Soulmate

Chapter 24: GRACEful

   Thank you again to everyone reading and voting for my story! I appreciate all of you so much! But please bear with me, my phone keeps messing up the format of the chapters and my laptop is broken, but I promise I'll fix it soon!

***

Grace

    I was staring at myself in the mirror in the girls' restroom. This will be the last time that I will come in here, or at least I hope it is. At the same time, it made me a little sad to think this was it, these were my last moments, and I was wasting them in the bathroom. I smiled a little at the thought, so I checked my teeth and made sure my makeup looked presentable. Becca had been in here with me, but she ran out to talk to her soulmate. Whatever.

    Slowly, I walked out, teetering in my heels, but I tried to be as graceful as I possibly could. It may be in my name, but I'm far from it. There were people heading into the gym, so I hurried to the lunchroom where all of the graduates were standing around. I burst through the doors and a few people turned. Beverly Clancy even ran up to hug me, chattering about how excited she was to finally be graduating. I smiled and giggled with her because I didn't have Becca to talk to. I had been trying to be friendlier mostly because I will never have to talk to these people after this, plus it was nice to have people to talk to instead of being all alone.

    A short, thin, dark haired woman hurried in, her hair was starting to fall out of her bun as she clapped her hands together, trying to gain our attention. We were too talkative to listen to her, but finally she got us quieted down. "Okay! Everyone! Everyone! Listen! It's almost time! Line up with your partners!" Mrs. Lejardi exclaimed with a big smile on her face. She was the secretary and was always grumpy, but today she was happy, probably because she was finally getting rid of us.

    Everyone was pushing to get to their partner, yelling back and forth. I didn't even worry about finding mine, I knew we were in front of Becca and Tyson, so I just had to find them. Normally, we line up boys with boys and girls with girls unless you've found your soulmate. Most of us are still following that tradition, except for Chase and I. I'm pretty sure he told the school that we are supposed to be soulmates, so he should get to walk with me.

    He came up to stand beside me and held out his arm, so I could link mine through his like we've practiced. "Are you ready, Gracie? This is it," he asked with a small smile on his face. He's been a lot more nervous this week, maybe it's because of college, or maybe everything is hitting him at once. We're seniors, high school is over, but maybe he wasn't ready. After all, he has been the big fish in a small pond. Soon he'll be going to a college where he might just be average.

    I smiled at him, feeling my white graduation gown pull up slightly, so the skin on my arm brushed his. "Oh yeah, I've been ready since freshman year," I joked, feeling at ease. There wasn't any explanation for the way that I was feeling this last week of school, but I was feeling more bubbly, happy even.

    Chase had definitely picked up on it and I could tell he didn't quite know how to take it. I wasn't the same pessimistic girl that he had come to know and love, but I think maybe he enjoyed being around this me more. Heck, I enjoyed acting this way more. He let out a light laugh, glanced at me, and then looked straight ahead. "Yeah, I know what you mean," he murmured. I could feel his arm shake.

    Before we knew it, it was time for us to start our walk. We were graduating and all I could do was smile even though I knew that I looked ridiculous. The whole graduation process of walking to our seats, listening to speeches, all of it went by in a whirlwind of giggling and coming close to tears. A few students spoke, one of which was Chase who almost made me cry. He talked about Becca and I, reliving old memories of how no one can make it through school without their friends; he said he couldn't have made it without us. Then, he went on to talk about the future, leaving us with powerful, inspiring, yet cheesy, words. Typical high school.