All The Shadows We Made

Chapter 36 - May - Kat

May

Kat

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the graduating class of Mayhew High School!"

All of us scream and jump up and down, and the high school gym echoes with cheers and congratulations. Even Maggie manages a genuine grin. I fling my cap in the air along with everyone else, and I'm not sure I've grabbed the same one when they flutter back down, but it doesn't matter. It really doesn't. All that matters is that we did it.

The Green Goddess is packed and ready to go outside. Maggie and I aren't taking much with us; there's only so much room in an old four-door sedan. We have three months until I need to be at Berkeley for orientation, and we're going to make the most out of every single one of them. Chuck ended up gifting Maggie with Mickey's college fund as well, or what was left of it after memorial expenses. Just like with the car, Chuck figured Mickey would want us to have it.

Maggie and I file out of the gym into the bright May sunshine, our white robes rippling in the breeze. We take pictures with Maggie's mom and dad, who manage a tear or two for us, even though they had no reaction at all when they found out we were leaving. I still haven't heard a word from Charlotte. I thought I'd be mad, but I'm not. It's better this way.

I'm throwing my cap into the back of the car when Jamie taps me on the shoulder. "Congratulations!" he says, and sweeps me into a hug that lasts longer than it should. That's okay, though. We're not together, but Jamie and I will probably always be a little more than friends.

"Congratulations yourself!" I reply.

"So this is it, huh?" he asks. "Where to first?"

"Just over the border to Illinois," I tell him. "Turns out Superman was born there. There's a giant bronze statue in the Metropolis town square we need a picture with."

"No shit?" Jamie asks, and I'm about to reply when Maggie arrives with Jamie's mom in tow. In true mom fashion, she hugs Maggie and I and then starts squishing the three of us together in front of the car.

"Just one picture, honey," she says as Jamie starts to roll his eyes. "Humor an old lady."

So we stand there, squinting into the sunshine, in the same order we'll probably be in when we're old: Maggie and Jamie on the ends, with me squeezed in the middle. Let Kat be a sandwich, forever and ever, amen.

"Say cheese!" she orders, and we do.

We all hang together for another minute after Jamie's mom bustles off to go take pictures of who knows what else.

"So you got into the program, right?" Maggie asks.

Jamie nods. His smile is big enough to light up this whole stupid little town. "Yep! I have the summer off and then I start my classes in the fall."

"Good deal," Maggie says. Then she turns to me. "Well, shall we?"

"Hell yeah," I say.

"Be safe!" Jamie yells as Maggie starts the car. "Send me some pictures or something!"

Then Maggie is swinging out of the parking lot and taking the three turns necessary to put us on route to the Interstate.

"It's time for some music!" Maggie declares, her blonde hair whipping across her face as we pick up speed.

"Obviously," I agree. We speed out of town, passing the sign that reminds us that we're now exiting Mayhew, 'We hate to see you leave!', and when I plug the adapter into the old tape deck, it seems only appropriate that the first song on the shuffled playlist is one that Mickey used to blast at full volume on days when everything felt perfect.

Miss you, honey, I tell him, and then I put my feet up on the dash and watch the lines on the highway leading to the rest of our lives.