Cowgirl Up 2 (Sequel) ✔️

Chapter Fifty Six

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I almost groaned.
Almost.
As luck would have it, the school had decided to pair me with Lee for the Graduation Ceremony.
The smirk Noah shot me was huge.
Hayley's eyes were wide and she chewed nervously on her lower lip.
I just rolled my eyes at the both of them.
It's not like Lee was going to try anything with me.
Firstly, there's the fact that I'm now huge with thirty four weeks worth of Riley pregnancy.
Loralai had decided to show me some photos the last time she was in town and my god she had been huge when she'd been pregnant with Tally and then Blayze!
Secondly, I would think it was pretty damn obvious I was a girl who was no longer 'on the market'.
I'd heard enough whisper's about my engagement ring going around school.
But had one person been game enough to actually come up and ask me about it?
No.
They were just content to talk about me behind my back.
"Hi..."
Lee almost looked a little sheepish as he joined me in the slowly forming line of pair's of year twelve students.
"Hey."
I returned, offering him a quick smile.
"It's finally almost over."
Lee murmured.
Yep.
Finally.
Even though a mere few months ago I'd never pictured myself in this situation.
"Is everybody paired up?!"
Mrs. Robinson's irritating voice suddenly rang throughout the gymnasium, making me have to fight the urge to roll my eyes.
No wonder she'd been declared the school's Deputy Principal.
She sure had a set of lungs on her!
"As I'm sure some of you are aware, our number's of students don't quite match up in terms of gender pairings!"
Mrs. Robinson informed us.
Sure enough, as you peered down the line, you could see that some girls were paired together.
I guess this was a case where we had more girls in the graduating class than guys...
Damn it.
Why couldn't they have paired me with Hayley or Noah?
"Don't worry."
Mrs. Robinson explained.
"When this happens we just being in a few past students to fill in the gaps. It's no hassle because they already know the routine from their own graduation."
Wonderful.
Our ceremony wasn't even going to be special.
"Holy shit..."
Lee suddenly whispered.
I glanced at him with raised eyebrows, slightly amused but confused by his almost worried expression.
"I hope your mate isn't one of their recruits..."
Lee whispered.
Blayze be a fill in for our ceremony?
I tried to imagine him among our crowd of teenagers.
For one thing, he would tower over every one of them, standing out like tit's on a hull.
We seemed to have a fairly average height graduation class...
Heath was the tallest, I was pretty sure and I think he had actually snuck to be a little over 6"2 since his arrival in town.
The graduation was deemed a 'formal' evening, meaning girls were expected to dress formally and so were the guys.
I'd already heard talk of gowns and suits.
I've seen Blayze in a suit probably literally twice in my life.
The first, was at the school dance I'd had as a year seven.
He'd been twenty one.
The other time, was Mum and Paul's Wedding.
Not even at Xalan's funeral was he wearing a suit!
So, for the graduation, I highly doubted he would pull on a suit, even if he was asked to help fill in our number's.
I tried to picture him joining in, in a trim suit, but instead all I could conjure up was Blayze in his white hat, fitted dark wash jeans, probably scuff toed boots and hopefully a clean button down shirt.
I snapped out of my thoughts to find myself snickering.
Lee was looking at me like I'd lost the plot!
"I'm p-pretty sure they'd ch-choose people who g-graduated more recently."
I told him, trying to hold in my laughter.
He pulled a grim face but dropped the subject.
Thankfully.
With a start, I realised I'd zoned out on the next instructions, because ahead of me the other students were moving into a circular formation, looking like a double lined circle with the guys on the inside and all having their backs towards each other, while they faced the girls who stood in the outside circle facing them.
Lee and I made our way over to join in.
"Bailey Harley!"
I groaned, but turned around when my name was called.
Mrs. Robinson gestured me over to their small huddle of Teacher's.
With a sigh, I made my way over to find out what they wanted.
What could they possibly want?
I haven't done anything wrong!
Mrs. Robinson glanced quickly over my head towards the chattering students before putting her steely gaze back onto me.
"As much as we prefer every student to be involved in the ceremony..."
Her authoritative voice trailed off as her gaze swooped down to entirely obviously land on my belly.
If she wanted me to feel embarrassed over my pregnancy, then she had a huge revelation coming her way.
So what if only a few months ago I turned eighteen?
So what if I'm just scraping by in finishing year twelve, possibly even actually failing?
What matters here is that I love my Baby with all my heart.
He or she is what's important here, not these People who claim small town communities are a family and they love and support one another.
It's an actual hilarious joke!
The amount of whisper's I've heard about me?
No wonder Blayze forced Heath to come to school as my body guard.
I was just lucky I come from the Harley bloodline.
These towns folk wouldn't say their thoughts to my face, because they knew I had a powerful family behind me who would tear them apart limb from limb.
"My eyes are up here."
I struggled to keep the anger out of my voice as I pointed towards my face.
For about the first time ever, Mrs. Robinson noticeably blushed as she dragged her gaze back up to my face.
"I'll complete what I can!"
I struggled to keep the pissed off tone at bay.
"As I've always done!"
With that, I turned on my heel and walked back to where Lee was waiting.
Unfortunately for me, the entire student body was silent.
Now it was my turn to blush, as I slowed my steps, feeling awkward as hell.
I searched the sea of faces for one of my rock's.
Hayley, Noah or even Heath.
I caught Heath's blue gaze and he was grinning practically from ear to ear!
"Way to go my lover!"
That was Noah, who obnoxiously ripped into the tension filled silence of the gymnasium.
Gasp's and whisper's rose up around the student body.
"They're gay?!"
I heard somebody whisper from not too far away.
Oh my god...
I rolled my eyes.
Now a whole new realm of rumours were about to start...
"Thanks Babe!"
I called back to Noah, who was standing about forty five degrees across the circle to my right, grinning like a mad woman.
I was pretty sure Blayze and Codie would be asking some questions by the end of the day...
I turned to Lee, to find him red faced and doubled over in laughter.
"What?"
I asked, placing my hands on my hips and staring him down.
My intentions were ruined by the smile that stretched my cheeks though.
"You really wanna set the town talking, don't ya!"
Lee gasped for air, using the back of one hand to wipe at his glistening eyes.
I shrugged.
"We all know they're already talkin', so why not make it a little more crazy?"
A little more crazy?
My poor Grandma would likely go into shock when this one travelled to her...