Where We Go

Day 1

Written by flowerstories

For the amazing awkwardfryingpan

It was pointless.

Mrs Miller was trying to keep the class silent, but even her best efforts were to no avail. She'd known it would be a mistake to give them their report cards before the bell rang, but she'd done it anyway. No teacher could ever resist Lillian and Leiko's pleas.

Now the whole class was milling around the room, hugging, crying. It was over. School was over. They were never again going to have school together, or spend breaks in the restrooms together, or copy off each other's homework. Their lives would now be going into completely different directions. And who knew if they'd even be able to keep in touch?

Lillian and Leiko were right among everyone else. They'd always been somewhat outsiders, but today that didn't matter. No-one could have cared less. No, they were with the group today, giving hugs just like the rest. For some reason, the thought of never going to see the classmates they'd never really liked again had them tearing up too.

The bell rang, and everyone began to pack. Mrs Miller, a little teary-eyed herself, knew that this was the quietest her class would be getting ever again, so she made use of the moment to wish them the best for their lives. Everyone shouted something similar back, and all the voices were swelling up to a buzzing noise of respect and some sort of affection.

Then everyone was piling out of the room, bolting for the school's exit, whooping. Lillian and Leiko stayed behind, taking their time to say goodbye to their teacher. Then they followed everyone else out the door.

"Can you believe it?", Leiko said. "School's over. We're actually going to have a life now."

"I know, right? There's so much better stuff coming now."

"We actually made it. We survived school."

"Sometimes I wonder how we actually managed that", Lillian murmured, shuddering. She and Leiko hadn't always had the easiest of times at school. Yes, they had both graduated with (almost) straight A's, but still – times had been hard.

Leiko just smiled and pulled out her phone and headphones. "Music?", she asked.

"Hell yeah", Lillian grinned, grabbing one earplug. "What are we listening to?"

"Let's put it on shuffle and see what we get."

Leiko clicked shuffle, and March To The Sea started playing.

"There's miles of land in front of us", she sang.

"Shhh", Lillian hissed. "There's still people around."

"So?", Leiko said. "We'll never see them again. C'mon, let's sing."

Lillian scoffed. "As we fall in line", she continued.

They both burst into song, drawing eyes to them like magnets. How come, everyone wondered, that the two shy girls who never talked to anyone were suddenly performing a duet in front of the whole school?

But today, the two didn't care. Today, everything was different.

By the time they reached their bus stop, they had almost forgotten they weren't the only people on the planet. Not only were they performing a heartfelt duet, they were also acting out a full-on music video.

Then, as they sat down by the bus stop, Lillian suddenly ripped out her earbud. Leiko did the same; she could tell something important was about to happen.

"We have to do something with our time", she said, an excited look in her eyes. "You know, before university. We're not starting until next year. We have literally no plans at all and a gap year. We need to do something with our lives. Before we're suddenly adults and have responsibilities and stuff. We're only seventeen. If we don't live now, we never will."

"What do you have in mind?", Leiko asked, already liking the idea without knowing what it was about. She always liked her best friend's ideas.

"I don't know yet. Get up every morning and go with our guts. Walk paths we don't know. Go to random towns and stay there for a while. See where every day takes us.

"Hell, I'm so in", Leiko replied. A fire began to burn inside her. She was beyond ready for this.

"One question though", Lillian threw in, tugging at her long black curls. "What do we do first? Where do we go?"

"I don't know", her friend smirked. "You choose."

Lillian's mind was running wild. Then it clicked.

"I know where we're going."

They spent the night at Leiko's house, planning. And by the time they went to sleep – at an ungodly hour – they were convinced they were going to have the time of their lives.

Their instinct were not wrong.