Written in the Stars

Chapter 21: "I Lived"

(Chapter 21)
"I Lived"

2 months later...

Saturday, May 11th
11:00am

"Are you ready to do this?" Darren asked Jillian.

"Am I ready for this year to be over? Yes."

Darren hugged her.
"We made it through."

Jillian cracked a smile.
"Yeah... we did."
~

At the graduation ceremony, Dean Martin stood before everyone.

"I'm very proud to award the students here with their degree from Bates University."

Here we go.

"...Monica Banks."
"...Brielle Bryant."
"...Lamar Hughes."
"...Emma Law."
"...Shae Lee."
"...Jackson Lin."
"...Jason Patterson."
"...Cody Simmons."
"...Roland Smith."
"...Jillian Taylor."
"...Darren Thompson."
"...Alex Watson."

"I'm very proud of all of our graduates today.
But I'd also like to take a moment to think of the four girls who didn't make it to see their graduation," Dean Martin continued.

Everyone fell silent.

Darren held Jillian's hand.

"Congratulations to the undergrad class!"

Everyone broke into cheers and applause.
~

Later...

6:00pm

"It seems like every time we meet up here there's less of us," Brielle said.

Brielle, Shae, Jillian, and Emma sat together on the rooftop.

"We started as eight and ended as four," Shae observed.

"At least it's all over now..." Emma sighed.

"Well, the four of us are still together," Jillian said.

"We won't be for long," Brielle replied.

"Yeah, we're all leaving the university now," Emma confirmed.

"But, we'll all still be around," Shae offered.

"Darren and I are getting married next month. After that, we're going to give up the apartment and buy a house together. Probably only on the other side of the city. He's going to be moving on to grad school soon," Jillian announced.

"Jackson and I are getting our own place, too. We're both moving on with our majors in history," Shae explained.

"Jason and I were looking to move in together, too. He's going to move on with his English lit major, but I think I'm done with school now. I want to work as an artist," Brielle told them.

"I'm moving on in school too, I'm probably going to pursue a psychology major. I'm going to get my own place, too," Emma said.

"At least we're all staying in the city. We'll still be close to each other," Shae assured.

"Yeah, we're all still friends," Jillian added.

Brielle's expression dropped and she subtly glanced at Emma.
Emma met her eyes.

She took a deep breath.
"Yeah... we're all still friends."

Brielle gave her a small, grateful smile.

"Should we take drinks now?" Jillian asked.

"Yeah," Shae nodded.

"To Julia," she raised her cup.

"To Rachel," Brielle raised her cup.

"To Daniella," Jillian raised her cup.

"To Sarah," Emma raised her cup.

"To those of us who didn't make it," Shae toasted somberly.

"And to those of us who have," Jillian added.

Everyone tapped their cups together and took a drink.

This is the end of Part I
Part II will start in the following chapter.

END OF CHAPTER