Be My Escape

Graduation and a Fresh Start

Kaelyn's Perspective

I sat glumly in the bleachers of the auditorium as I watched my best friends, Alex, Jack, and Rian, and their high school class parade around the room. It was their high school graduation, and as proud as I was of them, I envied them. They got to get out of this shitty town and onto bigger and better things. I didn't care that they had to do it in a smelly, fifteen passenger van. They got to break free of this place.

Alex and I had been best friends since he'd moved next door to me when he was seven and I was six, and our parents were friends too. Despite the fact that I was a stupid first grader, Alex had still decided to be my friend. The truth was, he'd had trouble making friends in his grade. I'd thought his English accent was cool and I liked making him say things, but his second grade peers hadn't thought the same thing. However, if anyone dared laugh at him or mock him, they had to answer to me. None of them wanted to get beat up by a first grader, and a girl at that, so they quickly left him alone. Still, the torments left an impact on him and he learned how to talk in an American accent, mostly by watching cartoons and imitating everything I said. I couldn't even get mad at him because I knew the bullying was hard on him.

Then, this past year, it came time for Alex to protect me, the same way I'd protected him when he first moved here.

Brandon, my ex-boyfriend and I had met at a Beginning of Summer Party hosted by Alex, about a year ago. He was a year older than me and a star football player, and had these scorching green eyes that when he looked at you, it was like he was seeing into your very soul. Brandon was good to me, the perfect gentleman, and then the abuse began. It started out slowly, so I would make excuses for him, to myself, and to other people. He just had a bad day, he didn't mean it, I 'fell' and bruised my arm.

Until one night, after the football team had lost a big game. The guys went over to someone's house and got drunk. Brandon texted me to meet him there, so I did. And then he and his friends took turns beating me up. I just barely managed to get my phone and call Alex, who came right over with the guys. Alex rode with me in the ambulance and sat by the side of my hospital bed for several days afterwards, terrified to let me out of his sight.

"Kaelyn...Kaelyn!" I heard Alex say, waving his hands in front of my face.

"Huh?" I asked dazedly.

"The ceremony's over. We can go." Alex chuckled lightly.

"Alright." I nodded and let Alex lead me out of the auditorium.

--

We were at Alex's graduation party. I was dancing to the music, when my mom pulled me aside by my elbow.

"What's up, Mom?" I asked.

"Honey, Isobel and I were thinking....with everything that happened with Brandon...maybe a change of scenery would be good for you..." my mom said slowly.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that we think you should go on Warped with All Time Low."

"Wouldn't I just get in the way?" I asked.

"We've already discussed it with Alex and the boys and they agree and have no problem with it."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Positive. They'll take good care of you."

"Yes!" I cried, my face cracking into a huge smile.

I couldn't help it. I hadn't wanted to get my hopes up, but it was Warped Tour! I would get to see the country with my best friends, just like I'd always dreamt of. I ran up to Alex and hugged him tightly.

"I love you so much!" I cried.

He paled, his brown eyes widening. "I--what?" He asked.

I gave him a weird look. "You dumbfuck, my mom just told me I'm going on tour with you guys!"

The color returned to his cheeks, and then some. "Oh...uh..."

I shook his shoulders. "Well, aren't you stoked?"

"Fuck yeah!" He yelled.

"Phew, that's a relief. I thought you'd been taken over by the pod people," I said.

"Nope, still the same ol' me," he said.

"What's going on?" Jack asked, coming over to us.

"Well, it looks like Kaelyn's mom just told her that she's going on Warped Tour with us!" Alex replied excitedly and the guys high-fived me, except for Zack.

Zack had always been reserved around me. He was an all-around quiet guy, so I knew it wasn't personal, but he was able to laugh and joke with the guys, and he'd known them the same amount of time as he'd known me. It had gotten even worse after what happened with Brandon, as if he were afraid to be around me.

Maybe I was just over-analyzing. But it was hard not to. For awhile, I'd had a crush on Alex, but when he didn't seem to return those feelings, I had moved on. Then I dated Brandon, which of course had ended in disaster. And while I knew I wasn't ready to date again, I was starting to see Zack in a different way too.

--

Alex's Perspective

I'm not gonna lie, a little flame of hope went up inside me when Kaelyn had come over and told me she loved me. It was stupid. We told each other we loved each other all the time, it was no big deal. But a part of me wanted to hope...

"What's up, man? You don't seem stoked," Jack said, coming over to me. He followed my gaze, to where Kaelyn was, talking to Lisa and Kara about whatever chicks talk about. "Are you still crushing on Kaelyn? You've liked her for over two years, and then Brandon--"

"Don't you fucking dare," I spat, glaring at him.

He raised his hands in surrender. "Sorry. All I'm saying is you should get over her. And hey, we're going on Warped Tour this summer! You're Alex Gaskarth, you can get any girl you want. You can have a different girl in each city, if you want!"

I sighed. "You're right. I'll forget about her."

If only it were that easy.