The Caged Bird Must Sing

Chapter 16

"Quit fussing with it, it looks fine!" Nami whispered harshly, playfully swatting away Summer's hand as she once again tried fixing the tassel on her graduation cap. It wouldn't stay exactly where she wanted it to be. The blonde huffed with annoyance, staring into the bathroom mirror with a grimace.

"It just doesn't look right!" She defended, leaning in and fiddling with it. Nami shook her head, pulling on Summer's arm to get her attention.

"Really, it looks alright. Now come on, we have to be in order in ten minutes!" Tugging a little harder just for good measure, the orange-haired accounting major started towards the door, dragging Summer with her. "Don't you want to graduate already?"

"Yes, ok, I'm coming! Just a second." Planting one foot on the tiles with her heel, Summer resisted Nami's pulling and started towards the mirror again. With a roll of her eyes, Nami gave up and left the restroom, disappearing behind the door and leaving the blonde by herself. Alone at last, she leaned on the counter, staring at herself in the mirror.

"This is it." She muttered, eyes inspecting her face and black gown. With little tugs here and there along the edges of the gown, Summer sighed deeply, knowing that it was all just to prolong the inevitable. She was terrified of going out there. Now that the moment was here, everything seemed to be going so fast, too fast.

"Get ahold of yourself, Summer. This is what you've been working towards for years now. Just wait for your turn and take your degree." She instructed into her reflection, a determined frown in place. The steps from here were pretty straightforward.

Everything was fine. All she had to do was wait in line for her name to be called, walk up to the Dean, shake his hand, grab her degree, and walk to her designated seat in front of the stage. Easy peasy. Nothing to it. All she had to watch out for was tripping and falling flat on her face in front of hundreds of people. Great. No pressure.

One reassuring thought was that at last she wasn't the valedictorian, so there was no extra worry of speaking in front of all of them. Thank God for that.

Releasing a pent up breath, she heard giggling students pass by the bathroom door outside. Summer straightened her shoulders, preparing herself for the big day ahead and trying to ignore the hard pounding of her heart in her chest as much as she could. It felt like a hammer chiseling away at her chest, as if working in overdrive.

"Summer, come on!" She heard Nami call a moment later, and smiling a wavering smile for herself, Summer nodded resolutely, turning away to leave the bathroom, her heels clicking with each step.

Hitomi entered the large stadium-style hall, taking in her surroundings with a cool gaze. It was a rounded building, with rows and rows of seats all facing the middle of the room, where a stage was set up. A podium took front and center, with a row of plush chairs behind it for the administrators. Tall plants decorated the sides of the stage, to add a more regal touch, perhaps? Hitomi wasn't sure. Though she admitted it looked rather nice. The atmosphere was alive with the quiet murmur of discussion, as the room slowly filled up with people.

"Where do we sit?" Soma asked from beside her. Glancing down at her brother, who was clad in his Sunday best, the silver-haired woman shrugged, looking down at the tickets in her hands.

"Well, we're in Section 2-B already. Our seats are in Row H, chair 18 through 21." She directed, looking down at the small metal plates indicating the rows of seats. Behind her, she heard Makino laugh at something Uncle Shanks said, and she turned back to them. "We're further down here."

"We're coming!" He replied with a wide smile, causing some of the people nearby to look his way at the noise. Of course, the they were both dressed in similarly fancy attire. Though, wearing a brightly colored sundress, Makino looked much more the part than her husband did, who's attire consisted of jeans and one of the only unwrinkled shirts from his closet.