The Last Web Chat

This is something I think about often. I had this experience that I wish never happened; the summer after I graduated high school was supposed to be my last summer of freedom until the Fall when my parents would begin to get on me about getting a job, something they said I should have already had during school, but they understood that after graduating I just wanted to spend time alone with myself and my laptop cooped up in my room, or spend it going out with friends and maybe attending a party if there was any to attend. But that summer I got sidetracked by something, actually someone, and it has really messed me up even to this day, as I'm typing, I can't help but hold back the emotions, the emotional trauma that surfaces even years after the fact. I will try my best to give you this story, and try to include every detail, every thought, every word involved; I hope this works.

June arrived what seemed like minutes after September. It was hard to believe that my school years were over, thirteen years (counting kindergarten) of books, rulers, pencils, assignments, good teachers, horrible teachers, lockers, backpacks, making friends, making enemies, was all at a close. The evening of my graduation I sat with my homeroom in the large and overcrowded oven where I had my gym classes, wearing my cap and gown, sporting my school's colors, red and gold, and if you could have seen what my graduating class looked like from above you'd swear the gymnasium was on fire, it was hot enough to believe we were all on fire. But the ceremony went on, after the principal congratulated us all on our achievements (we apparently scored the highest scores on our benchmark tests in the state) and talked about the bright futures he saw for us all, then before we started lining up, the kid who was voted "Most Likely To Be Famous" in the yearbook got on the microphone and randomly started singing the National Anthem, and when he finished my eardrums busted from the noise of the applause. Me, I just wanted out of that stuffy place already.

They had each row stand one at a time and walk single-file towards the platform where the principal shook hands with the students and then we received our diplomas from the guidance counselor. Each student got a different amount of claps from the crowd, some had their name screamed, and others had simple golf claps. When it was my turn I heard my mom shout "Yeah Michael! That's my boy!", and a few of my friends whistled, it was funny.

Then when everybody got their diplomas and was seated, the principal got back on the microphone and once again congratulated us, and then we all threw our caps up in a big roar, like an achievement. The crowd of parents and relatives all stood and cheered their babies loud and proud, everybody was hugging one another, even the guys from the sports teams were hugging and jumping in circles, screeching "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" Then we were all escorted back to the front of the school, the last time any of us would be using the stairway from the gym.

The stairway was loud with everybody cheering; we felt like we were freed from the bricked cage of the school system. I walked with my good friend Rachelle, arm and arm, almost skipping down each step as everyone around nearly tried to stampede.

When we got to the front of the building everybody started taking their gowns off; the front doors were open and thankfully because the breeze was soothing after sitting in that sauna for such a long time. After I took my gown off Rachelle gave me a huge hug, and I squeezed back as hard as I could. Her long brown hair awkwardly got stuck in my jelled-up hair.

She was emotional about the whole thing. She looked at me and said "God, I can't believe we're real people now!"

I snickered, shuffling my gown over to my right shoulder, and replied, "What the hell does that mean? We've always been 'real people'!" I had to shout, the graduates were all beginning to chant "Goodbye! Goodbye! Goodbye!"

"No! We're adults now! It's just so amazing; I've never felt like an adult until tonight!" She wiped a tear away from her blushed cheek, giving me that weird cry-smile where her lips curled. She was such a sweet girl. I'll never forget how she said that we were "real people", in a way she was right. At that time I hadn't thought about it like that.