Mr C, E & O

Prologue

Hundreds of caps flew into the sky with a mighty hurrah as Emerald Chan squinted her eyes up at the bright blue abyss, trying to spot where her cap had floated to amidst the black sea of fabric. Satisfied that she had spotted her cap, adorned by her favourite blue and white ribbon, she glanced around her smiling classmates until she locked eyes with a certain brown hair, blue eyed boy.

"Dayton!" she waved excitedly whilst jumping around madly like a pogo stick- being short had its disadvantages. Oscar Dayton's face lit up as he made his way through the throng of excited students and enveloped Emerald in a tight bear hug.

"Chan!" he smiled into her silky, raven black hair, "Can you believe that we just graduated?"

"I honestly can't."

"Me neither, we're old now, aren't we?" teased Oscar as he took a step back to admire his best friend. Reaching out his hand, and Emerald happily accepting it, the pair strolled over to their gushing and nearly tearful parents. Emerald's mother couldn't contain it any longer and promptly burst into tears at the sight of her only child all grown up.

"Mother," Emerald gently yet firmly reminded her, "It's not like I'm moving across the world or anything, I'm just graduating high school."

Emerald's mother subtly wiped her eyes and vigorously nodded, "Honey, this is just so exciting and- oh never mind let's just take a picture with Oscar." Oscar, who had been silently standing beside Emerald with a small smile on his face the whole time, threw his arm lazily around her shoulder and gave a big smile as both their mother's started snapping what seemed to be a billion and one photos at all angles possible.

"Are we supposed to keep smiling?" Asked Emerald through gritted teeth as she kept up her toothy grin.

"Mhm." Mumbled Oscar in response, "just a little while longer." After what seemed like an eternity, Emerald and Oscar both let out a small sigh of relief as their mothers went off to mingle with the other emotionally wrecked parents. Oscar nodded towards his clique of friends and Emerald gave him a thumbs up in response, watching as he ran over to his group and threw his arms around the closest person. Feeling a tap on her shoulder she turned around and was met with a familiar face, her good friend Tanner. 

"Hey!" She greeted excitedly, "How's graduation been for you?" Tanner looked unusually nervous and grabbed her arm before he abruptly dropped it.

"Good... Yeah, good." He mumbled, scratching the back of his neck. He uncertainly opened his mouth before he let out a sigh. "Can we go somewhere more quiet?" Emerald nodded in agreement and they slowly walked across the neatly mowed lawn and onto the football field. Emerald knew that Tanner was normally a closed off guy who only occasionally showed any emotions so curiosity built up inside of her as they left the loud chatter and music of the graduation party. Stopping right in the middle of the field, Tanner turned towards her and let out a shaky breath.

"Emerald."

"Yes?"

"I- I wanted to- uh ask if you would go out with me?" The statement came out more as a question but left Emerald just as stunned.

"Tanner, I-"

"I know," he interrupted, "This is all a shock, but it's our last day at school and I really wanted to tell you how I feel. You're beautiful, talented and the nicest person I've ever met, and I know that if I didn't get this out I would regret it." He paused for a breath and Emerald was too shocked to say a word. This was the longest speech he had ever made about his feelings in all the years that she knew him, and she really didn't know what to say. This quiet, piano prodigy boy had become close in her heart and she didn't want to hurt the friendship that they had already established over the years.