It was finally the day of Prom and I didn’t know how to react. A part of me was excited while the other part of was nervous. The whole Brian situation gave people more reasons to whisper and stare at me. Just last year I was a ‘nobody’ and now everyone knew me as ‘that black girl that’s dating that Chinese boy’ or ‘that girl that got away with murder’. How could they think I had something to do with that? The guy responsible for the murder was in prison for life. I just sat there and stared at myself in the mirror as all of those thoughts continued to play in my head. Then I noticed that my father was standing by my bedroom door just looking at how beautiful I looked.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
He walked towards me.
“I wanted to see how beautiful you looked on this special day. I also wanted to talk to you.”
I turned to face him.
“What is it you want to talk about?”
“Everything.” He answered.
Detective Anderson pulled out his wallet with our family picture in it. I was shocked.
“This picture has never left my wallet and every morning before I go to work I just stare at it. I’m so sorry for not being there to watch you grow into a beautiful young lady that you are. I know that’s something you could never forgive, but I just want you to know that I realized that I messed up big time.”
“I just want to know one thing.”
“What’s that?” He asked.
“Why did you leave?”
“Honestly, I couldn’t handle being a family man. It was also because your mother wanted me to quit my job, but it’s not her fault. I was the one who gave up on our family instead of putting up a fight.”
My mom walked into the room.
“So why didn’t you?” She asked him.
“Because by that time we had already broke up and I ended up falling in love with someone else. Once that happened you didn’t want me to have anything to do with Jazlynn or Andrew.” He answered.
“So why didn’t you fight for your right to see us?” I asked.
“Well I’m sure you know by now that when your mom’s mind is made up that’s the end of it.”
I laughed.
“True.” I admitted.
Deep down inside I was still upset with my father. After all, I had been through so much in my life and he wasn’t there to protect me until now.
“I’m still upset about everything, but after almost losing my best friend I realized that you can’t stay mad at people forever. You’re still my father and I love you.”
“I love you too Jazlynn.”
We hugged.
“By the way, I’m not a baby anymore so here’s a new good luck charm.”
I gave my father a senior picture.
After taking a few pictures in my prom dress I heard someone knocking on the door. Once I opened the door I saw Angel looking beautiful in her Aqua colored prom dress.
“Here I am again being dragged to another dance.” She said.
“Sorry but you didn’t have a choice. There was no way you were going to miss out on Prom night. Besides, you look amazing.”
Soon after that Darion showed up looking great. My mom and dad began taking pictures of everyone before we left.
Just as we were about to leave my dad pulled Darion aside to talk to him.
“That’s my daughter you’re taking out to prom.”
“Yes sir I know.”
“I want you guys to be careful out there tonight. I also want to thank you for looking out for Jazlynn. I feel like I can trust you and I also wanted to welcome you to the family, son.”
With that being said my dad and mom gave Darion a hug. I just stood there with a huge smile on my face and quickly took a picture of them with my camera. After that we all got into the Limo and headed to Prom.
The Limo stopped right in front of the entrance and the driver stepped out of the car and opened the door. Angel got out of Limo and then Darion but I just sat there scared to go inside.
“Jazlynn you can do this. We made it through high school just like everyone else here and we deserve to have a good time.” Darion said.
“Yeah, after all you did drag me here and besides, what happened to the Jazlynn who didn’t care about what people thought?” Angel said.
“Yeah.” Darion agreed.
I looked at both of them.
“She’s still here.” I said with a smile on my face.
With that being said, I got out of the Limo and we all made our way into the ‘celebration of surviving high school’, as I like to put it.
Three days later Darion, Angel, and I, along with the rest of our class walked across the stage to receive our high school diploma. That was the day that all three of us said goodbye to our high school life and hello to the real world. After the ceremony I wanted to visit someone that still had a special place in my heart. As I walked to my destination I began to smell the white rose that I had in my hand. I stopped dead in my tracks once I found who I was looking for. There it was, Charles head stone with his whole name, his birthday, and death day. I just stood there for a minute and then began to speak.
“I can’t even lie, I really miss you. I miss seeing your face, I miss hearing your voice, and I even miss your kisses. The other day at prom they had a moment for you. They were showing pictures of you and some of your friends and things like that. Honestly, I couldn’t even look or I knew I would start to cry, and you know how much I hate doing that in front of people.”
“I’m trying not to cry right now, but I feel responsible for you not being here with us. Everything continues to play over and over again in my head. Especially the day you apologized to me about everything.” I continued.
Tears began to fall down my face.
“I knew you meant every word you said and I just want you to know that I forgive you. I also want you to know that I loved you even though I never showed it, but something is telling me that you already knew that, and that’s why you put up a fight to win my heart.”
I put the rose next to Charles head stone.
“You will always be in my heart Charles, I love you.”
I walked away after saying Goodbye and as I did I felt like I was walking into a whole new world.
YOU ARE READING
Lessons on Love (L.O.L.) {Watty Awards 2012}
RomanceIt's crazy how this world seems to work. It's gotten so crazy that you need "permission" to love who it is you want to love. They don't want me to love him. They don't want him to love me. People don't care about our feelings for each other. They ju...
