Casual Affair

Take Care of Yourself

It's graduation day. It's hard to believe that the past four years of my life is going to come to an end. The place I've called home for my whole life will soon now be the place I live anymore. I will be moving to New York. I received my acceptance letter from Julliard and will be attending in the fall with Clo and Jas. It's exactly what we've been dreaming about since we've known what colleges were. I am in awe and incredibly blessed to have this opportunity.

Our graduation is a little different than many other graduations. Most schools have speeches, we have speeches... and performances. They chose the top performing students in the class to do performances. This is both receiving high marks in their academic classes and their performance classes. We have anything between a short scene from a student's favorite play, or a song that helped them get through high school, or what have you. I have been chosen to perform today. Along with some other students.

Jas was our top female theatre actress. She is performing a theatre piece. The scene being a monologue from Twelfth Night. It is her favorite play, as she is a huge Shakespeare nerd. She believed that this play is what got her into theatre.

"And I, poor monster, fond as much on him;
And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me.
What will become of this? As I am man,
My state is desperate for my master's love;
As I am woman,.now alas the day!.
What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe!
O time! thou must untangle this, not I;
It is too hard a knot for me to untie!" She finished and walked off stage. She was a lot more talented than anyone really gave her credit for. She couldn't really sing, but damn can she act. I can hands down say that she will be a world renowned actress some day. I'm talking Oscars.

Then there was Clo, who was our top female vocalist, in that she was like Asher in that she wanted to be a super star. She wasn't much into acting like Jas and I. Clo had decided to sing "I hope you Dance", which is a song that her mom used to sing to her when she was little. And the go back to her southern roots, considering she was from Texas before she moved here.

"I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance" She began. Her voice flooded the auditorium. Her voice was almost angelic. It was very sweet and I know for a fact that her mom was crying in the stands.

Asher... Asher was obviously our top male vocalist. There was really no competition there. There were a lot of songs that he could've sung. Back when we were dating he always mentioned singing "We are the Champions" because it was like we had won the battle of surviving high school. Then he thought of doing something a little funny like "Gives you Hell". That was my personal favorite, and that's really what I've always wanted him to sing. However, today, I saw him get up on stage, in his silver graduation robe, and pull the mic close to his lips. His eyes scanned the crowd for a moment before landing on mine.

"The song I will be singing is one that should be familiar to everyone sitting in this auditorium. I grew up on 80's music and movies, as curtesy of my rockin' parents. However, this song in particular is very special to me because it's the ending song of my favorite person's favorite movie. Well, one of their favorite movies because they can never choose which one is their favorite because all of them have different special qualities. And that's like each of us. We each have different qualities that make us unique and individual. That's how we're going to make a difference in this world. That's how we're going to be remembered. And that's why the song I decided to perform is "Don't You Forget About Me"." Asher finished his speech before beginning to sing the song. Tears welled up in my eyes as I took in his performance. All I could think about was the dozens of times that I'd force him to watch The Breakfast Club with me when I was too tired to go out or when I was sick or really just on a lazy Sunday morning. I remember him groaning every time I would slip the disk into the DVD player. However, I also remember him whispering lines from the movie he must've had memorized from all the times we watched it. And I remember him humming along to this song whenever the last scene played. It made my heart warm. It made my heart full watching him perform, even if it was for the last time.