The Neighbors

Chapter 21

The following week, I attended Harry's graduation. My parents came with me, both to help with the girls and because they had gotten to know Harry well enough in the past year that they wanted to congratulate him on his achievement.

I purposely steered clear of Harry's family, for obvious reasons, but also because I didn't want anyone to slip up and mention mine and Harry's clandestine relationship to my family. I wasn't quite ready to broach the subject with my parents, although I knew I had to talk to them about it sooner or later. I had promised Harry that our year apart would be partly for the purpose of slowly warming our families up to the idea of us. I still had no idea how my parents would react.

River Haven High School had a decent sized senior class, around 500 students. Therefore the ceremony took a long time. Even though it was early June, the weather was already heavy and hot. I smiled to myself to remember that it was around this time last year when Harold first moved in next door. I found it hard to believe I had thought maybe there could be something more between us, and I found it even harder to believe that I ended up falling in love with his teenaged son.

The girls started to get squirmy because of the long ceremony and the heat. My dad offered to push Rachael around in the stroller, and I gladly allowed him to do so. He roamed around behind all the chairs and I didn't hear a peep out of Rachael. I hoped he would still be able to see the graduates who would soon be walking across the stage.

When it came close to Harry's turn to receive his diploma, my mom and I stood the girls up on our laps so that they could see him. As soon as he walked on stage, before the principal even announced his name, both Grace and Aurora screamed, "Harry!" Their tiny voices sailed clear over the crowd and Harry looked toward us and laughed and waved. The girls were delighted.

After the ceremony finished, we waited for the crowd to thin out before trying to find Harry. Soon I spotted him in his silky red robe and graduation cap and I pulled the girls along behind me to get to him. As soon as he saw us, he rushed over and gave me a hug. "I'm so proud of you," I said quietly into his ear, and he responded with a light kiss to my cheek. Then he picked up each one of the girls and squeezed them. Finally, he greeted my parents and thanked us all for coming.

Not two minutes later, Harold strolled up, giving me the coldest possible greeting ever. He simply nodded and didn't even say hello. He did the same to my parents. I quickly excused myself and my family and we left Harry to celebrate with his own family.

"Harold seemed a bit rude," my mother commented as we walked away.

I just nodded my head in agreement.

"Why do you think he acted like that?" She asked.

"Don't know, Mom," I said, trying to be nonchalant, but I think she could tell I was fibbing.

"Did you two have a fight?" She pressed. Yes, mom, he found out that I'm in love with his son and he freaked out, and Charlie accused me of being a gold-digging whore, I thought.

"I don't want to talk about it right now," I said, and she dropped it, to my relief.

About a week after his graduation, I invited Harry over for a celebration dinner. I didn't go to his graduation party, even though he begged me to. I just wasn't ready to mingle with his dad and his brother as if nothing had happened.

But when he came for dinner, he had some big news to tell me. "I got accepted to the Fitzhugh College of Music and Performing Arts."

"Harry! That's wonderful!" I screeched, launching myself into his arms. He picked me up and squeezed me. When he put me back down, I could tell he was absolutely thrilled at the opportunity. Several Broadway composers had graduated from Fitzhugh, as well as a few top 40 singers and songwriters. I knew that Harry would excel there, and I was thrilled for him.