Epilouge

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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"Mackenzie Ziegler." The principal called from the stage. She smiled lightly, letting out a breath she hadn't even realized she was holding.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Kenzie straightened out her gown as she stood up. The red material was extremely ugly in her opinion, but she had a pretty dress under it, for pictures and such.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀The girl walked up to stage with her head up proud. She did it, she was graduating high school, despite how hard the past year and a half had been away from her boyfriend, she did it.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Kenzie felt so much relief to finally be done high-school as she stepped on the first step that lead the stage. She'd finally get to go to college, with Johnny, and it would be great.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀As soon as she made it up, the girl headed  right towards the principal who was standing at the wooden podium. This was it, finally. She was flying out to LA the next day to go to school, and spend the summer there, she couldn't wait.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀As soon as Kenz made it over to the principal, he smiled at her in a proud way. He stretched out his arm, and she shook his hand.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀He handed her diploma with his other hand, and it felt like a weight was lifted off her chest. She grasped the paper in between her hand triumphantly.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Kenz turned towards the crowd like your supposed to so people can take pictures, to post on all socials medias.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Her eyes ran over the crowd swiftly until they landed on Maddie who was standing in the middle of the crowd taking a picture of her. Next to her was Jack who smiled and gave Kenzie a thumbs up.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Over the pst year or so, Kenz had gotten close to Jack, which was very good considering him and Maddie got engaged recently. That meant in a few months he'd be her brother in law.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀After looking at both Jack and Maddie, her eyes slipped back to the person next to them, and as soon as her eyes met theirs her jaw dropped. It was Johnny.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀He smiled widely at Kenzie, and she returned it as she began to walk off the stage, so the next person could come up. She wasn't supposed to see him until the next day, bit that she was complaining.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"I present to you, Lakewood HighSchool's graduating class of 2022!" Principal Deitz said over the microphone. Suddenly everyone was cheering, and ripping off their caps. Kenz took hers off and threw up in the air happily.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Without even thinking, or saying something to the few friends she'd made over the year, the girl turned around. She started pushing through the tight knit crowd determined.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀She kept having to push people out of her way, and squirm around until she finally started to near her sister and the rest of them.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀After another minute or so of walking, Kenzie's eyes locked with none other than her boyfriend. Her smile grew so much wider, as she began to run towards him.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Johnny outstretched his arms, as Kenzie practically tackled him in a hug. It'd been months since they saw each other in person, so finally being near him was wonderful.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀His arms held her waist tightly, as she buried her head into his shoulder like she always did. It was like when they hugged they fit together like puzzle pieces.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"What are you doing here?" Kenzie lifting her head a bit, her smile never faltering once. Johnny squeezed her tighter.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"To see you graduate obviously." He answered as they began to pull away from their hug, but before they did Kenzie pecked Johnny's lips.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀They both smiled with a small laugh as her arms fell down to her side. Kenz looked over to see her sister and Jack.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀She quickly gave Mads a hug, as well as Jack to say thank you for...well everything. In a way they had both taken care of her the past year and half, she was so thankful.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"Thank you guys." Kenzie said to Maddie and Jack who just smiled and nodded, because they knew what she meant as well. She turned her attention back to Johnny shortly after.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"I still can't believe your here." Kenzie sighed intertwining her hand with Johnny's.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"Me either, but I'm really happy I am." He said with a smile as he squeezed her hand reassuringly.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Kenzie sat across from Johnny in an extremely fancy restaurant. It was her last night in New York and although she'd like to spend it with Maddie, she hadn't seen her boyfriend in months.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Its wasn't like she was never going to see Maddie again, she'd fly back here for Thanksgiving, Christmas, spring break and summer of course.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"So, how's Lauren?" Kenzie asked as she took a sip of her soda.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"She's...well Lauren. She's going to be a junior already, and she has a boyfriend now." Johnny explained not to happy about the boyfriend part. She knew he was protective of her.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"We talk everyday, how is this the first time I'm hearing about her boyfriend?" Mackenzie asked with a small chuckle.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"Cause, they just started going out. I don't like him." Johnny said seeming a bit grumpy.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"Oh gosh I'm sure he's so horrible." Kenzie answered trying to hold back a giggle, but her comment made a small smirk appear on Johnny's face.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"Shut up. I'm sure if you had an older brother he wouldn't like me." Johnny said rolling his eyes playfully, and Kenzie laughed.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"You know I do have an older brother right? Two actually." She said easing her eyebrows. She never talked about Tyler and Ryan much because they were a lot older than her, and only her half siblings. She knew for a fact she'd never told Johnny about them.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"What? No you don't." He laughed but he seemed a bit nervous.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"I do, there my dad's kids he had them with his other ex-wife. I haven't seen them in years though, plus Tyler and Ryan are both in their thirties it's not like I ever lived with them."
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"I can't believe you never told me about them." Johnny asked pretending to be hurt but after a second or so they both broke out laughing.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"Anyway, what's Lauren's boyfriend's name?" Kenzie asked re-visiting the subject, but Johnny just sighed in disgust.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"Thomas." He answered simply.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"Well, I'm sure he's a great boyfriend. Lauren's a smart girl she wouldn't go out with someone who wasn't amazing." Kenzie said grabbing Johnny's hand from across the table reassuringly. He smiled back at her.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"I love you." He whispered as he rubbed her hand with his thumb softly.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"I love you too." Mackenzie said, and in all honestly she couldn't believe how far she'd come, how far they'd come. She went from his girl who was so broken, to this completely different, happy girl. As for them together, they made each other stronger, and although they may have been different it was a nice balance. Kenz couldn't believe how great her life had become, and she never realized she could be so in love as she was now.

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