I was finally getting out of this hell-hole. Graduation had finally arrived, sending all the seniors into a spiral of tears, joy, and fear. I was mainly excited to get a move on with the rest of my life, but there was still something in the back of my mind telling me I was going to miss McKinley. Every so often, walking by a classroom or the football field, it would remind me of an actual good memory I made at this school.
My mother was in hysterics all week. I learned my lesson already to try on my graduation gowns in a room with a closed door, because as soon as I turned around in the mirror, my mother burst into my room, crying about how grown up I am. It took a good ten minutes for my dad to calm her down.
I was still struggling on what I wanted to say in my valedictorian speech. I had an outline of the points I wanted to hit, but once I sat down to write it, no thoughts came to my head. I didn't want to give the same, boring, stereotypical speech about all the amazing memories we've made here, and how we'll all be friends to the end of time. But if I couldn't come up with something soon, then I might be forced to resort to that.
The seniors had been tasked with cleaning out the choir room first, which was something I was not excited with. How come we had to do it? Why not stick this with the returning alumni who don't have to do anything? Or all the newbies in the Glee Club since they've been here the shortest?
Our main task, which I did not realize we had to do, was clean out the hundreds of lilies that had been set up inside. Who they were brought in by, or who they were for beats me. But all I knew was that whoever set them up was lucky that I didn't know who they were, because if I did, I'm pretty sure I would try to beat them up.
I was separating out the lilies that had been spoiled and those that had not when Tina stormed into the choir room. "My life is literally over."
"Where the hell did all these flowers come from?"
"What's wrong Tina?"
"Nothing. Just the fact that I'm going to spend the rest of my life in Lima because I'm not Jewish enough. I didn't get into Mitzvah, so I guess I'm the only one in this room that's not going to New York."
"I'm not going to New York, Tina," I reminded her.
"Fine, then I'm the only one in this room who doesn't have a plan for their life, and will most likely end up stuck here, not fulfilling their dreams."
"Why? You don't need a college acceptance letter to get over that bridge."
"I can't just go there without some kind of plan."
"Well, Kurt did, and I think he's doing pretty great. It's an adventure."
"Not for me. You don't understand. Without some kind of direction, I just feel like a giant, free-floating loser."
"Yeah, like me." Sam looked over towards the three of us, winking for some kind of support. At first, I had no idea what he was trying to reference, but then after a quick look back at Glee Club, and a minor tap from Artie, I realized what he was trying to get us to lead to.
"And me."
"And me."
"And me," I said, walking over towards Tina to take her hands. I pulled her out of her chair and towards the piano as Sam began strumming away on the guitar.
~Loser Like Me (sung by Sam Evans, Blaine Anderson, Mallory Schultz, Artie Abrams, and Tina Cohen-Chang)~
***
One of the last things I had to do before graduation was return my prized possession; my Cheerios uniform. I didn't realize how sad I would be about returning it until I took it off for the last time. Cheerios was the first group at McKinley that really brought me in as one of their own. Although I seem to have a much better time with the New Directions, Cheerios taught me more about grit and ambition, which I never thought I had.
Even through all the jokes and complaints I made, specifically about Coach Sue, I did look back on my time in the Cheerios with joy. Even if I constantly thought about quitting, and even did once.
Knocking on Sue's door, she looked up from her large stack of envelopes on her desk and beckoned me in. "Hello Principal Sylvester... is this a bad time?"
"Well, interacting with any teenager is a bad time for me, but I guess you may come in." I shut the door behind me and took my seat. "Thanks to the Glee Club's new buddy Holly, I'm stuck reading through all these letters from furious parents."
"Oh geez, well, I'm sorry for you."
"Thank you. That really means so much to me Baby Hands." I could tell that she was trying to be as sarcastic as possible.
"Well, I wanted to return my Cheerios uniform." I passed her the box, which contained the Cheerios uniform that took hours to clean. There's an intricate eighteen-step process to clean it, and specific products you have to use, or the fabric will completely fall apart.
"You can just set it on that couch, since you can notice that I have no possible room on my desk."
"Okay..." I set the uniform on the couch and turned away to make my way to the door. But for some reason, I stopped myself to turn back towards Sue. "Um, Principal Sylvester, I just wanted to say thank you. Especially for the letter of recommendation that you submitted for me."
"I thought you kids weren't supposed to read that."
"Well, I had to read through to make sure you never talked bad about me, or said that I shouldn't be admitted to college since I joined the New Directions. Also, I had to make sure you never referenced me as Baby Hands."
"That was just one time, and it was a force of habit."
"But I really appreciated what you said in it. About me, and how much I've grown over the years."
"Well, it was all true. Even if it pained me to write out something kind about you."
"I guess I'll see you at graduation then."
"I guess you will. And don't you even think about breaking into song with the rest of the Glee Club during your valedictorian speech."
"I wouldn't even dream of it," I said, shutting her office door behind me. Maybe Sue did teach me a few things throughout her constant yelling and nitpicking. She taught me to not care about what others critiqued about me. Especially annoying coaches who make you run the mile if your human pyramid is a degree off from what it should be.
***
~Just Give Me A Reason (sung by Quinn Fabray and Noah Puckerman)~
I couldn't believe that Puck and Quinn had gotten back together. I guess enlisting in the Air Force really shaped him up.
"I'd like to make an announcement," Quinn said, slightly clutching her stomach. Was this another surprise pregnancy that none of us had heard of yet? "Puck has asked me to go out with him as boyfriend and girlfriend. 'Cause you know, we've never actually dated." Was she being serious? I thought every time they hooked up, they just called themselves a couple. "So, I decided to throw caution to the wind and say yes."
"Wait what?" Did Puck even know about this?
"Yeah, I can't make any promises, but you know, you're the only guy who's actually been okay with me being myself."
"Well, once you've seen a baby come out of a girl's magic garden, everything else is easily acceptable." Everyone else, including me, was slightly shocked by his comment, but not unusual for Puck.
"I think I love you Puck. And I know it's not going to be easy, what with me in New Haven, and you... who knows where. But I'd rather do hard with you than easy with someone else."
"Wanky," I said at the same time as Santana. I turned towards her, holding out my hand for her to take. I guess I wasn't lying when I said that I was turning into her.
Quinn shot both of us glares, saying, "Santana, Mallory, for once, I'd appreciate it if you'd keep your inevitable snark to yourself."
"No, to be honest, I really like this pairing." That was quite possibly the nicest thing Santana has said in the past week. Puck then pulled Quinn in for another kiss, which garnered many cheers from the rest of the room. Quinn tried her best to quiet us down, but turned out unsuccessful.
"Well, in many ways, that brings us full circle, which is perfect, because that was officially the last song that will ever be sung in Glee Club." I turned towards Kitty, who was sitting closest to me, and grabbed her hand. That was a sentence I never thought I would say. "We all have more songs to sing. We just can't sing them in here anymore. Glee Club... is officially over. Thank you guys. It's been an honor."
We all just sat there for a few minutes, trying to take in everything. I was simply staring at the front of the room, where three years ago, I stood. Extremely terrified of what everyone was thinking about me. Little did I know that three years later, I would be getting emotional about saying goodbye to those same people.
~Don't Stop Believin' (sung by the New Directions)~
***
Fixing my graduation cap, I finally found a spot on my head in which it didn't make my hair flare out. My speech was finished and placed in my pocket. I spent hours working on it, and was actually impressed with the final product.
Stepping out of the bathroom, I spotted Sam sitting down further down the hallway, leaning up against a set of lockers. "You're going to be late to the ceremony if you stay here," I told him, slightly scaring him.
"I know. I'm just trying to figure out if my New York plans are terrible, and if I'm going to regret them for the rest of my life."
"Are you serious? You're supposed to be leaving in a week."
"People's minds change all the time. Especially if that person is extremely terrified of moving to a brand new city, getting a job that's kind of unstable."
"Oh come on Sam. You know as well as I do that your body is to die for. This is the one time where I'm actually encouraging you to strip down and model."
"That's a first."
"Come on." I stood up and reached out my hand for him to take. "Let's head inside."
Hand in hand, Sam and I took our place for the procession inside. This was what I had been waiting for since the day I stepped into this school. But surprisingly, I wanted all of this to pause to let me take it in one last time.
***
The ceremony was fine. Mostly boring, but what's new. Finally, Sue stepped up to the microphone, announcing, "And now, for our valedictorian speech. I am pleased to introduce this year's valedictorian for the class of 2013, Ms. Mallory Schultz."
I walked up to the microphone, feeling myself begin to shake. Hopefully my voice wasn't nearly as shaky as my legs. The spotlight blared my eyes, so I tried to find a spot in the audience to look that didn't burn my eyes. I could hear my parents cheering loudly for me as I walked up, causing my face to blush even more.
Most of my speech went well. After a few seconds of speaking, I was able to get my voice under control. I guess the worst part of the whole thing was hearing my voice echo throughout the auditorium.
It was the final part of my speech, and I realized that my eyes had been practically sealed to my speech the whole time. So, I folded up the piece of paper, and looked out at the audience. "Just recently, a friend of mine asked if I was scared of the future. I wanted to say no, I wanted to say that I was extremely prepared for my future, but that would just be a lie. I'm terrified of what the future holds. But something I can say for sure about McKinley is that it teaches you how to handle any kind of curveball that's thrown at you. Whether that's having to create a brand-new halftime show including the football team, or maybe it's enduring a school-wide power outage. Or maybe, it's simply getting hit in the face with a slushie. But whatever it is, I know that McKinley has shown me how to rely on others, even when you don't think you need it. Especially during a time of need, which sadly seems to be coming up a lot more frequently. But this speech isn't made to be sad or depressing, I'm supposed to give hope to my fellow graduates. So, class of 2013, I hope you look back on your time here with a sense of community, a sense of belonging. Because I know I will be."
As I walked off the stage to take my seat, Sue stopped me to give me a quick hug. I didn't even know how to react. I had never seen her display acts of kindness, except for when she was with Becky. "Thanks Principal Sylvester," I whispered to her.
"Oh please. Principal is so classy. Just call me Coach."
"Will do Coach." Before taking my seat, I turned around to wave at my family, and try to quiet them down since they had erupted in another fit of applause.
Finally, it was time for the passing out of diplomas. Since my name was further down the list, I had to endure almost everyone's annunciation. But, of course, when Artie, Tina, Sam, Blaine, and Becky's names were called, I cheered exceptionally loud for them.
"Mallory Schultz." I walked up to the podium, receiving my diploma and a hug from Mr. Schue. Sam wrapped me up in a tight hug, spinning me around. I had to hold on to the top of my cap to make sure it didn't fall off.
After Sue finished up reading all the names, she announced, "Congratulations to the class of 2013!" Tassels began moving, and caps began getting thrown into the air. Tina and I hugged each other, tears falling down her face. We had finally done it. We had finally made it through high school.
***
Checking my watch, I saw the minute hand move closer and closer towards 11:00. I wished that it would stop moving and freeze for a second, but of course, my pleas were not heard. Sam, Artie, Blaine, Tina, Kitty, and I were all sitting on the benches next to the train station. None of us wanted to admit that the guys had to get on the train within the next five minutes. We were all just sitting together, trying to relish in the last few minutes we had together.
Finally, Blaine stood up, saying, "Alright, we've got to get on the train soon or we're going to miss it."
"That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world," Tina said, sniffling through her tears.
"No. You guys have to go. So let's just all say our final goodbyes and get it over with," I suggested. First. I said my goodbye to Artie. Next was Blaine, which was a little more emotional. "Take care of Sam, okay?" I asked him.
Finally, I turned towards Sam, who had his arms already opened. I wrapped myself up, trying to savor this last moment with him. I felt a few tears fall down my face, but tried to wipe them away. He placed his chin on my head, trying to keep a strong face for me,
I looked back up at him. He held up my chin with his thumb, bringing my eyes to his. "Hey, don't worry. We're going to be fine."
"Sam, come on, we've got to get our seats," Blaine said, rather impatiently.
Sam held my cheeks with his hands, and gave me one last goodbye kiss. This wasn't like any other time we had said goodbye, mainly because we knew that we both still loved each other. All three of them stepped onto the train, waving towards us until they disappeared.
Thankfully, I had Kitty and Tina with me, who were just emotional as I was. I turned towards the both of them and suggested, "You know what sounds really good right now? Just some unauthentic, fatty, greasy Breadstix food."
Laughing to ourselves, I watched the train pull out of the station, taking Sam with it.
*a/n: Oh my gosh! We've finally got to the end of the continuous series! Ahhhhhh! Thank you for all the reads, votes, and comments! I'm so grateful for all of you! I'm sure you're all wondering what's happening next. Since Mallory is not going to New York, I will not be posting consistent chapters (ex: tested, opening night), but that does not mean the series is over. I will be posting some chapters here and there. Trust me, this is not the end of Mallory and Sam's relationship! Thanks again for reading*