Sparks Fly

Chapter 21

June. I'm finally graduating from high school. I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins as I marched down the stage and to the back of the school hall. I looked around for my aunt but there were simply too many people.

The sound of applause filled the hall. My heart was palpitating wildly. Don't fall down, I chanted in my heart. I don't want to embarrass myself in front of everyone. Imagine seeing a video of me falling down on my high school graduation when I become a famous actress.

I took my seat and let go of my breath which I didn't even know I had been holding. I watched as Jace walked past me and sat down a few rows behind me. After everyone sat down, the principal made his speech.

Boring.

I tried my best not to fall asleep and succeeded miraculously. It was an hour of speeches made by a lot of people whom I either don't know or don't care about. After everything was over, it was time for us to go up to stage one by one.

I got my diploma which was actually a fake one. It's just a common scroll. I'm only getting my actual high school diploma tomorrow. We changed the tassel from one side to the other and left for the best part of graduation. Food!

"Hey, I'll be back," Jace muttered and left.

I stood around and waited for my aunt to appear. "Boo!" I suddenly heard.

Rolling my eyes, I turned around to see who could possibly be so lame. Jace? Yvette? "Alfred!" I exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Why? Is your big cousin not welcomed here?" he chuckled. "That guy who talked to you just now. Is he your boyfriend?" he asked, pointing at Jace in the distance who was talking to his friends. "Yeah, I know you have a boyfriend. Mum talked about him."

I nodded. "He's called Jace. Why the hell would Aunt Elena talk about me having a boyfriend? That's... weird."

He shrugged. "That's because our little Belinda has grown up! Look at you. You're so big now. You even got yourself a boyfriend who is quite good-looking, by the way. He looks like the chairman of Leighton Corporation. Is he the son?"

"Yes, he's the son of Elden Leighton and Avery Hudson," I replied.

"Whoa! You picked a good one," he remarked.

"I didn't pick him for that. He's a nice guy. We understand each other," I said.

Just then, Aunt Elena and her husband appeared. Grinning, she said, "Congratulations, Belinda. We're so proud of you. Your mother would be proud of you too. It would be great if she were alive to see this."

I nodded solemnly. "I know she's watching me from Heaven. I can feel it in my heart."

At the corner of my eye, I saw Jace approaching us. Behind him were two people. One was Mr Leighton and the other was almost unrecognisable. She was wearing a mask and a pair of sunglasses. If Mr Leighton wasn't beside her, I wouldn't have been able to identify her.

"Here's a bouquet of flowers for my favourite girl," Mrs Leighton exclaimed.

She presented me with the bouquet and I accepted it. In it were roses, lilies, daisies and carnations. It was beautiful. Hugging the bouquet close to my chest, I replied, "Thank you so much, Mrs Leighton!"

We took a lot of photos featuring my graduation bouquet before Mrs Leighton and Aunt Elena walked off to chat. I stared at the former and sighed. It's quite sad that she wasn't able to show her face at her son's graduation as people would recognise her.

She surely wouldn't want to outshine her son on his graduation.

People probably know there's a celebrity on the school grounds but everyone is too happy graduating and all. Entry to the school was also restricted and only people who had an invitation to the graduation ceremony could enter.

"Hi, you must be Jace," Alfred said, reaching out his hand.

"Yes, I am," Jace replied, shaking his hand. "You must be Alfred, the one and only cousin Belle has and talks about. She mentioned you went to Harvard! My dad is an alumnus. I'm thinking of following his footsteps."

Alfred nodded. "Whatever school you attend doesn't matter anyway. Ultimately, you're going to inherit your father's company. You only have to study and train hard to take over your father's baton," he laughed.

Jace smiled and replied, "You're also going to inherit your mother's company. Why did you choose to study at Harvard? Whatever school you attend also doesn't matter."

"I made it in so... why not?" my cousin chuckled, shrugging.

"If I choose to go to Harvard, I expect you to give me a school tour," Jace replied.

"That's not a problem," Alfred said.

I looked between the two of them and said, "Well, now that you two have officially become friends, let's meet our friends in school!"

Alfred shrugged and replied, "Sure, even though I don't see the point."

I saw Yvette standing around about three metres away and pulled her to my side. Gesturing at her, I introduced, "This is my very best friend, Yvette. And this is my cousin, Alfred. Say 'hello' to each other. We love making friends."

"Hi," Yvette said, nodding and smiling politely.

"Hi," Alfred replied, nodding awkwardly. He turned towards me and said, "I still don't see the point in this. You're not trying to matchmake again, are you?"

"No, I'm not. Making friends is fun," I laughed. "Yvette has Roy. You're irrelevant."

I could see Yvette's face turning red. "What do you mean?" she asked. "Roy is just my friend. Stop matchmaking, Bella. It's making me extremely uncomfortable. How many times do I have to tell you that we went to the prom together for convenience sake!"

"You won't be blushing if that's the case," I replied.

"Okay, let's change the topic. Let's talk about college!" Yvette hurriedly suggested with an overly wide smile. "I'll start. As of now, I don't have any plans. My future is a blank slate. Okay, who's next? How about you, Bella?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm thinking of going to Tisch to study drama," I replied.

Alfred exclaimed. "Oh, wow. Big dreams! I like your spirit." All of a sudden, he clapped. "Oh, wait. I know! I got it! You want to be an actress like your idol. Avery Hudson, right?"

"You might want to lower your volume. She's here too," I murmured.

"Oh, right. She's your boyfriend's mother," he whispered.

"You don't need to be that soft. Just don't scream her name across the school," I giggled. I raised my volume to normal and continued, "Okay, who's next? Jace!"

He shrugged. "I already talked about it. I'm going to get a bachelor's degree in business before going to business school but I'm not very sure about that. After that, my career has been mapped out for me," he said.

Alfred patted Jace's shoulder. "I like people who know what they want in life. I think you're a good guy for my baby cousin. Please treat her well. She's our precious baby."

Jace smiled and nodded. "I will."

Upon hearing that, my heart fluttered. A smile plastered onto my face. However, there was something about his smile that gave me a sinking feeling in my stomach.

***

A/N:

"Don't fall down" — so simple, yet so relatable.

It's Alfred! If you want to read more about him, read Begin Again ;) I'm sure you'll know him better there!

Give this chapter a star to celebrate their graduation! *cough* shameless *cough* HAPPY GRADUATION!!!

Okay, enough shamelessness... thank you so much for reading this far! One more chapter to go...

Stay tuned ;)