Palindrome

Sixty

Chapter 60

Aarohi

High School Musical sets the most unrealistic expectations for a graduation ceremony.

There's no singing or dancing or Troy Bolton giving a rising speech.

Instead, it's a hot summer evening, with offbeat clapping and seniors stumbling on stage to receive their diplomas. Had Ella not forced me to watch the entire High School Musical trilogy, I wouldn't have had any expectations going in. But she did, so here I am wondering what it's going to take for Zac Efron to crash this ceremony instead of listening to Nagi and Bronwyn argue over their boyfriends.

While I'm just here.

Alone.

"Five inches easily," Nagi reasons holding the length out with her hands.

Bronwyn scoffs, "Seven."

"Do I even want to know what you guys are talking about?" I ask, looking at two of them who freeze in place.

"Probably not," Bronwyn admits lowering her hands.

"We were getting to the good part, though," Nagi whines shooting me a devilish smile.

I slap a hand to my forehead, muttering a string of curses before I look out into the stadium the three of us are seated in. Rows upon rows of people crowding the space, friends and family present for one last hurrah before the seniors graduate- an indication that the academic year is also finally over.

Tomorrow is the last day of school.

Which means junior year has officially ended.

Never thought I'd be able to say that.

So much has changed since spring break. For one, Nagi's bleached the tips of her hair a brilliant dark blue and convinced me to get caramel highlights in the process. My parents devote a good chunk of their time to Felix, who enjoys the limelight they cast on him.

Last, I checked Saanvi's been thriving, and she's going to do UNICEF with me next year. Javed never got around to asking Indigo out, and she did, in fact, end up with an Indian fuckboy as predicted. Which meant he had more time to tutor me, and I might have actually passed my Ap Physics test with a goddy three.

Bronwyn, Nagi, and I are civil with one another now. While she still spends most of her time with her friends from the dance team, we've hung out a couple of times together after school. How could we not after DECA internationals together? None of us got around to winning anything, but honestly, when you're at Disney Land- competition is the last thing on your mind.

I ended up taking the ACT after Avinash persuaded me to do so. (The latter will now be attending Yale post a summer program over there with Luna, Skye, Nick, and two other kids from our school.) I went in with zero expectations, assuming that my score would end up being a freaking 28 or something.

I got a 33 out of 36.

So yeah, maybe Harvard is off the table, but UC Berkeley sure isn't.

A set of eyes blue like the Atlantic meet mine. "Hey, Aarohi!"

"Hi Luke," I greet, watching as he takes the empty seat beside Bronwyn, pressing a kiss on her head as he does. The two of us got into a year-long apprenticeship with this local business owner, so we'll be seeing a lot more of each other when that starts in August.

"Luke is it true that your pe-" Nagi starts, but Bronwyn's already clamped a hand to her mouth, her pale skin a deep red now.

Luke's eyebrows knit together in confusion. "Wait, what?"