The Lies We Share ✔

Epilogue

Laura tore open the large box and sifted through the photographs. Then she looked through her suitcase and found what she had been searching for, she made an audible "a-ha" before picking up the box of multicolored pins. She placed the pictures in order, first, she had the picture of her first day of senior year her mom had taken. She was dressed up in her favorite sky blue sweater and black jeans, her happy eyes squinted back at her. That was a picture of a girl who was just grateful to be in the last year of high school. Then a picture of her aunt and friends at the celebration of her aunt's case.

Memories flooded back from senior year, as she looked at the happy faces of Mark, Marie, and Todd. Why did they have to go to different schools? They were so far away. Todd ended up at Penn State, Mark followed him there. Laura still talked to Todd almost everyday, and that conversation was always interrupted by Mark, they were inseparable. Todd and Laura however always had a special bond, that never failed to make Mark jealous, which Laura loved about Mark. They agreed to meet up during Thanksgiving Break. Todd was even thinking about changing his major from Mechanical Engineering to English, Laura encouraged this transition and now that Todd was away from his family he could pursue any degree he wanted.

In the end, Amy and Brad, broke up, not amicably. Brad took it too far one day and Amy said to Todd that she had misunderstood him, she knew now that even supporting Brad as his girlfriend couldn't be a role she had to play forever, because she wasn't going to get married to the guy just so her father could stay on good terms with Brad's dad.

Todd never came out to his parents, he kept making excuses until the end of the year, and until the end of the summer, and he left to go to school keeping Mark a secret. To Todd, his sexuality was not speculation, it was not for his family members to discuss, it was his story and nobody else's. This was something his friends could respect at least. Life's journey isn't to tell the whole truth, it is doing the best with the facts you are given. His parents may learn the truth from him eventually, but until they deserve him as he is, until they became tolerant, and until it really mattered to Todd whether his parents knew or not, they would be left in the dark. Todd knew what happened to those who were different, he had been in the popular circle, after all, he knew the rumors that spread and how to hurt people. But Todd had also been at the bottom of the food chain her knew what happened when a simple rumor spread.

Marie was all the way in Colorado, going to Colorado State University. She had left early for a job position over there, she would be part of Welcome Week as an assistant. She told Todd, Mark, and Laura that it was to get a feel for the students there as she was shy, she really wanted to be pushed to her limit. They all applauded her for her decision, she is still getting used to the daily social activities but tells them that she has made some really cool friends that reminded her of them. She said the hardest thing about college now besides making friends was declaring a major, we all agreed.

Laura ended up in Illinois not Minnesota, she was attending Illinois State University, which she was surprised she had gotten into. But her hours of studying had paid off, though she knew she was mostly accepted for her ACT score. She also got a work-study, during the first week of classes she would be interviewing for a position at the café.

That first year of college she was going to be living in the dorms on campus and would be having a roommate. She was extremely nervous to meet her roommate, Audrey, was her name.

She looked over to the other picture, ironically sitting next to her aunt's party, her own case party. They had won their case against Ryan, one of the most relieving moments in Laura's life, the case took them until the end of senior year. Up until the last week of classes they fought for justice and a couple of days before they graduated they won the case, and Ryan was sent to prison for assault. His parents were caught up in the mess as well and would be spending a long, long time behind bars for their countless charges of abuse, neglect, and possession of drugs.

Ryan wouldn't be allowed back into society until they deemed him fit for parole, unnervingly, Laura was still worried he would seek revenge on her even while she was in a different state. She stayed off social media because of it, she ended up even deleting her Facebook. Ryan got what was coming to him though. And luckily, Laura and her friends never heard from him since.

Aunt Rachel had moved again, she was further away from her sister now, but she was living in a smaller town on the edge of western Minnesota, it was a nice change as she got a management position at a family restaurant. It was perfect for her as she loved serving people, but hated when they got wasted and started acting crazy. She said it was because it was annoying for one thing, and for another, it reminded her of the bad parts in her life. Her aunt would always be a number of hours away, but she would still talk on the phone a lot to both Laura and her sister. The bond formed between the three was enviable, even to her father who was mostly left out of the case. He was always saying how the three of us were like three peas in a pod and how he was the pea rolling off the plate. Laura's mom assured him that they would gladly invite him to the spa days they had lined up that summer, and her husband politely declined. After that he changed his simile, he was now no longer a pea on the side of the table, he was instead an independent piece of chicken.

Todd ended up graduating with the rest of his class, he switched to online school when the truth came out that he was gay, but he walked at graduation.

Graduation day was quite possibly the happiest day of Laura's life. The moment that she got on the graduation stage, she knew then that things would change for her.

She looked at the other pictures, one of her in her red dress at a party at Todd's house, it was an alternative prom only for cool people, one of her and Marie at the movies, a great picture of all of them at graduation, wearing their gowns. Laura smiled softly. She missed them deeply but knew she would see them again at Thanksgiving.

"Hey!"

Just then a girl came into her room, she had straight brown hair and matching brown eyes. She looked very youthful. The girl gave Laura a toothy smile, before introducing herself as Audrey.

"Hey, I'm Laura Cliff, I guess we are roommates!"

Audrey smiled and they shook hands.

"Audrey Monroe, nice to meet you," she added noticing Laura's display behind her, "Oh, putting up pictures, nice."

"Yeah, they are from senior year," Laura said holding up a picture of her friends in graduation attire.

"Nice, I was homeschooled," Audrey said, her eyes glancing nervously at the desk full of pictures.

"Oh, that is cool," Laura said hesitantly, she was unsure what homeschool was like and didn't want to sound dumb

"Well, it's not really cool, I didn't find a lot of new people to talk to, just my neighbors and family members. I'm the youngest of three. So busy house," she chuckled clearly reminiscing on her days at home.

"Nothing like a normal school, though, I feel like I missed out," Audrey said looking up at Laura, her eyes looked sad.

"Normal school is what you make it, I know I felt like I wasted most of my time there, Audrey."

Laura smiles before opening more boxes, Audrey goes to move her things into the room. The two were all alone in their room then, the only sound is of boxes ripping and items moving. The space was small, but Laura had brought a lot of stuff from home to fill it out. The two girls made small talk telling each other about where they were from. Audrey was from Iowa.

"Suppose, you're right, Laura, about school being what you make it," Audrey brought up Laura's point suddenly, "I'm tired of unpacking, so, if life's what you make of it, let's go get some food at the café!"

"Of course, roomie," Laura said eagerly, both girls smiled at each other. Instead of four more years of regrets, maybe, Laura could have the memories she had always hoped for.