Fakers » Daniel Howell AU

Chapter 11

I looked at myself in the mirror, twirling around before stopping to see the ends of my dress in the air. I wore a white dress, shorter in the front and a longer in the back.. My brown hair was curled at the tips. I had some black rose earrings on, as well as an arrow ring that my father had given me before he passed away. Hopefully, wearing the ring would make me feel more like he was with me. I wish he was here to see my graduation. 

I heard a gasp at my door. I turned and spotted my mother, hand over her mouth. I smiled at her, "How do I look?" My mother didn't move, "Beautiful. I can't believe you're graduating. My little girl's growing up."

 I laughed before walking over to my mother, wrapping her into a hug. "I'll always be your little girl, mum," I told her, pulling away. My mother smiled, wiping away the few stray tears that had fallen. "And by the way, I think you look better than me." I pointed out, laughing. She shook her head, "Not at all."

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"Riley, we have to go!" I heard Phil shouting from the lounge. I took a deep breath, checking my looks in the the mirror one last time before walking out into lounge and spotting Dan & Phil dressed nicer than usual. I bit my lip as Dan's eyes landed on me. 

"You look amazing," Dan said, smiling wide. I looked over at my mother, who was looking back and forth at me and Dan. "Not ever getting married my ass," Mum mumbled, walking out of the lounge to go to the front door. Heat arose in my cheeks, making them deepen in color. 

"Mum!" I yelled at her before looking back at Dan & Phil, who were laughing.

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"We're graduating!" Gabi said, excitedly before pulling me into a tight hug. "Did you finally decide where you were going to university?" I asked when we pulled away, seeing Gabi smirk and I then realized, what she meant by it. "Wait- We are going to the same college too?" I asked, smiling wide. 

She nodded. Next year, Dan, Gabi, and I would be going to the same university. Not going to lie, I was extremely happy about it. 

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"Arizona Riley Addison," I heard. I took a deep breath before stepping up onto the stage and walking over to get my diploma. I looked over into the crowd as I shook my headmaster's hand and took the diploma. I spotted Dan who was smiling wide and gave me a thumbs up. I looked down, walking over to the section for graduates. I was one of the first to be called as they called by alphabetical order of last names. 

Soon enough, they got to the letter H. "Lacey Marie Hudson," She walked up to the stage, blonde hair curled and perfect. I couldn't see her dress because of the graduation gown she was wearing over it. I could see that she was wearing white cork pumps though. Her lips were a shade of deep red. She hadn't even tried to talk to me any before this started. 

"Gabriela Anahi Maddox," I smiled as I saw my best friend step onto the stage. Her hair was curled and pulled up into a fancy ponytail. She wore white pumps. From seeing her before the ceremony actually started, I knew that she was wearing a mint blue dress with lace details across the top. She looked at me as she walked down the stairs and stuck her tongue out. I laughed under my breath.

"Ashton Hunter Mason," I swear that my heart stopped beating for a split second. Hunter always said that he would skip out on graduation, not wanting to 'dress up' for it. Yet, there he was. I wasn't surprised that he still wore vans, but I could see that he actually had dress pants on. His hair wasn't as messy as it usually was. I saw Gabriela look back at me, a shocked expression planted upon her face. I nodded, obviously just as shocked.

"Kaden Dakota Murphy," Kade's full name. He always hated it, so we shortened it down one letter to Kade, making it the least bit bearable for him. Every time I set my eyes on Kade, Hunter, or Lacey memories flew back to me. I had to let those go to move on from them.

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"Hello, graduate," Dan came up to me. Crowds of people bustled around. "Hello.. you," I laughed out. "Riles!" I heard behind me before I was pulled into a hug. I soon realized that it was the over-excited Phil. I was let go just to be pulled into another hug by my mother. I laughed, "So many hugs." 

My mother pulled away and looked over to see Dan's pouting face, "And I didn't get one." I shook my head, laughing under my breath as I grabbed his arms and pulled him into a tight hug. "Better?" I asked. He nodded, wrapping his arms around me. 

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We got the restaurant where my mother was holding a graduation party. She had invited my whole class, without me knowing of course. Music blared throughout the restaurant. The music was picked by Dan and Phil as my mother doesn't know any of the music that I would like. 

"Great surprise?" Dan asked, grabbing my hand and spinning me. I looked over to only see Gabriela smirking at me. She winked before going off into the crowd.  "It's wonderful," I replied, smiling wide. "Okay, go have fun!" Dan shouted and I shook my head, crossing my arms as he walked off. I saw him look back at me laughing. I rolled my eyes and walked into the crowd to find Gabriela. 

Gabi and I were dancing weirdly to the music that was playing. I didn't expect to look over and see Dan across the room with Lacey. Kissing her. My breathing hitched and I was completely still. It felt as if my heart had shattered into a million tiny pieces. Gabriela noticed and looked in that direction, seeing what I was seeing. Her eyes met mine. She grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the crowd. The image of Dan and Lacey seemed to be tattooed to my eyelids because with every blink, I saw it again. It played over and over again in my head. 

I suddenly realized that Gabriela had somehow dragged me to the kitchen. My mother and Phil were the only ones in the room. "Riles, look at me," Gabi's hands were gripped onto my arms. I looked straight at her, tears at the rims of my eyes. I tried to blink them away, but as soon as I closed my eyes, I saw it happening again, making more tears form in my eyes. "What's going on?" I heard Phil question, standing behind Gabi. She looked at Phil and sighed, "Dan was kissing Lacey." 

Gabi looked back at me, then at my mother, "I'm going to take her back to your flat, okay?" My mother must've nodded because Gabi took my arm and was just about to lead me out when Dan walked in. "Have you seen-" His eyes landed on me. Gabi glared at him before pulling me out of the room. 

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"I don't know.. I told him that we could get together after graduation and it's after graduation, but he's off kissing... her," Gabriela sat in front of me. We were both in sweatpants and t-shirts. We sat in the lounge with tubs of ice cream and bowls of popcorn, a movie playing on the TV that was now being ignored as we had a conversation. 

"I thought that I was actually going to have a real relationship for once. One that didn't end up just like this." Gabriela gave me a sad look, "If anyone deserves a real, true relationship, it's you, Riley." I shook my head, sighing and looking down, "apparently, not." 

Silence arose between us until I thought of something. "Wait, didn't I hear something about Lacey dating someone?" I looked back at Gabriela who was now thinking. "Oh yeah. She was dating..." Her eyes went wide as a look of realization grew on her face and she let out a small gasp, "Hunter." 

**This chapter's a little longer. I've been stressing myself out just because I wanted this chapter to be posted and for it to be really long, which I completely failed at. I even skipped a whole day of school just to write this and it still is short. I don't even know why I try..

But seriously, thank you guys for 1k reads. It means so much! I love you all!**