7 Days - A One Week Love

Thursday

"Last time we are going to school today," Lily stops me at the gate before I can step foot on the property. She is standing straight, shoulders pushed back and looking up towards the school buildings. 

I roll my eyes at her dramatics. 

"It's only assembly, it's not even really school, I don't understand why you are dragging me to this..." I could go on, but Lily pulls me into school and waves my protests off with a "yeah, yeah, whatever" and before I know it I am one head of a hundred sitting in neat rows in the big assembly hall, waiting for this hell to be over. 

It is really going to be over, isn't it? Suddenly realising, I tune in to Margaret, the head girl, giving her speech. 

"We will never get these days back. These days of being young, of being free, and of caring only about the next assignment or who is having drinks this weekend. It's never going to be the same. But do not be afraid. I believe we all have our unique talents. We are young and we are motivated. We are finishing school, yes, but starting on the rest of our live! Let's go out into the world and show them what are made of!" 

She finishes with a bang and I've got shivers and suddenly everyone is standing up and clapping. 

I don't want it to be over. 

Oh god. Oh, fuck. It's actually going to be over. Going to school. I will never do that again. Ever. In my whole life. 

I won't be able to see the guys every day, I will have to figure out what I actually want to do with my life. Fuck. 

Memories flash through me. Sitting at lunch with my friends, sneaking out for a smoke, walking to school together with Lily, going to Henry's garage after school, all the parties and times we went away together... 

Somehow it makes me sad and on the last day of my school career, I suddenly realise that the prison might have not kept us inside, but the brutal world of life decisions and responsibilities out.

After Mr Pinkhurst gives a speech as well, a few more prefects say a couple of words and we all clap, it is done. 

Done and over. 

Oh well, nothing I can do about it.

And before I know it I am standing outside the assembly hall with the rest of my year, in a circle with my friends. 

"It's really over, isn't it?", Tom asks, unusually serious and we all nod solemnly. It is only really sinking in now. 

"We're going to the beach now, you guys coming?" Reggie, Tom's friend suddenly bursts into our group hanging off Tom's shoulder and looks around the round. 

"Hell yeah, we are!" Tom exclaims, all gloom and fear of what is to come forgotten, and the rest of us agree.

 I can't help but feel melancholic and even sad to be leaving these people, my year. I mean they are all just people too. Sure the popular girls think they are on top of the world, but they will learn their lesson soon enough in the real world. 

And the jocks? Eddie pops into my mind. I guess not all of them are all that bad, either. 

And so with a newfound optimism and because I was so caught up in my daydreaming I end up squeezed in the back of Henry's Honda between Tom and Mel. 

I guess that's what you get when you keep your head in the clouds. Backseat instead of shotgun. 

I soon forget about my sorrow of being stuck in the back, however, when Henry puts on some Kendrick Lamar and we all shout "be humble!" as loud as we can every time the chorus comes on, earning us disapproving looks from passing cars and pedestrians alike, on our way to the nearby beach.