Pick Up The Pieces

It's Time to Begin, Isn't It?

It's Time To Begin, Isn't It? - A Month Later

Graduating Junior year was a little more anticlimactic than I expected it to be. We don't have big ceremonies, just final exams and then a much needed segue into summer vacation. The really nice thing about my school is they grade final exams when you turn them in. Whenever you finish, you go up to the teacher's desk and they grade it. Once they're done, they write down your score in a separate envelope and pass it to you along with the completion certificate of the semester and any honors you've been awarded. You can't open it until you've left the room.

Today was the last day of finals. I had my Russian exam and Cas had his Spanish. I finish mine with half an hour to spare. Grabbing my things, I sling my bag over my shoulder and hand it to my teacher. "Pozhaluysta, Anya," I say quietly when the TA passes it back to me.

Heading outside, I open my envelope and smile when I see she's written a 98, and my high honors for the semester.

Pocketing it, I turn my phone back on and head toward my car, deciding to pick up coffee because Cas will probably still be in for another half hour. We're going to his house after to have a big celebratory something, with Addie and all of his family for making it through junior year. What an achievement, right? High school is hard shit.

The student parking is almost bare. The only exams today were the language and art exams, so there aren't a whole lot of people.

Getting into the car, I drive to our usual starbucks, debating whether I could sneak in a sandwich. I haven't eaten since breakfast this morning. We're going right to Cas's after this for that ginormous lunch, but I'm hungry. It's not like I won't be able to eat again. I'm a firm believer that there's never too much to eat. I feel bad when I'm eating twice as much as everyone else, but Jolie has always insisted and Cas says she makes too much food anyway. I suspect she's started to make more specifically for occasions when I'm over.

She loves cooking, though. And this whole big lunch with family and friends everywhere, eating? She lives for shit like this.

Sighing, I decide to stick with drinks. Walking into the cafe, I wave at Matthew, the smiley barista who I've come to think of as my friend, even though I'm sure he has way too many people to remember.

"Hey, Adrian," he says, already tapping on the screen to put my order in. "No Cas today?"

I smile at that, handing him my card. "He's taking his final right now, but I'm picking him up after, so I'd like the weird tea thing too, please."

Matthew laughs. "That's rough. Y'all go to Lakeside, right?"

"Yeah," I say, taking back my card.

We make small talk over the counter as he makes up the drinks, only a few other people in here, all the students long gone, jumping headfirst into the much needed respite of summer. Probably going to swim in the lakes or doing other outdoorsy things that are so much better during the few weeks it isn't constantly raining.

It's not a coincidence that those weeks - for me - are usually spent inside. Rain is so much better than sun. When you're cold, you can wear jackets or get a blanket. What the hell do you do when it's hot? Peel off your skin?

Matthew passes the drinks over to me, and I smile gratefully at him.

"Thanks, Matthew."

"Of course. Go take care of your boy."

My boy.

Yeah, I like the sound of that.

Once I get back into the parking lot, I get out of the car to wait for Cas, drinking my coffee and holding his tea.