Everything Changes

Chapter Three: The Graduation Parade

It had been twenty-four hours since Juliana broke up with Jake.

And she still felt like an asshole.

She couldn't stop replaying his reaction in her head. It made her emotional, even though breaking up was what she wanted.

She tried to keep a smile on her face as she sat in the backseat of Trevor's car, but that was almost impossible. She was thankful the windows were down and her hair was flying in her face. That way, her hair could cover her frown and her friends wouldn't notice that she was sad.

She knew she didn't have time to be sad that day. It was a big day, after all. The graduation boat parade - something she had been waiting to participate in her entire life. She kept thinking about how it was finally her time to experience the boat parade as a graduated high school student, and that was helping her stay happy for the time being.

Trevor slammed on the breaks of his car once arriving at Brittany's house. He honked the horn several times, his eyes anxiously checking the time. "Hurry up!"

Brittany was alarmed when she exited her house, not expecting such urgency to come from her boyfriend. She walked towards his car at an average pace, sporting a trendy yellow sundress and a matching headband.

Her radiant energy made Juliana sigh. She wished she looked as happy as her friend did. On the contrary, she was wearing a black dress, which perfectly represented her emotional state. Sad.

"Run!" Shouted Trevor nervously as the minutes were passing by. "We're going to be late."

Brittany started to pick up her speed towards his car, her volumized brown hair bouncing with her every move. She playfully rolled her eyes when she entered the passenger side of the car. "I'm not the one who was twenty minutes late, Trevor."

Cassie laughed in the backseat beside Juliana, running a hand through her wavy blonde locks. "You can blame Juliana for that. We were waiting outside of her house for hours."

Juliana's jaw dropped as she playfully hit Cassie in the arm. "It wasn't that long—"

"Actually, it was," Trevor interjected in a sassy tone, already fearing they'd show up minutes late to the parade. It made him nervously sweat.

Brittany laughed at the conversation. "Damn, Juliana," she said as she strapped the seatbelt over her chest. Trevor was quick to speed out of the neighborhood. "Rough night?"

Juliana nodded, figuring how was the perfect time to tell her friends what happened. "Actually, yeah," she answered. "I broke up with Jake."

Silence loomed over the car. Brittany was quick to turn around, her jaw dropped as she made eye contact with Juliana in the back seat. At first, she was at a loss for words, trying to comprehend the news. She didn't expect those words to come from her friend's mouth. How could they be true? Did Juliana actually want to lose someone like Jake?

"You finally pulled the trigger?" She questioned, seemingly very interested in the topic at hand. Juliana nodded in response. "Wow, you're more like me than I thought. I really didn't think you'd actually break his heart."

On the contrary, Cassie had more of an empathetic response - as always. "I'm so sorry, Juliana. That sucks."

Juliana appreciated her friends' interest in the situation. She had a smile on her face when she spoke. "Thanks, guys. I'm just really upset, though."

Brittany laughed as she applied a shade of pink lipgloss to her lips. "Well, of course. It happened last night," she said, as always being brutally honest and very transparent. "But it's the graduation parade! We've been waiting for our turn for our entire lives! You have to be happy for at least an hour."