Jess almost overslept the last day of school. She was never late a day in her life, but on her last day, she was five minutes late. She rushed to get ready that morning, throwing her hair up into a ponytail like usual, and slipping her glasses onto her face. She just threw on a pair of leggings and a t-shirt to conquer the day in. She rushed into first period, but quickly got called out for graduation practice. It hadn't exactly hit her yet that her graduation ceremony was tomorrow, and this was her last day ever of high school. The boys, on the other hand, were simply ecstatic.
"Excuse me, Jessica, I believe you were late this morning." Jack spoke in a dumb voice. He skipped up to her with the rest of the guys following.
"Don't ever call me that again." She groaned as she reluctantly returned his hug as they walked down to the football field. Their gymnasium wasn't big enough to fit their amount of people inside for the ceremony.
"Oh, come on. Loosen up. It's the last day of school!" Jack exclaimed, clapping his hands together.
"Hasn't really sunken in yet, but either way it's not my last day of school." She sighed, but rather happily. She was more than thankful she got to attend UM this fall.
"Hey, babe." Alex wrapped his arm around her waist to great her. They had finally caught up to her and Jack, who ran to catch up with her.
"Hey." She leaned into him.
"I'm so excited." He grinned down at her.
"I guess I am too." She shrugged.
"You're the valedictorian, Jess. How could you not be more excited. You get the recognition only you deserve, but everyone else wants." Rian commented.
"It's really not all that fun and exciting." Jess shrugged again.
"Well, we're proud of you." Alex replied and she nodded.
The practice went smoothly. Jess didn't practice her speech that she wrote yet, it was suppose to be a surprise. She got to say whatever she wanted, and they trusted her. Not that she shouldn't be trusted, but she was just glad to have so much freedom. It was reassuring, but scary at the same time. She was already eighteen, she was an adult. She could get a tattoo with no ones permission but hers, which she was planning on doing soon. It was scary, because soon she'd be on her own, in two months.
On graduation day, Jess's mom made her wear her nicest dress under her gown. Which she didn't even hate, so that was nice. Her father flew in for the special occasion, and Vic and Viv came home from college, on summer break. When they were all standing out of the school, waiting to walk down, that was when it sat in for her. This was it. She was graduating, and now she was shaking with anxiousness. She was in the front of the line because she was in the front seat, as she was the valedictorian. She didn't know how to feel. She wasn't scared, nervous, or anything. She just didn't know what to expect. Maybe that did make her scared. She hated change, and that was all that happened to her this year so you'd think she would have grown more accustomed to it. Either way, this was her first real milestone as an adult, and an active member of society she was about to become.
Jess was happy to be going to UM, of course. She fought with all her might to get in, and she succeeded. Now she didn't know what to do with herself. Of course, she was going to work hard to be the best detective, a guilty conscience, but hopefully this makes up for what she did in God's eyes. She would go into criminal justice and save lives, help people. First she would be Private investigator, then work her way up to detective, they were both basically the same thing anyways. She still just didn't know what could come to her now. She had to make her own income which she never got the chance to do before. She would have to start paying her own bills and doing things herself. She was never not a responsible person, she was but only with guidance. She didn't want control over herself, she needed rules. She needed someone to tell her what time and where to go get the exact books she needed for school. Don't get her wrong, she enjoyed having freedom but she needed some guidance to survive.
