We Come Alive 5

A Final Farewell

On a quiet Saturday evening, Grand Ridge high school became host to their graduation ceremony again. The bleachers in the gym were filled with the family and friends of the newest class of graduates.

In a back hallway, Jose, Ethan, Clover, Diego, and Jacob stood waiting for the ceremony to begin. They were all in their blue caps and gowns with gold cords hanging from their caps. They had just finished taking what felt like a million pictures over the entire day. Now, it was the calm before the storm.

"So, now what?" Ethan asked, leaning against the wall. He messed with the buttons of his button-up shirt then glanced at his friends. "Do we like...hug or something? I feel like this is the part of the movie where the audience is in tears and hoping we all don't die on the way home."

Diego snickered. "Whatever. You're dumb. Are you sure you're sober?"

Ethan let out a deep breath. "Painfully sure. I could use a hit."

"Please don't," Jose begged. "But we got plenty of time to spend time together after everything is said and done tonight. We...we're still best friends."

Clover shook her head and walked away. "I'm wearing makeup. I can't cry right now." She sniffled.

"Aw!" Jacob yelled out, running after her and scooping her up in his arms. "Our big tough captain is actually gonna miss us!"

Clover put her hands to her eyes as she felt the boys coming around her to give her a group hug. She just let them do it, internalizing the familiar feeling of her body being crushed and all oxygen escaping her lungs and the air around her. She smiled to herself and laid her head on the nearest chest to her.

When they ended the hug, the gang watched Diego slide away from them and straight over to Mila who was standing outside their embrace, smiling at them.

"Sorry to interrupt." She apologized.

Diego shook his head, greeting her with a kiss and placing a hand on her growing baby bump that was covered by her skin tight pink dress.

"So," Jose asked, leaning on Jacob and Ethan's shoulders, "is it a boy or a girl?"

Diego smiled, looking from them to his girlfriend, the mother of his child. "It's a girl."

All of them clapped, which started a domino effect in the hallway full of graduates until the entire hall was echoing with clapping. Mila and Diego laughed at them, but couldn't be happier with their baby girl growing healthy inside of her.

Meanwhile, inside the gymnasium, Mateo was standing in the back, adjusting the cuffs of his dress shirt while the chatter of the audience surrounded him.

"Hey."

Mateo looked up to see Andrew in a professional outfit with a tie smiling in front of him. Behind him was Ricky in a similar outfit and his hair neatly tied back in a bun.

"You two look dapper." Mateo complimented. "Very nice. Where's Stephen?"

Ricky pointed to the stage where Stephen was helping the principal fix the microphone on the stage. "It's cute he volunteered to do this," Ricky smirked.

"We all know why he really did it." A voice spoke up.

The three men looked to the side and saw Victor leading the way over to them and with Sam and Danny trailing behind.

Sam sighed as he checked his watch. "I don't think I'm ready for this." He admitted.

"Who knew they'd get diplomas?" Andrew shrugged.

"Who knew you'd get a diploma?" Ricky chuckled.

"I was surprised you were even allowed to go to graduation." Andrew joked back. "Weren't you on house arrest or something?"