Let's be Cliché || Lashton

And We All Fall Down

The graduates clapped the loudest, assuming that parents didn't remember what high school was actually like anymore; the stress of barely scraping by with grades, time management between a social life and schoolwork, and on top of that some students had jobs and sports and clubs and relationships.

"I don't have any paper memories to share with you that will bring on a laugh right now but we'll all throw away afterwards. I can tell you that at one point this year, my friend called me telling me they were too scared to make out with a boy. Another point, I was covered in trash with the love of my life. There was another time when I just spent the entire day laying on the couch with a mate and watched Mama Mia on repeat. And a couple weeks back, all of my friends and I were floating around in the school's pool--I can't disclose if it was actually trespassing--and talking about our futures. I wish I had hired some nerd to follow us around with a camera so I could have each of those events documented so I won't forget those cheesy moments, but life is unfair. Some things, memories, places, people... are meant to be forgotten..." You could hear the pain in Michael's voice but he kept going.

"You'll probably forget a lot about the four years you spent here, you'll look back and have memories but you'll forget who they're with, which is a sad fact of life. You'll look back and tell stories like, 'One time I was dumping trash on this loser...' but was he really a loser? You don't remember. And I've just now realized how sad this speech has gotten." Luke spotted Calum sitting in the front row, right in front of Michael with a loving smile on his face. Luke couldn't help but try to capture that feeling into a quick photo even if the auditorium was far too dark to get a perfect image.

"We're not sure what our futures hold, whether we'll marry the person we hold hands with now or if we'll find someone that makes us warm inside all the time. Whether we'll have a bunch of dirt-eating, snot-nosed children or if we'll have one, or maybe we'll just settle for a dog, or cat, or fish. There's no telling what will happen, we could die next week, next month, year, decade, maybe this generation will find a way to live forever, or maybe some of us will die tomorrow. This is why we try to break the rules, and party, and argue with authority,  because we want to live, not barely function in a rut that our parents have already mapped out for us. Buy concert tickets, take a year off, write a book about your angst filled life, travel the world, buy that stupid thing you saw on the Internet that you love, live a little." Michael exclaimed, whipping his speech papers off the podium and letting them explode into the air. Luke stood up and let out a shout back at his friend, returning the enthusiasm that Michael displayed. Not everyone stood up to applaud the choppy speech, but that was okay because Luke felt the words still ringing in his mind and he knew it was the same for everyone.

"Uh, thank you Mr. Clifford for that speech. You're lucky I can't suspend you because it's the end of the year," He chuckled but no one else joined in. "Let's move on to actually handing out the diplomas."

It was a while until the I's came along so Luke had a while to actually think about Michael's speech. A lot of it just seemed like rambling but even if it was, it made sense. Luke could die at any moment, he could also end up at a minimum wage job with a crappy apartment and a roach problem, the possible outcomes were endless. He knew one thing that would make any scenario absolutely worth living, Ashton.

He wasn't sure if Ashton even wanted to put up with him past high school, but in this moment, he was sure he wanted to marry the boy without a doubt.

"Ashton Irwin." The principal called, reading what Ashton had to say. "Ashton would like to thank all of his friends for being there for him even if they are all crazy, his mother for loving him no matter the situation, and he would also like to thank Gray for deciding to show up a couple days before exams to turn his life around. Ashton is receiving hon..."