to believe it, they were not enough for each other to hold them up singlehandedly, they just couldn’t do it.

“Nobody knew how mentally messed up they truly were, though, because they were so good at covering it up. The secret behind it is that they were actually falling apart. The beauty of it all, however, is that nobody would ever even know.”

Zoey took a deep, shaky breath into the microphone and then looked back out into the sea of gold and black graduation gowns. She easily spotted her blonde best friend sitting there close to the front and sent her a broad smile. Alice grinned back encouragingly and then Zoey got back to her valedictorian speech.

“I wrote that story at the beginning of the year and I can’t believe how much has changed since then. I was so wrong when I thought that we were alone because we really aren’t, we were just blocking out all of the people around us, assuming that they just didn’t care. I think a lot of people have that problem, they just don’t let people in.

“And at this point in our lives, we’ve all grown up with each other here and we’ve spend the past four years together at Crest Valley, but we have to learn to let people in again, because when we go off in our own directions, we won’t be around our friends or the people that we’ve grown up with anymore. That guy you had a crush on freshman year won’t be passing you in the halls anymore and your best friend won’t be there to share your history notes. You’re on your own now, but this isn’t the time to shrivel up and be afraid, it’s about learning to fly and discover who you are. Reach out and find yourself, because every single one of you are something super great and special.”

Zoey turned her gaze to find Danny who was also near the front and actually, really close to Alice with their last names being Bowman and Banks, and the graduates were in alphabetical order. He gave her a small smile and she grinned again, clearing her throat for her last words of the valedictorian speech.

“Graduates of 2013, I congratulate you and I ask you to move your tassel from the left to the right to signify your journey. Let’s go, class of 2013, we did it!”

Everyone flew to their feet, excitedly throwing their caps into the air with loud cheers. Zoey jumped off of the stage to fall into Danny’s strong embrace just as Lance came running from the bleachers to grab Alice in his tight arms. Jason and Rachel were in the middle of the crowd, in the M section, doing the same thing, celebrating their newfound freedom.