Tikking Clock

alternative graduation

Months have passed by in a whirlwind. After her complete recovery Lina started to study seriously for her exams. The risk of the disease coming back was still there so Lina always carries some of her medications with her. The black-haired girl is already relived she can finally let go of this never-ending rhythm of taking medications at set times. Not a single symptom has showed since she was deemed recovered and with some immense effort Lina caught up to her classmates in her studies. Graduation is finally approaching. Lina never imagined she would see this day when she learned she entered the fore last phase of her sickness. Still here she is. The morning starts a little different than she is used to. When she hears her alarm Lina can finally snooze it and doze off for just a little while longer. When her alarm goes of for the second time she does get up, scared to run late if she takes too much time. With a small feeling of déjà vu Lina takes her uniform from her bedroom door. Today she feels just as nervous as she did when she first put on this uniform, only the ribbon has changed from color since then. After her usual morning routine Lina gets changed and for the first time in a long time she ties her hair up in a high ponytail. 'The past doesn't define the me of today.' She says smiling at her reflection in the mirror. The eighteen years old girl feels a childish urge to slide down the railing of the stairs bubble up from deep inside. With a clear spontaneous laugh she gives in and slides down the railing. 'Lina how old are you?' her dad asks. 'Oops.' She says sweat dropping. She hadn't expected her dad to be still at home when she slid down the railing. Looking at him Lina realizes she caught him right before he left. 'It is good to see you so happy and carefree.' Her dad says rubbing his daughter's head. 'Daaaad!' Lina yells laughing. 'It is good to see you wear your hair like this again.' Her father suddenly says. Lina smiles. 'The past doesn't define the current me.' Lina says with a wink. Lina's father laughs even harder this time. 'I will make it in time.' He says before he leaves. 'You always do, dumbass.' Lina says to the door her dad just left through. She grins and walks towards the kitchen to have breakfast. Lina hugs her mom as a greeting and they head towards the school together. On their way they meet up with Ace and his mother. Ace takes Lina's hand. 'You look beautiful.' Ace says. 'Thank you.' Lina says blushing. High ponytails have always been Lina's favorite hairstyle but after a long hard time she decided to stop wearing them to try and forget the memories. Now she has decided to leave all that in the past she ties it up again. It is a subtle sign she has grown over the years. When they arrive at the school a lot of students and their parents are already gathering in the gym for the graduation ceremony. Lina spots her friends immediately and rushes over to them. Dragging Ace with her. 'Hey guys.' Lina says. 'Hey Lina, Your hair like this suits you.' Kiri says. 'Thanks, I love wearing it like this, but decided not to wear it like this because it brought back some painful memories. Time to let these rest and to start over.' Lina says. 'At least your positivity has been boosted again.' Jake grins. 'Shut up you.' Lina says smiling. 'Why do I feel scared for no reason?' Jake asks. 'It must be her heiress aura leaking out.' Reina says with a shiver. 'You two, cut it out.' Shane says. Laughter fills the air around the six friends. Everything is finally completely normal, it took a few months, but they finally made it here. Lina and Ace their dads came just in time for the ceremony to start. After all the protocols have been followed one of the second-year students gives a farewell speech wishing the graduating students all the best in their future careers. Applause fills the gym when she is finished. 'Officially the student council president will give the return speech, but this year the president agreed, we have a student in our midst who we think is more fit to give this speech.' The headmaster says. 'From the graduating class 1-3 Lina Kitayama.' The headmaster says. Lina was already informed and stood up. She took her place on the stage and took a deep breath. 'I am thankful for the returning students their good luck wishes. We all will do our best to shine as bright as we can. We will face our futures with new courage given to us by the students that we will leave behind after today. Some of you may recognize my last name, others may recognize me as that girl from the rumors, or the pitiful girl in a wheelchair. I am Lina Kitayama, heiress of the Kitayama company. For twelve years I fought with my disease, I was bullied, chased from schools and transferred more than anyone can imagine. Finally I found a place where I made real friends, friends that have my back no matter what. This high school gave me a place to belong. I was accepted after all the refusals in the past. I never would have imagined I would be standing here. It was a close call. I was almost unable to see this day. The heights I will reach in the future are with no doubt because of all the support I have had. We the graduating class 1-3 of 2020 are saying with pride, we are glad to have studied here, we are glad to have met each other and we will keep our time here in our hearts forever. Thank you.' Lina smiles at the crowd and takes her seat once again. 'That was amazing.' Shane says. 'I only freaked out for a month.' Lina answers. Reina chuckles while Kiri coughs to hide her laugh. Jake is shaking, trying to hold his laughter while Ace shakes his head. Once the entire ceremony is over the six friends roam through the school for one last time. Lina took over her camera, her dad had secretly taken it with him. She took photo's off all the places she and her friends have made dear memories. The homeroom class where they met, the homeroom where she returned after a complete recovery, the canteen where they spend a lot of their breaks, all of these places and more were treasured. When they finally left after walking around for hours the sun was already starting to set. 'Guys come with me!' Lina suddenly said. She ran into the school again and her friends followed her with a questioning look on their faces. Lina ran up all the stairs and they ended up at the rooftop. 'Let's make a groups picture here.' The black-haired girl says smiling. 'We should have known it was for a picture.' Ace grins. 'At least you should have known.' Lina says pretending to be disappointed in the brunet. The others laugh and they get together facing the camera. Lina makes the picture with her usual skill and they are amazed by her insight. The sun comes from their right leaving a cheerful aura around the smiling friends, the campus is slightly visible in the background. 'It is quite weird we all are going our own way right now.' Reina says. A small silence falls over the group. What Reina said is true. Lina and Ace will be enrolling in one of the hardest business courses of the country, Lina will also study photography at the side. Jake will be enrolling at a theater academy to follow after his parents. Shane leaves the music world behind and decided to study to become a doctor. Reina refused to follow her dad and left politics behind and sis enrolling at the police academy. She wants to keep the city she loves save. Kiri is determined to take over her mother's brand in the future and will be studying fashion at a high-class college. 'Meet me tomorrow in our second-year homeroom, I want to give you guys something.' The black-haired girl has a mysterious smile on her face. 'When do me meet there?' Shane asks. 'At 15:30. I already took care of being allowed to enter.' Lina answers. Ace laughs. 'Prepared as always.' The boy says with a loving smile. 'Duh.' Lina answers sticking out her tongue.

It is15:25 and Lina is sitting on her old desk. She is swinging her legs back andforth while she waits for her friends to arrive. Her schoolbag is standingright next to her. The door opens and her friends walk in together. 'Did youtime this?' The blue-eyed girl asks jokingly. 'Just happened to meet up at thegate.' Shane answers. Lina grins. 'This takes back some memories.' Reina saystaking her old seat just like Lina did. The others do the same and are hit by awave of memories and emotions. 'Damn, a lot happened over the past two years,but mostly here.' Kiri says blinking hard to prevent tears from falling down.'Don't cry.' Reina says while fighting against her own tears. Lina smiles whileshe looks at her friends. 'Do you have an idea why I wanted to meet here?' Linaasks. The rest of the group shakes their heads. 'We first met here, in thisclassroom. I fought here in secret with my sickness, opened up and finally finda real place where I can feel same in this classroom. Giving you guys this hereseemed perfect to me.' Lina says. She opens her schoolbag and takes out sixdifferent colored scrapbooks out of it. 'Every color has its own meaning. Ichoose a color befitting each of us when I started on them. Kiri your scrapbookhas a purple color. I am sure you already learned colors their meaning for yourstudies in fashion, but let me tell you why I choose purple for you, so theothers understand it too. Three characteristics of purple are elegance, powerand nobility. As a result of you being a part time model you have an elegantand noble air around you. You also have the power to keep our two red heads incheck. It only seemed fitting to me.' Lina says smiling. She hands Kiri herscrapbook. 'Shane your scrapbook got the color green. Green has a lot ofmeanings. You embody a lot of them. You are reliable, optimistic, calm, honestand prefer a harmonious environment.' Shane chuckles, admitting Lina is rightand accepts his scrapbook. 'Reina, I gave you a yellow scrapbook because you cancatch everyone's attention, are a comforting person when needed, are prettyoptimistic, and are bursting with liveliness.' The red-haired girl scratchesher head, slightly embarrassed by how easy Lina read her. 'For you, Jake. Ichoose a brown scrapbook. It may seem boring, but it fits you perfectly. Youare Confident, casual in your interactions, reliable and are willing to endurea lot of hardships for those you care about.' The black-haired girl sayssmiling. 'How did you get this good in reading people?' Jake asks. 'She alwayshas been.' Ace answers in Lina's place. 'Ace for you I have a red scrapbook.You are filled with love, can be pretty bold when needed, are a strong person,were determined to stick with me at all times and have more courage than mostpeople think.' She gives him a small kiss on the cheek while handing her loverhis scrapbook. 'At last I have my own scrapbook. I picked the color bluebecause, I too prefer a peaceful life, like the professional way of things, amloyal, but also have a tinge of coldness.' The girl says smiling while holdingup her own scrapbook. Every scrapbook has a picture of the owner and Lina onthe front. Every scrapbook was filled with pictures that not only Lina but alloff them have taken over the past two years. Even the summer pictures that weremade by Clara were used. At the last page, the picture they took a day earlieron the school's rooftop was placed. A small note was placed by almost all thepictures. At one of the pictures Shane bursts out in laughter. 'Marshmallow onfire, the start of the marshmallow graveyard.' He laughs. 'You caught in onphoto?!' Reina laughs. 'I did.' Lina grins. Shane shows the others. He lookspanicked at the marshmallow while Clara can be seen on the background. Laughterfills the classroom. 'You really did go all out didn't you?' Ace asks. 'Ofcourse. We all will be going our own way, but our bond will stay here.' Linasays. 'You mean this is your way of saying: I will never be too far away andneither will the others?' Reina asks. 'Ping pong!' Lina answers with a wink. Laughterfills the classroom once again. 'haaaaaaa I am really going to miss this.' Jakesighs. 'We all will.' Reina agrees. 'Let's make a deal to keep meeting up atleast once a month.' Shane says. 'I expected Jake or Reina to say this.' Acegrins. 'Let me be a little hesitant to leave all this behind too.' The blondeguy answers. 'I agree with Shane. Let's meet up at least once a month.' Kirisays. 'That is a promise.' Jake says. They all nod. After they just chatted fora while they got up and left the school. This time they left their high schoolbehind for real. Looking towards their futures with determination.