Earphone Buddies | J.J.K (Complete)

Graduation (ep 39)

Y/N's POV

When graduation day finally arrived, my whole body was thrumming. Kat and I were finally getting our degrees and leaving school-- maybe forever. It was a feeling I thought I had experienced back in high school, but this was completely different. Graduating college was very different from graduating high school.

For one, in Korea, they gave us our diplomas in our individual classes with our classmates there to cheer us on. I had dressed up, wearing [graduation outfit with cap and gown]. I had on some nice eye makeup, which I had made as waterproof as possible, since I knew there would be crying at some point today.

Another difference was that where I was from, the emphasis was on graduation and getting through the years of school. Here in Korea, it was more important to get in, and once you got into a school, it was (relatively) easy to graduate if you tried. Since our school was international, it was a little of each. Getting in was also more difficult than [home country], but graduation was less important as a result. It was a fascinating system, but it worked for me.

Kat and I woke up early so we had time to get ready and get to school. We still had to take the bus, after all.

Bangtan was on tour, so they couldn't attend, of course, although Taytem was coming and I was going to try and blend in as well as possible since I was also becoming... well known.

I wished desperately that my parents could come over here, but I knew why they couldn't. It was expensive to fly them here, and they had my brother to worry about. It wasn't plausible for them to come. I needed to stop hoping.

I ate a breakfast of [favorite breakfast] and then found my pair of fancy-ish flats and Kat and I walked out of the apartment to our bus stop. Kat had dressed up in a too-big striped button-down tied in a knot at the bottom and some black skinny jeans. She looked nice, although of course it would be under her graduation gown for most of the time we were out. Her hair was half up to keep it out of her face and she had done a fantastic job on her makeup. When she needed to look really fancy, she could.

We stepped onto the bus and stood with the other passengers, sharing earbuds so that we could enjoy the music together. I had my simple K-Pop playlist on and Utopia by Ateez came on, so we were just bopping our heads a little and just sharing looks like Yeah, these are our boys.

The weather was so perfect, it was insane. The sun was slightly hidden by thick fluffy clouds that seemed as though the sky itself was celebrating today. There wasn't any wind, so hair wouldn't get in the way either. All in all, the day was wonderful, not too hot but not at all cold. Really, for July, this was absolute paradise. Wonderful.

When we arrived at school, Kat went to her class and I to mine, to receive our diplomas before going outside to meet Taytem and take photos. The people I was friendly with in my class swept me quickly toward our classroom, where the ceremony was going to be held shortly. I was settling into my seat when Mrs. Kang came in with a stack of diploma folders. We all got quiet very quickly and sat straight up in our seats, ready to receive the papers that signified our achievements. She called names slowly, with each member of my class walking up to her and taking it with a half bow. We would all clap and cheer and then the next person would be called. When my turn arrived, I stood up as gracefully as I could and slid out of my seat to walk up the aisle between the seats, and I heard one of my classmates, who I hadn't known so well, gasp a little.

"Is that Y/N?" Mrs. Kang gave her a look and she got quiet, but when I returned to my seat after bowing as deeply as I could, she looked up at me in wonder. Do people ever get used to this? I thought to myself. It's such a weird feeling.

When our whole class had been given their diplomas, we hugged and congratulated each other and there was one couple that had a victory kiss. Moments after I had been released from a hearty hug by Hanna, a girl from Romania, my phone buzzed.