Money: Luke Hemmings

46

2nd of July 2016

'God, look at you two,' my dad gushed towards Harrison and I as he had finished taking pictures of us.

'Daddd,' I whined like a child, a smile on my face nonetheless. Ever since my overdose at the end of last year and my dad finding out what was really going on in mine and Harry's life, the three of us had grown close again and we learnt that he was still hurting too and is way of coping with that was throwing himself into work.

'Your mum would be so proud of you two,' he said with a beaming smile and I felt tears forming in my eyes but I quickly batted them away as I did not want to ruin my makeup.

'We know, she would be proud of you too,' Harry said with a smile before awkwardly adjusting his black tie.

'Oh come here bugs,' he said, referring us to our childhood nicknames as he pulled us into a tight hug, leaving no room to breathe for any of us.

'We love you dad,' I said after a moment of silence, wanting to let him know that we were thankful for everything that he had done for us since our mum passed away.

'I love you two Annabelle,' he said as he let go of us and we all stood there with smiles on our faces. 'Now let's go, we are going to be late.'

We had been taking pictures in the courtyard at school, which was surprisingly empty as it was the best place to take pictures before events at school.

I had not seen any of my friends all day since all of us had been getting ready and potentially taking more care with our hair, makeup and outfit than we did for formal.

My dress was a burnt orange, a colour that I had never really worn before. The top half was a lace bustier style, with the skirt made of a tule fabric, a slit reaching mid thigh on my left leg, topped off with gold heels and a simple bronzes makeup look with my hair in loose waves.

'Who is making your valedictorian speech?' my dad asked as we entered the the presentation building, the auditorium filled with people.

'Luke and Eloise,' I said as I scanned the crowd, trying to find my friends.

'I thought you finished top of your class too?' my dad asked as I spotted Eloise and Calum, dragging Harry and my dad along with me.

'She did, but so did Eloise and Luke and Annabelle being herself let Eloise make the speech instead of her,' Harry added with a sort of proud smile on his face.

'She has been here longer than me,' I said shrugging my shoulders, not really caring if I made the speech or not. 'Besides, public speaking is more her thing than it is mine.'

'That's very selfless of you Belle, I'm proud,' my dad said with a smile as we reached my friends, Calum's parents eyes lighting up when they saw who was standing in front of them.

'Thank you sad,' I said with a smile. 'Hi Mr and Mrs Hood,' I added with a smile as Joy pulled me into a hug, David, Calum and Mali-Koa laughing about something together.

'Annabelle if you call me that one more time I will slap you,' Joy said giving me a kind smile, hugging me once more before I went over to see Calum and the rest of his family who were now engaged in a conversation with Eloise's family, Eloise looking like she was going to throw up.