𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙙 [𝗻𝗼𝗮𝗵 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗮𝗽𝗽] ✓

TWENTY FIVE

Could Have Been Me - The Struts : History - One Direction
GRADUATION 
Y/N POV

"Y/n M/n L/n." Mr. Hastings calls out. 

My nerves twist and turn as I step out onto the stage with a smile in my cap and gown. I carefully walk over to him and take the diploma, pausing for a picture. I walk to the end of the stage and take a few more pictures with various other important people and exit the stage, going backstage. Once I get to the locker rooms, I hear yelling and cheering. 

"Y/n!" Luke yells and runs over, picking me up in a hug.

"Luke!" I say back laughing at how excited he is.

"We did it dude." Jade says walking up, which surprises me.

"Yeah, after four of the longest years of my life." I add, causing the two of them to smile. Noah runs in and as soon as we lock eye contact we run to each other. He picks me up and spins me around, the two of us laughing. This is one of those moments I'm going to cherish forever. Jake walks in and Jade and him hug and share a kiss. 

"Attention all students, please proceed through the exit doors." Mandy the office lady says over the intercom. 

The five of us walk out together with everyone else and we see a huge mural with all our handprints and names on it that we put on a few months ago. Jade, Luke, Noah, Jake and I walk over to where all five of our handprints are. Someone with a huge camera comes out and instructs us on what to do.

"3...2...1!" He yells and at one we take our caps off and throw them into the air as we cheer. 

All our parents come rushing up and soon enough it's so loud out I can barely hear anything. Jade and I keep an eye on each other as we talk to all our old friends, all of us having the time of our lives. Finally everything dies down and people begin to leave for their own graduation parties and I get up the courage to just face Jade.

"Jade.." I say as I find her.

"Y/n, look this entire thing is wrong. I shouldn't have shut you out like I did, you've always been there for me and I was stupid to think that I could just drop you like that." She spills.

"No, it's completely my fault. I shouldn't have lied to you in the first place, I should've just told you how I felt. Don't be sorry, you did nothing wrong." I reply.

"Ugh, I'm just glad this entire thing is over!" She yells and crashes into me with a hug.

"I know!" I say and tightly hug her back.

"Best friends forever?" I ask holding out my pinky like we used to do when we were little.

"Best friends forever." She replies taking my pinky as the two of us laugh.

*****

Tears run down our faces as Luke, Jade, Noah, Jake and I watch my senior capstone project. I compiled all the photos I took into a little video. When I was making this I never expected for it to make me this emotional. Not only were they just pictures from this school year, some of them were even from middle school. A wave of nostalgia and sadness just washed over us as we look back at all the fun times we had throughout our highschool years.

"That was...beautiful." Noah says wiping away a tear, which makes all of us laugh.

"I know, you did a really good job." Jake adds.

I smile at their words and stand up off of Noah's living room floor and get the hard drive that holds the video. When I turn around, all of them are doing different things. Jade and Jake are joking around, Luke is admiring Noah's records, and Noah is walking towards me. 

"Guess what." He says with a smile.

"What?" I ask curious about what he'll say.

"I got into NYU." He says cooly.

"That's incredible, Noah!" I say hugging him.

"I know!" He says suddenly excited, looking relieved.

"I'm so happy for you." I say sincerely, crashing my lips onto his. When we pull away and I bury myself in his chest and he steps back, falling onto the couch. Jade and Jake wonder off into the kitchen while Luke watches us, looking sad. I almost forgot about the night he told me he had feelings for me. I can't imagine what it must feel like to love someone but they don't love you back. 

"Why don't you go find Jake." I say pulling away from Noah.

"What?" He asks.

"I just need to do something really quick, I'll meet you there." I tell him, hinting that he needs to leave.

"Oh, okay." Noah replies jumping off the couch and walking to the kitchen.

"Hey." I say, sitting next to Luke.

"Hey." He says looking down.

"Listen-"

"No, it's okay. I know you love Noah and I'm happy for you." He says sadly.

"Luke, I promise you there is someone out there for you." I say. 

"Yeah, well at least I know it's not you or Ebony." He says with a small smile.

"True. Try to be happy, okay?" I ask, putting my head on his shoulder.

"I'll try." He says laughing. 

We stand up and walk into the kitchen. Everyone greets us and I walk over to Noah, standing next to him closely. He wraps his arm around my shoulder and brings me closer to him. All of us talk about school and how we're excited for summer. I think in like 8th grade Jade and I made a pact to make our summer after senior year the best summer ever, and I think we're gonna live up to that. 

"Well, we better go." Jake says.

"Yeah." Jade agrees walking over and hugging me. Ever since we made up I've just appreciated being able to talk to her and hug her. I never knew how much I needed it until I lost.

"Me too." Luke adds walking over and hugging me and then Noah.

"Bye!" I say to the three of them as the leave.

"When's Chloe gonna get back?" I ask Noah.

"She's staying over at Ebony's." He was with disgust.

I nod my head and run over to the couch, sitting down and trying to find a movie to watch. Mean Girls comes up and I choose that, starting the movie. Noah walks in and lays down, putting his head in my lap. The movie goes on, but I can't think about anything other than Noah right now. I dip my head down and connect our lips. Noah props himself up by his elbows and deepens the kiss. He pulls away and sits up, pulling me to straddle his waist. 

"I love you." He says looking up at my me.

"I love you." I reply, smiling into the kiss. 

My heart races as I trail kisses across his jawline and down his neck. Noah laughs as I do, holding onto my hips. I pull away and subconsciously bite my lip staring down at him. Noah stares back, the two of us too caught up in this moment to say anything. 

He is absolutely perfect.

a/n -

tpwk :)

<3 lilia