𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 ☾ 𝒑𝒂𝒖𝒍 𝒍𝒂𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒆

[15]

"Are you sure I look okay?" Lizzie asked, straightening her yellow gown in the mirror. Why the hell Forks High School chose yellow, she would never understand. Even a sensible black would be better than this obnoxious colour.

"You know exactly how I'm going to answer that." Paul replied, deadpan. Lizzie's mom, Olivia, was standing beside him, trying not to bawl all of her mascara off. Lizzie turned around and gave him a look, but she couldn't help but smile. He looked so... so damn good. He was only dressed in a white button-up, some dress pants and some fancy-ass shoes Lizzie didn't know the name of, but he looked good.

"How am I supposed to walk across the stage when I know I look like the guy from Curious George? I have the funny hat and everything!" Lizzie protested, pointing to the cap on her head. Paul just shook his head and grinned. Olivia gasped for air as she tried to calm her crying.

"We should go, before I lose my mind! My baby... all grown up..." Olivia trailed off, fiddling in her bag for a handkerchief. Lizzie smiled, moving over to kiss her mom on the cheek before they all loaded into the truck.

☾

"When we were five, they asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. Our answers were things like, astronaut, president, or in my case, a princess. When we were ten, they asked us again. We answered rock star, cowboy, or in my case, a gold medalist. But now that we've grown up, they want a serious answer. Well, how about this? 'Who the hell knows?'" The crowd cheered as Jessica grinned up on stage. Mike, Eric, Angela, Bella, and Edward were all smiling next to Lizzie as they watched their friend give her speech. 

"This isn't the time to make hard and fast decisions. This is the time to make mistakes. Take the wrong train and get stuck somewhere. Fall in love, a lot. Major in Philosophy, because there's no way to make a career out of that. Change your mind, and change it again, because nothing's permanent. So, make as many mistakes as you can. That way, someday, when they ask what we want to be, we won't have to guess. We'll know."

The crowd cheered as Jessica finished her speech, and the principal came on stage to start handing out diplomas. As Lizzie stepped on the stage, she heard Paul and her mother cheering loudly, as well as her obnoxiously awesome group of friends. 

It was almost hard to imagine being finished high school. It was such a 'monumental' part of life, or so she was told, and she expected it to be longer. Now she had choices to make. Or, mistakes, she should say. 

After the ceremony, Paul whisked Lizzie into his arms, cheering. He had dropped out of school after phasing, so he never got to graduate. He didn't mind, however, because he was too proud of Lizzie to care. So proud, in fact, that he came to the Cullen's graduation party. Or, endured it for a small duration of time before being so overwhelmed by the stink that he had to leave. At least, that's what Lizzie assumed.

"Come on, Paul, it's not that bad." Lizzie insisted, taking a sip of her drink as she leaned against a wall, trying to drown out the blaring music coming from two floors above.

"I'm telling you, it's like walking into a freezer full of old meat." He replied, nose wrinkling. Lizzie raised an eyebrow and he nodded incessantly.

"At least we have the decency to keep our thoughts on dog smell to ourselves." Emmet stated as he and Jasper rounded the corner. Lizzie gave them a polite smile, and Paul rolled his eyes.

"It's a good party." Paul sat flatly, bringing the solo cup of beer to his lips and sipping loudly. The two vampires just nodded, exchanging a small look of disbelief. Lizzie watch the exchange before grabbing Paul's elbow.