Becoming Ready

Chapter 2 - Graduation

It was graduation day at Saint Peters, and Charlie wasn't sure how to feel. It was bittersweet, that was for sure. Although she didn't love all of her classmates, or teachers, she was still going to miss them. She finished cleaning out her locker, thinking about how this was the last time she would ever have to remember a locker combination for the rest of her life. Colleges didn't have them, or at least, not that she was aware of.

"Charlie!" Taylor, her best friend, called out to her from down the hallway.

"Hey! You almost done with your locker?" Charlie asked her, walking over.

"Yeah, it's crazy the stuff I'm finding in here," Taylor said, holding up a picture of herself with Charlie, Rachel, Alex and Jessica.

The five of them used to be way closer, but ever since last fall when they abandoned Charlie for a rich, popular girl who turned out to be semi-psychotic, things hadn't quite been the same. Mara, the psycho, was still in a program for troubled teens as far as Charlie knew. The three girls had apologized, which Charlie had accepted, but the level of trust between them was never really rebuilt. Charlie wasn't entirely friendless, though. During the last four months of Senior year, she had made good friends with two girls named Katie and Renee from Theater. And through it all, Taylor was still her best friend, no matter what.

"I'm gonna miss you when you go to UW next fall, Tay," Charlie frowned, referring to the University of Woodvine, where Taylor would be attending college next year.

Taylor's expression matched Charlie's. "I know! Even though it's only five hours away, I feel like it might as well be across the country."

Charlie sighed. "I'm jealous, to be honest. My original plan was to get as far away from Bridgeport as possible for college. But here I am, staying in town. Going to school with my ex."

"Well, I'm proud you didn't let him ruin Art School for you," Taylor said, closing her locker. "Plus, now you have Shawn. And I'll be home for every break. I know myself, and I am one hundred percent going to get homesick. We're going to have to talk on the phone and exchange stories as much as possible."

Charlie smiled and nodded. She knew their friendship could make it through long distance. They could make it through anything.

It was time for them to head to the football field for the ceremony. The went to the bathroom and changed into their graduation robes, which were yellow, of all colors. And not the kind of yellow that anyone looked good in. Leave it to Saint Peters to pick the weirdest color to send their Seniors off in.

As they walked, the stupid tassel on Charlie's hat kept getting in her face. She held it as she and Taylor half walked, half ran to the field. They were nearly late, but they got there in time.

As the Seniors lined up alphabetically according to last name, everyone was hugging and chatting excitedly. Charlie even saw a few tears here and there. Personally, she knew she wouldn't be crying. Yes, she would miss Saint Peters. But not that much.

She hugged Katie and Renee quickly before they headed to take their places. Her friend John came and took his place behind her in line. Charlie's last name was Jackson, his was Jameson. She smiled and gave him a hug as well.

"Party tonight at my house, you coming Charlie?" he asked her. "It's been a while!"

Charlie didn't answer right away. Parties usually meant alcohol, especially parties at John's house. Although she wasn't a full-fledged alcoholic, she wasn't in AA like Shawn or Courtney, her sister had warned her to be careful with drinking. It had been easy to stay away from parties for the last few months after she had found out how much she loved theater. After her starring role in the Winter play, she had busied herself with a supporting role in the Spring musical. Between that and keeping her grades up, she had managed to barely even think about partying.

However, all that was over now. It was summertime. And it was her high school graduation, a time to celebrate. She had to go to a party, or else she might feel like she missed out.

She smiled. "For sure, I'll be there."

The ceremony started, and the line began to move as the Principal announced her classmates' names one by one. When it was her turn to walk out on the stage, she squinted slightly in the bright light. She walked over to the Principal, taking her diploma in one hand and his hand in the other, just like they practiced earlier that day. She smiled for a picture, and then walked off stage. And just like that, she was a high school graduate.

When everything was over, she found her family on the field. Courtney gave her a big hug, and her parents did as well. She was happy to have them there. Maybe it was because Courtney was no longer constantly in crisis, but Charlie finally felt like her parents noticed her. Over the last few months, although her mom was still taking too many pain pills, they had been behaving better than ever. Her dad was working much less, which meant when he was home, he wasn't as tired and angry. He would even go out with her mom occasionally. They were both happy about her acceptance to the Art Institute. Courtney had just about two years of sobriety, and she was doing really well at Bridgeport Community College. Charlie couldn't remember the last time things were this good.

"Hi Dan, hi Liz," Taylor said to Charlie's parents. Sometimes Charlie forgot that they had their own names, not just mom and dad.

"Hi Taylor," Dan said. "Congratulations on UW!"

"Thanks!" Taylor said, smiling. She turned to Charlie, "Are you going to John's later?"

Charlie nodded, and Taylor did too. "Cool. I'll see you later, Jacksons!"

They all rode home together after that. Charlie was just about to head to her room to text Shawn and get ready for the party, when her parents called her out to the living room.

Charlie walked in cautiously, seeing Courtney already standing there with a confused look on her face. They never had family meetings.

"Girls," their father began. "We wanted to wait as long as possible to tell you this, and I'm sorry to do this today, but we need to tell you something."

Courtney and Charlie exchanged looks, but didn't say anything.

He took a deep breath. "I was fired. I lost my job. I've been looking for another one, but things are a bit tough out there at the moment."

Charlie thought about how it seemed like her dad had been working less lately. "How long ago?"

He looked surprised at the question, but then resigned to answer it. "It's been about three months."

"What?!" Courtney said. "Three months?"

He nodded grimly. "Yes, and we hoped we wouldn't have to tell you. But the problem is, we don't have a lot of savings since your mom stopped working, and unemployment doesn't pay a lot of money, so..."

"So, we're losing the house," their mom blurted out. She had been pretty quiet until that point. "We can't afford the mortgage anymore."

"What?!" both girls yelled.

"We only have two weeks to get out, so we're going to have to start packing soon. We've been looking for an inexpensive place to live," their dad continued. "But it's going to be tight."

Charlie sat down on the couch, her head spinning. She had been pretty excited just an hour ago about how great everything in her life seemed. What were she and Courtney going to do? They both planned on living at home next year. Charlie's student loans didn't cover the cost of living, just tuition, so it wasn't like she could use them to pay for anything else. She had planned to get a part time job, but would that be enough? Was she going to have to work full time to support herself? Her family never had much money to begin with, but this was going to be a new level of struggle.

She stood up, informed everyone she was going to need some time to process, and headed to her bedroom. She had a party to get ready for. 

**Uh oh, how's Charlie going to act at her first party in months?