Under His Roof

chapter thirty-three

"Melitta Angelis."

Kimberly cheered loudly as her best friend took the stage, sashaying her way down and accepting her diploma from Principal Harding. Melitta held up her diploma with a smile, and then she waved out to the crowd before blowing a few kisses and walking off of the stage.

She was done.

Melitta had officially finished high school, and as Ryan Arturo took the stage, Kimberly frowned. She shifted in her seat as she realized just how many more people were in between her and her diploma. That was always the worst part about having a name that started with the letter 'V', she was always last in everything. Melitta was always the first for everything and Kimberly always the last.

That was how it was in life, and that was how it was in their friendship.

A cute guy would hit on Melitta first and then realize that she's not interested before settling for talking to Kimberly, the less-hot friend. And Kimberly hadn't ever really minded until right then. Until she saw her best friend walk off of that stage with a smile on her lips and her future in her hands. Not until she watched that scene and then saw where she was, seated way in the back with her future sitting all the way up there on the stage.

Melitta sat back down in her seat and Kimberly became increasingly aware of her surroundings. Aware of Matthew Vincent, the heavyset guy sitting next to her that she hadn't talked to once in her entire high school career. She was aware of Ricky Turner, the skinny boy to the other side of her, biting into his nails as though they were potato chips. They had talked a number times, even had a few classes together, but she didn't really know him.

Come to think of it, as she looked around at the group she was about to graduate with, she realized that she didn't really know anyone. Save for her two best friends; Melitta and Owen, she didn't know these people. She didn't know what their motivations were, what they wanted to do with their lives, where their happy places were or who their first love was. She had gone through four years doing only the bare minimum, and now that she was about to leave, it was all hitting her at once.

She didn't know these people and she really wanted to. She really wanted to get to know some of the characters in her grade, but it was now too late. They were leaving, and she most likely wouldn't see a majority of them ever again. That would be that.

"Constance Isabella Rodriguez-Tullman."

Bella walked up to the stage and Kimberly stood up from her seat, taking deep breaths and keeping her eyes in front of her as she walked towards the end of the stage. Bella accepted her diploma and exited the stage as Ricky began to ascend it.

"Richard Joey Turner."

She was next.

Kimberly was next.

Taking the deepest of breaths, she allowed herself to scan the crowd.

She was looking for her parents. She wanted to see their smiling faces, and hopefully find comfort in them, but as she looked over through the mass of faces, she couldn't find them. She knew they were there, she had talked to them right before the ceremony, but as she stood there, about to graduate and unable to find their faces, a wave of worry washed over her.

She wanted to see her mother's smile as she mouthed 'You can do it baby!', and her father's thumbs up as she took her first step up on the stage. Instead she was met with blank stares, the eyes of people full of anticipation that wasn't for her.

"Kimberly Louise VanStromme."

The crowd erupted into cheers, just as they did for every other name, and Kimberly swallowed the lump in her throat as she stepped onto the stage and walked down towards a smiling Principal Harding. She shook his hand, accepted her diploma and then held it up, looking back over at the crowd with a smile.