ASHLEY

56

Now that everything is out in the open I'm not sure what to do with the new found information. It was all I wanted from the beginning and now that I have it I don't feel a sense of relief in any way, shape or form.

   Kenneth killed someone and his big brother took the blame for it. Andrew was very noble for that

"Say something Bria, anything." I clear my throat as I search for words to say but nothing comes up. Again, there is nothing I can say to that. Kenneth killed someone but as I've said before; Kenneth is no murderer. He made a mistake and sadly it cost him his childhood and his brother fifteen years of his life. The whole thing is one big tragedy on both ends. Kenneth slides off the roof of the car. "Darius and his crew should nearly be done with your house. I'll drop you off."

   "I think I'm going to stay with Stephanie tonight. I'm sure she's been trying to get ahold of me all night anyway."

   "Where's your phone?"

   "I left it at the house. With everything that was going on I didn't think to grab it."

   "Okay. Stephanie's house it is then," he says then gets in the car. Seconds later the engine roars to life. I climb off the roof and slide into the front seat. Kenneth drives off in the direction we came. Just as when we were on our way up here, Kenneth says nothing. He doesn't even look at me though I'm sure he can feel me stating at him.

   He's upset?

   I should be the one angry. It took him so long to just tell me the truth and now that he did I don't know how to take it. I don't know how I'm suppose to feel.

   Kenneth pulls up to Stephanie's place. Before getting out I turn to him and make an attempt to clear the air between us. "I'm not judging you Ken. Its just hard to digest all of this information." He nods but doesn't say anything. "We'll talk later-"

   "No we won't."

   My eyebrows knit together in confusion. "What do you mean?" I ask him.

   "What happened tonight shouldn't have happened. I brought that mess to your party. I ruined your birthday. I'm ruining you. I've been thinking...a lot...we can't be friends. This is it. I don't want to see you again. Don't call me and don't come by my place looking for me either. You got what you wanted from me. You should be satisfied," Kenneth says coldly. His eyes still focused on the street in front of him. His brown hands grip the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turn white.

   My mouth falls open as I stare at his cold expression. "That's not fair. You think you're the only one that can be hurt or feel pain? You act like you're the only one that's been through stuff. The person I thought cared about me obviously didn't because he didn't bother to keep in touch with me after he up and left. Then my parents died on top of that. I lost two of the most important people in my life in the same night. Eventually I lost my sister. She blames me for getting pregnant like I forced her to have some guy's baby. So don't you dare act like I've been using you for information. I was really starting to think you cared."

   "And I regret all of that Bria-"

   "Yeah well it doesn't seem like it. You know what, it's clear where I stand with you. I think it would be best if we end this," I pause searching for the right word, "friendship. You were a shitty friend anyway." And with that I get out the car and make my way to my house. The lights are on which means Angela is home. I haven't talked to her since our big blowout. It hurts me to know that my sister blames me for everything that's happened to her. I only want the best for her and that is all I have ever wanted for her. She just doesn't see it.

   Angela and Aunt Jackie sit together on the couch. From the puffiness and redness of her eyes it's obvious Angela has been crying. Aunt Jackie too. She fills me in on their little talk about her pregnancy and I'm glad to see they aren't attacking each other. Though Aunt Jackie is disappointed she still lets Angela know she going to be there for her. This seems to ease Angela's worries. It seems a long talk served Angela right. If only I could rid myself of my problems so easily.

•••••••••

School rolls around again and it's safe to say I'm a little excited. This is the last week for seniors and it's been all about preparing us for graduation. It's all me and the girls can talk about. I think Kayla is the most worried of all of us. She's going some huge university in Miami while the rest of us have either settled for community college or jobs. Many of my teachers have tried to convince me to follow the same path as Kayla but community college is enough for me. My family needs me too much right now. It wouldn't feel right to go off to some big university and leave them to fend for themselves. I have to take care of them as I've always done.

   Kenneth hasn't contacted me since that night. Safe to say it's better this way. Kenneth was like a disease in my life, spreading his sickness and infecting innocent. He was always bad for me. Maybe deep down I knew it all along and didn't want to admit it. I wanted to make things work between us. We were a good pair and despite his bad qualities there were still many good ones to him. We're better off as nothing.

••••••••••••

   I bawl my hands into fist and squeeze my eyes shut in an attempt to calm the raging butterflies in the pit of my stomach. I brush my curls out of my face for what has to be the millionth time. Today is finally that day. The day I get to graduate from high school and officially start my life as an adult.

Aunt Jackie and Angela, along with some of the girls, are somewhere in the mass of families waiting around of their child's name to be called so they can take pictures and yell out to them. Despite the ceremony taking longer than I would of liked it still has been the best day of my life so far. I deserve to be happy. I haven't been this happy in a long time, not since Kenneth Walker came back into my life and hit "go" on the rollercoaster that became my life. I thought he was the one person I could depend on. I thought I was the one person he trusted and loved more than anything. We have a long and deep history together. I thought that meant something to him. It did to me.

Kenneth hasn't tried to get in contact with me since that night and I have to say these past few weeks without him has been great. Cutting him off was good for me. Just because we were friends does not mean we were good for each other.

My name is called next and I walk across the stage to get my diploma. I stop and face to crowd so my family can take their pictures. For the rest of the ceremony I can't wipe the big goofy grin from my lips.

My family comes and find me when the ceremony's over. We take about a million pictures and I answer about a million questions about what I plan on doing afterwards. I talked with most of my teachers and I finally reached the conclusion that I should go to college. I'm not going to anything too fancy. I'm going to get my education not show off to everyone what school I went to.

This will be a great start for me. I can finally be who I want to be and I don't have to worry about anyone dragging me down. I have my friends and family by my side and they're all I need. I have everything I could have possibly asked for. Sometimes I guess we do get happy endings. I surely got mine.