Amelia had everything- family, friends, a promising future- the sky was the limit. But just like that everything was taken from her. One moment she's planning her high school graduation party the next she's laying on a therapist's couch. It was as i...
Macon University's auditorium was packed to the doors with students, family members, and professors. Now that the temperature had finally cooled down it would have been nice for the ceremony to have taken place outside; however, there was an apparent long standing tradition for graduation to be held indoors. It was a good thing claustrophobia was not on my list of mental health issues because we were all shoulder to shoulder up in the first couple of rows.
My neck was strained from looking up at where the president of the University stood, giving his thirty minute speech at the podium. It was no secret that even he was roasting like the rest of us as beads of sweat lined his forehead. He spoke with a deep sense of honor and integrity for his school. Behind him sat two clusters of people, one being a selected group of professors and then the rest of the academic board.
The room, for the most part, was salient except for your occasional cough.
Every few minutes or so I glanced around the room out of sheer boredom. As I suspected, there were numerous other little conversations happening at the same time as the speech. The two students next to me were chatting about some kind of trip one of them was taking in a few days. Behind me, I overheard a group of guys giggling over one of the female professors' exposed cleavage from on stage.
It was good to see that four years of college hadn't matured them in any way. I was precariously tempted to turn around, but the dean of the students had gotten up from his seat to begin calling out names.
One by one, people got up and moved towards the steps of the stage. My stomach twisted with trembling anticipation. I watched as Aralyn's row moved up, it was then I knew that mine wasn't too far behind.
She turned her head to look over her shoulder at me. And against my better judgment I looked back at her. I didn't often let my emotions get the better of me. But at a time like this I couldn't keep my mind from wandering back to when we were younger.
How many years had gone by where the two of us would get together and plan out our outfits for the first and last day of school. In middle school we both had our weak and strong subjects in school and would always lend each other a hand. And then into high school, our biggest concern was passing the drivers test on our birthdays.
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When the weather was warm, we'd ride our bikes to the park until there came a day when we decided to set the bikes away and walk. Our conversations had gone from clothes, gossip, and boys to matters of colleges, majors, and careers. What I would give to turn back the clocks to a time where things were less complicated than they were now. When the only problem we had was trying to figure out what to do on the weekend or better yet what color to paint our nails.
We applied for the same schools and both received our acceptance letters just days apart. I knew rooming together would never be an issue because she practically lived at my house prior to all of this. The transition one makes as they enter college is not an easy one, and looking back on the four years of my life made me realize that I couldn't have gotten through it if it weren't for Aralyn.
