Always Have, Always Will

Chapter 9: This moment could be it

Graduation day was upon them at Auradon Prep, and you could feel it in the air. Evie was incredibly nervous to give the speech, but she grabbed Doug's hand as he lead her to the stage. The crowd was clapping and cheering for their valedictorian, and no one deserved it more than Evie. She graduated with a 4.0 GPA and a SAT score of 1500, all while running a very successful business, and taking care of Dizzy. As Evie reached the microphone, she couldn't help but smile. After all she's been through, her mom, the Isle, all the bad, she made it, she made something of herself, and she did it on her own. Well, mostly. Doug helped a lot too, he always helped her.

"Good afternoon graduates, Auradon Prep faculty, and all of our family and friends here to support us. I have the great honor of speaking to you all today, and I promise I will keep it quite brief. I know we all have exciting things planned after this," she winked at Doug who turned the shade of a ripe tomato. "Two years ago I can honestly say I never pictured myself graduating high school, let alone giving this speech. I grew up being groomed to do things I never wanted to do. But I'm here today to tell you that you're your own person. That we are not our parents. We are not our parents mistakes or shortcomings. We make our own fate, we choose our own paths. We make mistakes, over and over and over again, but ultimately we learn from them. We make friends that eventually feel like family. We fall madly in love and fight fiercely to protect that love," she stops as she quickly wiped the years out of her eyes. "Make your mistakes, love who you want, be who you truly are because you never know what that last day will be. Make today and everyday yours. Here's to the class of 2019!"

She finished strong and started walking towards the stairs towards her fiancée. He was beaming as he picked her up and spun her around.

"Baby, you did wonderful up there," he whispered into her ear.

"I had a completely different speech written, that all just came to me the moment I walked up to the mic," she said as they both began giggling.

The ceremony lasted about an hour after that as they read the names, and the students, one by one, walked on stage and got their diploma. At the end, they all threw their caps in the air, and Evie and Doug exchanged the sweetest of kisses.

The whole gang had decided to meet out on the grass after everything was over so they could get their pictures together, and figure out what they were going to do after. Evie and Doug were the last to arrive, as per usual, and they were glowing.

"Mal, I think we should get a picture of just the two of us first," Evie quickly spat out. She had thought this over a million times in her head, but this would be the moment she tells her best friend that she's going to have a baby. "Dougie, can you take the picture on my phone please?"

Doug takes the phone from Evie, and she and Mal stand underneath the most beautiful Aspen tree she had ever seen. They put their arms around each other's small of their backs, and smile for the picture. They decided to do a couple silly photos as well. Evie leaned over and whispered, "I'm pregnant," into her best friends ear. Mal instantly started to cry as she smiled and looked at Evie's stomach.

"I knew it! Oh my word, E! I'm so excited for you guys," she hugged Evie as tight as she could before Evie joked that Mal was choking her.

"I wanted to tell you first before I told the rest of the gang, I hope you aren't too mad. It was just so early, we didn't want anything to go wrong," Evie said solemnly.

"Evie, I totally get it. Can we tell the others now?"

Evie nodded her head as Mal ran over to the rest of the group and yelled, "Evie and Doug are going to have a baby!"

Everyone was so thrilled. Hugs were exchanged, lots of belly rubs were given, and some tears were shed.

"Alrighty guys, where to next?" Ben asked matter of factly.

"Actually, about that. We have one last teeny tiny thing to do," Doug laughed as he turned to look at his princess. "Ready to get married, my beautiful dreamer?"

"Any day, lover boy."