for, liar

Chapter 1

Graduation day. I don't know if I ever expected to get here. High school was a dreadful enough experience to make me never want to step foot into another classroom again. I spent hours on end worrying about what kind of future I would have if I didn't at least try to go to college. These days, you can't get very far without some type of degree and I never heard the end of it. The last four years went by quickly with ease. It's finally time for me to start the next chapter that I really hope is better than what my life had become these past few years.

A gentle knock on my door startles me out of my isolated headspace. I tug the graduation cap down over my hair and pin it to keep it on securely.

"Breanna? Are you almost ready, sweetheart?"

Her voice is calm today. It's surprising because I know she's anxious to see my father for the first time in four years, the last being my high school graduation which ended in an almost raging fistfight because neither of them could be cordial for forty-five minutes to watch their only child graduate. I can deal with her talking mad shit about my father when we're in the comfort of her home, but any public setting is unacceptable and just makes her seem like she's still hung up on him after all this time. He's been remarried for six years after their nasty divorce was settled and things just can't seem to calm down.

"I think so. How does it look?"

She takes my words as an invitation to come in and pushes the door open enough to poke her head through the crack. Her face is covered in the usual routine she's been using since I was in middle school after taking a class downtown to become a makeup guru. It was a short lived hobby but at least she got something out of the fifty dollars she spent.

Her wide, contagious smile illuminates her entire face structure and I find myself smiling too. I don't feel too overdressed for the occasion but still slightly out of my comfort zone.

"You look incredible. Are you nervous?"

I chuckle and cross my arms. I know I probably should be.

"Not one bit. I worked for this."

She pulls the door fully open and walks over. I put my arms out and let her embrace me as tight as she can hoping she doesn't pick this time to be an emotional wreck. She'd be pissed if her makeup got ruined.

"Mom, if you cry now you're going to mess up your face." I say softly with my cheek against her shoulder.

She nods quickly and pulls away from me. I could see a hint of tears forming in the corners of her eyes but she dabs at them with the tip of her thumb before any could fall.

"You're right, now is not the time. Let's get going. Your grandparents are already seated in the auditorium."

I groan at the thought of my mother's parents being the first family to seat themselves in the closest spot they can find to intentionally embarrass me on my big day. They don't mean any harm. I get that they are proud and that all families have their crazies, mine are just a little extra sometimes.

"Oh, don't act like that! They love you. Now come on." Mom urges me and heads toward the door.

I pick up my phone from the edge of my mattress to check the time. In a couple of hours, I'll be a college graduate. Four years ago I showed up at the University of North Carolina with no earthly idea of what I wanted to major in. Sophomore year I decided on Psychology. I wish I could say it was something I had been deadset about all my life and that I've been planning on studying the field since primary school. The only thing that pushed me into the degree was the summer of freshman year of college.

One of my best friends decided it was time to party to celebrate the first year being over. I was so exhausted from working all day that I decided to skip it. She got unbelievably drunk, pranced around downtown Charlotte at the dead of night, and an even more drunk truck driver failed to stop at a red light; then failed to stop at all. Another unsolved hit and run.

I had relived the scene that I never witnessed over and over again in my nightmares for months. I was worried that I was going to end up dropping out because I couldn't keep my head together. Everything that had made so much sense just weeks prior, totally crumbled and I was left in my own sorrow.

Psychology was the only thing that got me through it. The study of the mind and emotion was drawing to me and I redirected my focus into something good for once. I was proud of myself and I knew that Selena would be too. All she wanted to do was help people, now it's my turn. 

:Revised