Finding Drew

The Start of Something New

 "Brook, can we talk to you a minute?" Austin asked. I turned away from Emma and Lauren and raised my eyebrows as Matt, Drew, and Blake appeared behind him. Emma sighed. "No, you cannot. We have to be in line in like, 5 minutes!" she cried. Austin rolled his eyes and grabbed my arm. "Please." he said quietly. I bit my lip and nodded. Emma groaned. "We'll be back before the ceremony starts, I promise." I said to her as I followed the guys. We stopped in an empty room, and I looked at each of them. "What's up?" I asked. Blake scratched his head as Drew pulled a box out of his pocket and handed it to me. I sighed. "I thought we agreed no gifts," I groaned. Blake smirked. "I told you she'd be stubborn about it." he said. The guys laughed and I turned red before opening it. My eyes widened when I saw it was a charm bracelet. "Thank you-." Matt cut me off by shaking his head. "We have something else," he said. I watched as the four of them reached into their pockets. When they opened their hands, I saw that each of them were holding two charms. I swallowed back tears as I looked more carefully at each one. Each one had a charm with the first letter of their names. I went around and hugged each of them as they put them on the bracelet. When I got to Drew, he hugged me extra tightly. "The next charm is something that we want you to remember us by," Austin explained. I nodded and stepped in front of him. His was a heart and said "jump, I'll always catch you." I grinned and hugged him, kissing his cheek lightly. As I got to Blake, he grinned at me. His was a football that said "first catch." I laughed quietly and shook my head at him, he winked at me and I wiggled my eyebrows in return. I sucked in a breath as I got to Matt. He took a deep breath. It was two pinky fingers hooked together. My heart broke as I looked up at him, knowing that this was hard for him, seeing me with other guys, and I sighed. He shook his head. "Not now," he said quietly. I smiled and touched his face lightly. "I promise I won't hurt you again." he said. I nodded and reached my hand out. He chuckled and we hooked pinkies. Finally, I got to Drew. He had two in his hand and he looked into my eyes. I smiled as I looked at the first one. It was a square one, but I looked more carefully when I saw there were words engraved. It read: "for you, I'll risk it all." I forced myself to hold back tears as I let him put it on the bracelet. Before handing me the other one, he cupped my face. "This is from Tyler." he said gently. I nodded and sucked in a sharp breath. It said "always and forever, to infinity and beyond, and to the moon and back." I brushed my tears away and swallowed hard. "I love you guys, so much." I whispered, my voice breaking. Before either of them could say anything, the door opened. Emma hurried in and grabbed my arm. "Sorry boys, but we're going to get in line like the rest of our class is already doing!" she hissed. I smiled as the boys smirked at her before following us out of the room. Lauren turned around in her spot in the line. "What was that all about?" she asked. I shook my head and found my spot. "I was just saying goodbye."

Half an hour later, I made my way towards the podium. I said a quick prayer as I turned to face the audience. I took a deep breath before speaking.

"For those of you who don't know me, I'm Lauren Peters, and I am honored to be up here speaking today." I paused and looked around the audience, meeting my mom's eyes. I smiled before continuing. "I think I speak for the entire class when I say that for us, you have to go back to the beginning to understand the ending. So that's what I'm going to do." I paused and cleared my throat. "Freshman year, everything was just another 'one day.' One day it will be our last Friday night football game and our last prom. One day we'll finish our last game with our teams and we'll be eating our last lunches in the cafeteria. One day we'll be having our last wild Saturday night parties with the people we've made a million memories with. One day we'll be closing our locker doors and never looking back again." Someone in the crowd yelled ''amen" and I smiled. "It went by fast, just like our parents always said it would. And we can't go back. No matter how much some of us might wish we could, we can't. This is it. High school has been a weird and crazy trip, one that I couldn't have gotten through without my friends and family." I turned and smiled at each of my best friends. "I spent my last few days of school walking around the hallways. Trying to memorize everything. The gym, the classrooms and my friends desks. The memories of the years that had gone by too quickly, and that's when it hit me. There I was, leaving for the very last time. No coming back for homeroom on Monday, no more complaining about homework assignments over the weekends. No more laughing with my friends over a stupid prank, or decorating each others lockers for our birthdays." I stopped once more and turned to face my classmates. "We started together, and we're leaving together. I guess that really does mean we're a family after all."

The End!