Escaping Love (Rewrite) [Book #1]

Chapter 17

|| JACKIE ||

|| Saturday, May 27th ||

|| Two Years Ago ||

I walked down the stairs in a button-down and a nice pair of dress pants.

"You know, I haven't seen you wear a dress after you started middle school," my dad said as I came down the steps of our house.

"So? I'll only wear a dress if I need to."

My dad smiled, "You're right."

He handed me the blazer that hung on the chair. "Thank you," I smiled, putting the item on.

"Technically, you don't need it. It's going to be hot outside," my dad mentioned.

"Right." I took it off and hung it in the closet.

My mom came down the steps too, "Okay, I'm ready," she said as she tried to clip her earrings on.

I looked at my phone, and it was five minutes before 11:00 AM. The graduation starts at noon, and we were going to leave in five minutes with Charlotte's parents.

I opened the door as it rang, "Hey, you look good, Jackie," Mr. Evans said.

"Thank you," I smiled, stepping aside as they walked in.

"Okay, is everyone ready?" He asked.

"Yeah, ready as ever," my parents responded.

"Great! To the car, we go."

I went over to my car, "I'll see you there," I told my dad, and he nodded.

My parents and I took separate cars just in case we were heading home at different times. When we arrived at the building, the parking spots were packed. It was hard to find parking in the same area. I ended up parking a floor above my family in the garage.

We walked to the quad of the college and found available seats. Charlotte was graduating for her math degree and also her education degree. It's remarkable to see that she was able to achieve these two degrees in four years.

The ceremony took a while, and after it was over, I watched the college throw their caps in the air, spotting her from yards away smiling proudly.

As the graduation ended, we moved off the quad to the concrete, waiting to find Charlotte. I took my phone to call her and let her know where we were. The phone was at my ear as I looked around. Then I felt arms around my waist.

"Found you," I heard, and I smiled at her voice.

I turned around and placed the phone in my pocket, "Congratulations!"

"Thank you. You look good," Charlotte said after releasing my hug.

"Thank you." Charlotte went over to hug her family members as I stood there a few yards away.

I admired the curls of her blonde hair, as the cap lightly reflected with the sun.

"Come on! Get in, get in! We're taking plenty of pictures!" Mr. Evans said as we all gathered around the trees.

Arms went around me as we all stood together, smiling at the multiple flashes that went off. I was grateful I didn't wear my blazer, it would have been too hot. After all the pictures, her friends walked up to her, smiling and hugging each other.