"We literally have an hour before the rehearsal, Bail!" Mar yelled up to me.
I groaned loudly. "Well, this wouldn't be an issue if our fucking school had the sense to have a rehearsal last week!" I yelled back.
So, our graduation ceremony rehearsal was today, in an hour, and I couldn't find my damn navy blue shirt. It was starting to get a bit more hot than our town was used to and I wanted to wear my shirt with half sleeves today. Typically, a high school would have their graduation rehearsal during the month before graduation, but ours was two days before the ceremony. Thanks to Vanders's idiocy, he schduled everything all wrong. Now I'm busy trying to find my-
"Bail, hurry!"
I sighed, giving up, and opted for a dressy, red shirt. I bounded down the stairs as fast as I could without falling the rest of the way down, stopping as I entered the kitchen.
"Okay, let's go," I said, grabbing my small bag off of the table.
Mar, Drey, and the guys just stood there.
I furrowed my eyebrows, "Uh, what the hell? You tell me to hurry and now you're all just standing there?"
Carter smirked, "We'll go as soon as you put on some pants."
I looked down immediately, seeing my gray colored girl boxers. I rolled my eyes in irritation and stamped my foot. "I fucking hate this day!" I groaned on my way back to my room.
<><><><><><>
So, now we were sitting in our respective seats during the rehearsal. Thinking ahead, The girls and I talked Vanders into putting Mar and Drey's last names as 'Harrison', because it made us closer in the seats and our names got called a lot closer as well.
My phone buzzed as Vanders was onstage explaining our actual graduation dates' details, and I pulled it out to see who was texting me. It was Mason... Again. Yeah, he finally decided to start talking to me again, and actually wouldn't stop now. He texted me even when we were in the same room. He knew I wouldn't respond, however, so he pretty much had conversations with himself.
Hey, again. Hope your rehearsal is going good. Heard you came downstairs with no pants on. Ha, good job. Anyway, see you when you get home? Yeah? Okay (:
And that was it. I understand he's trying to make amends but, with graduation so close and all the hectic events, I can't deal with him right now. My phone buzzed again.
Oh, and I miss you. And I'm sorry... Again.
As usual.
"Bail!" Mar whispered over to me. Since our town was small, there wasn't very many names that began with 'A' or 'B' between Mar and I. We were about four seats away from one another.
I put my phone back into my back pocket, "What?"
She lifted her phone and shook her head, which basically meant that Mason had also texted her. She often scolded me, like she was right now, about how harsh I was toward him. I didn't care.
I rolled my eyes and looked back toward the stage. But, instead of actually paying attention, I noticed that there was a guy standing off toward the back end of the stage. He looked extremely familiar. I squinted, thinking it would help but it only bothered me more. I know that I know him, but I feel like I hadn't known him for very long.
"Um, Bailey?" the girl beside me wanted my attention. I think her name was Bailey as well, but probably spelled differently.
"Yeah?" I asked.
She looked afraid, which made me feel a little bad about how mean I seemed to other people. "Um, Amara said to tell you that, uh, you need to look at your phone," she finally said.
I nodded in reply and took my phone out again. She texted me five times. Guess I was too distracted to feel it buzz. I went straight to the last text.
Jesus, I hate texting you. You take forever! But, hey, there's a guy near the back of the stage that looks crazy familiar. When you get this, tell me if you know him.
I looked to her, seeing her annoyed and curious expression. I smirked and texted back.
Maybe I just like to see you struggle. Kidding. But, yeah, he does look familiar. That's what was distracting me. Text Drey to see if she thinks the same.
She replied immediately after she got it.
She won't care. Maybe one of the guys will know?
I shook my head at her and put my phone away, which meant we'd discuss it later. For now, I was just watching the guy as he stood there, so it surprised me when my line stood up to practice walking onto the stage and so forth. As I walked onto the stage after my name was called, the guy that looked familiar looked right at me and frowned with furrowed eyebrows. I frowned back and turned away from him, taking the invisible diploma from Vanders, shaking the hands of whoever I needed to shake hands with, and walked off the other end. Instead of going to where I was supposed to go, I went straight to Mar.
"Did you see the way he looked at you? Talk about weird," she frowned.
I nodded, "Yeah. I swear I know him from somewhere. But I know for sure that it wasn't recent, if I'd ever seen him before."
"This is going to irritate me," she huffed.
"Well, where do you think you saw him?"
"I don't freaking know. Maybe when dad was still here?"
"Maybe he's a son of dad's friends."
"Probably. Think we should talk to him? He seemed to know you."
I frowned and glanced back at the guy again. He looked stoic. I turned back to Mar, "I don't think so. If he does know me, or us, then he'll come up to us."
"Okay," she agreed.
After gathering the others, we all headed to Randy's. Mason was still texting me so I shut off my phone altogether.
"Oh, man, I swear I can't wait to be out of school already," Carter groaned in irritation, "If Vanders ever accuses me of stealing school fundraiser money again, I'll chop off his left nut."
I scoffed, "But you did steal school fundraiser money."
"Yeah, but I used it to fix the school vending machines."
"Because you buy stuff from the vending machines everyday," Niko rolled his eyes.
Carter shrugged, "Yeah, so?"
Jason smirked, "So, you basically used the money for yourself."
Carter waved us off and gulped his soda.
I turned to Jason, "Hey, where's Rebecca?"
"She's making graduation dinner plans with her parents and grandparents," he replied.
"Well, when she's done, tell her she can meet us here," Drey smiled.
He texted her immediately.
I felt bad about ignoring Mason, but he chose for it to be this way in the first place. Now that he wants me back, I'm supposed to just forget how he was to me? Don't get me wrong, I still had feelings for him, but I was done being at his call.
"Hello," someone said to me.
I blinked out of my thoughts and looked up. "Uh, hey," I said, realizing it was the guy from the stage.
He smiled- and it was one hell of a smile- at me, "You're Ben's daughter, Bailey, yes?" He had sort of a light Italian accent and his voice was husky. The accent was only detectable if you listened closely, however.
"Um, yeah," I nodded, "And these are my sisters-"
"Amara and Dreydan," he finished, flashing a smile toward them as well, "And Carter, Jason, and Niko. Nice to see you all again."
Mar made eye contact with me when he said 'again'.
"In a nice way, who are you exactly?" Carter asked him.
The guy chuckled, "Still the tough one, I see. You don't remember me at all?"
We all looked to one another and each shrugged.
I frowned, "Apparently not."
He nodded, "My name is Sebastian Gerard. My father is Nicholas Gerard, and he worked alongside of your father. They were both great men."
"Oh... You're dad, um, passed as well?" Drey asked awkwardly.
Sebastian nodded, "Yes, four years ago. You girls and your father flew out to his funeral in-"
"Miami?" I finished, "Oh, my god, now I remember you! You were the kid who hit your driver for trying to take you from the cemetery."
He frowned, "Yes... I regret that you had to see me that way, but my father and I were very close. My mother... Well, she is her own person."
Mar had the look of a sorrowful saint on her face, "I'm sorry. So, what brought you to town?"
"Well, I had come to see your father, and was very surprised to find out that he had also passed. I'm very sorry for your loss, I know you girls were the world to him, and vice versa. I should have visited him more often. After all, he always checked on me when he was in the city over the years."
I pursed my lips, "Yeah, well... So, are you here any longer or?"
"I feel like a fool for asking this of you so soon, but I actually needed some papers of my fathers'. He'd left some work with your father and, since I've inherited my father's work, I've realized some files were missing. I'm not entirely sure that they're even here, but it's worth a shot."
Mar cut off whatever I was about to say with, "Yeah, sure! Um, Bailey can actually help you with that. Right, Bail?"
I furrowed my eyebrows at her, "What are you doing?"
She gave me a look, "I'm saying you can help Sebastian."
I sighed in my mind and shrugged, "Yeah, okay."
Sebastian smiled, "Thank you, ladies. So, I will stop by your house tomorrow. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to get back to the school."
"Wait, um, why exactly are you needed at the school?" Niko asked.
He paused, "Well, my father and Ben funded the high school since the girls' first day there."
Mar's eyes widened, "I never knew that."
I frowned, "I didn't either. He never said anything."
Sebastian nodded, "It was made to be secret and it was deemed that my father- and yours- would be attending your graduation as superiors and such. I'm actually foreseeing how things are being carried out, and am still funding whatever needs to be done. Your principal, however, keeps trying to make the funding continue after you girls had left the school."
"Wait, so you're going to just stop funding the school, just because we're leaving it? We're still a part of this town and it would be so beyond fucked up if we were to just stop helping them," I argued.
"I know. That's actually why I wrote a check to the school for fifty thousand dollars."
"What!?" Jason exclaimed, "You just gave away fifty thousand dollars to a school that barely holds four hundred students, and can't even have a pizza line?"
I rolled my eyes at Jason an turned back to Sebastian, "I didn't mean that you had to fund it from now on. I just meant that-"
"I know you meant well, Bailey. I don't have any issues with giving money to your school, or to keep funding it. I see it has done well in educating you girls, and I would just like it to be like an appreciation gift," he smiled, "I must go now. It was very nice to see you all again, and I will see you tomorrow."
I raised an eyebrow as he walked out for the restaurant. A waitress came by to drop off our order, left, then I didn't even feel like eating the pizza anymore. Just kidding, I love the damn food.
"Why didn't dad tell us he was funding the school?" Mar frowned.
Carter shrugged, "Who cares? He just wanted you guys taken care of."
"You know he did it for you guys as well," Drey nudged his shoulder. "And you should be proud of that. It isn't often that a father would like his daughters' guy friends."
"Exactly. He likes us as you guys' friends, but he hasn't been around to see me as your boyfriend," Niko pointed out.
Mar laughed, "Whatever. He liked you best anyway, Niko."
Jason frowned, "Hey."
"Yeah, he was around when Jason and I were together," I protested.
They nodded, "Oh."
We then began to eat, and Lakefield showed up before we got to the second pizza. He was a good boy and had stayed to finish the rehearsal.
"So my sister has a new victim," he said casually as he ate.
I smiled, "Oh, who's the sucker this time?"
He shrugged, "Some guy that Vanders was talking to. Apparently he's rich, which might be why my sister has an interest in him, and he looked like a year or so older than us."
My jaw almost dropped, "What's his name?"
"Something with an S or something or other. Why?"
Drey frowned, "God, he hasn't even been here a day and he already got snagged by the evil witch."
"You know him?" Lakefield asked, his mouth full of cheesy bread.
Carter looked disgusted, "Dude, keep your food to yourself."
Instead of agreeing, Lakefield childishly mocked him.
"Apparently, he's the son of one of my dad's business friends. He came here because his dad and our dad funded the school since we started, and something about him needing files that were his dads or something," Mar replied, handing Lakefield a napkin.
"Whatever. As long as he doesn't cause trouble or anything. You know, we never know if he's telling the truth. About his dad's files, I mean. He might just be trying to get his hands on something of your dads," Jason noted.
Niko and Carter frowned.
"You've been watching too much Netflix," Niko snickered.
Carter nudged Jason, "Ooh, you better watch yourself all alone at your house, someone might want to kidnap you right out your window."
Jason furrowed his eyebrows, "Why would they go through my window when I leave my door unlocked?"
We all just stared, then laughed at him. He was so ditzy sometimes.
"I wouldn't worry. I'm not saying we can trust him, but we'll just see what happens," I shrugged.
They all agreed.
When we got home that night, Mason looked super pissed. When Mar tried to ask why, he just shrugged and kept watching t.v. as if everything was fine. Everyone just settled in and didn't mind him. It bothered me, though, so I tried talking to him when he went to the kitchen for a drink or something.
"Hey, uh, you alright?" I asked, watching as he looked through the refrigerator.
He sighed and continued to look, "Yeah."
Knowing he would probably say more if I kept talking, I did just that.
"So, are you freezing me out again or..." I inquired.
"Am I freezing you out?" he scoffed, "No, Harrison, I am not."
"Well, there's no need to be sarcastic about it."
"Tell me how you want me to say it, then."
I was getting irritated, "You know what, never mind. I guess trying to talk to you anyway was a waste of time, right?"
He shut the refrigerator with force and gave me an angry look. "Yeah, I guess so! Look, I get that I made mistakes in how I was to you, but I'm trying to fix them! I text you all the time and I know you ignore them or read them without replying- Oh, don't worry about my feelings, you've already decided that I haven't got any of those, right? I mean, I asked you out, we go on half a date, then I decide to not go further with you shortly after, so I must not be serious about you or about the fact that I know you're different and special, right!? Yeah, well, I do know all those things and I'm trying to show that to you again, but now you're the stubborn one!" he vented. When he finished, he sighed deeply and shook his head.
I stood there frowning in confusion and surprise. "Uh, okay... I don't really know what to say to all that right now, to be honest," I finally said.
He scoffed again, "That's a first."
"Why the hell are you suddenly so pissed, Mason?" I asked, exasperated, "I told you we shouldn't talk for a while, so it isn't my fault that you keep texting me like I stole your puppy! Believe it or not, I actually am trying to forget about all that crap, and I'm trying to remember why I chose you in the first place! If you would just stop being so damn emotional and bipolar all the time, maybe I'd move the process along!"
We stood there, me in anger and him in paranoia.
"So- So, you still have feelings for me, then?" he asked, avoiding my eyes.
I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms, uncomfortable with having to express my feelings aloud to him. "Uh, yeah... At least, that's what I'm trying to figure out. But if you keep acting like a seventh grade girl, it just makes this a lot harder."
He nodded, "Okay."
"Okay," I nodded in reply. Before anything else could be said, I left the kitchen and threw myself onto the couch beside Mar. After a while, I realized that everyone was eyeing me as Taken 2 was showing on FX.
"What?" I asked rhetorically, annoyed at them as well now.
They all developed a smirk and looked away. Carter winked at me, making everything feel almost like it was before. Don't get me wrong, I know it's probably best that he and I don't flirt anymore- even though it's just the usual playful thing for us- but it just feels ordinary and like it was before. It made us both feel more relaxed.
I knew they probably heard everything from the kitchen and, when Mason returned, it was confirmed. Drey had a huge smile freshly painted onto her face, and Mar snickered at my pathetic morals of late.
"I want pizza," I frowned after an hour or so passed. I hated watching movies with commercials; they take too long to finish.
Carson had joined us about thirty minutes ago, after shopping with her new best friends Rebecca and Veronica. "I thought you guys ate earlier at Randy's?" she asked, munching on some Hot Cheetos.
"Um, excuse me, if you haven't realized by now that I am a forever endless pit when it comes to pizza, then you need to stalk me sometime tomorrow," I replied.
I wasn't so harsh to her anymore, but I still hated that she liked Veronica so much.
She shook her head at me, "How you aren't even remotely overweight is beyond the laws of physics, and the laws of society."
Mar laughed, "So, are you going to order or what?"
"Oh, geez, even you?" Lakefield asked, eyebrows furrowed.
Jason, Niko, and Carter laughed shortly.
"I can't believe none of you have realized that these three girls can eat the world's largest pizza, still have room for the world's largest ice cream sandwich, then snack on five bags of chips each," Carter informed them.
I shrugged, "It's a talent we honed over the years. It's kind of what we get for growing up with three guys, and my dad. That many men can only ask that we match their appetite. Now, someone, please order?"
Niko sighed, took out his phone, and speed dialed Randy's. Yeah, each of us from the original group had Randy's on speed dial. Number two, to be exact. Niko's mom was our first, seeing as she was all we had left other than one another. My dad used to be our first, then Niko's mom but... Well, you know.
"Hey, Randy... Yeah, I know, I said that, too... Well, you know them... Okay, then the usual. Really?... Okay, cool... Yeah... Yeah, we'll be there, no problem... 'Kay, bye," Niko said into the phone.
"What's wrong?" Jason asked.
"Erick, the new delivery guy, was busted for pocketing some of the delivery money earlier today, so Randy fired him. We have to pick up the pizzas if we want 'em. Who's following me?" he replied.
Carter nodded, "Yeah, I'll follow."
Jason opted to stay, saying he wanted to watch the ending of the movie, but we all knew he was just lazy at the moment. Besides, the movie wasn't even close to the ending.
"Just me and Carter, then. We'll leave in, like, twenty minutes?" Niko checked.
Drey shook her head, "It takes about five or so minutes to walk there, so leave in ten. You already know he has it for us, we just pick it up."
He nodded, "Yes, ma'am."
The entire time, Mason stayed out of the conversations that went on, and stared intently at the t.v. screen. Every now and then, I'd glance at him to see if he ever got tired of sitting in the same position. Nope. He literally sat in the same position for the next two hours. Good riddance to his arms and legs not being numb.
"Any longer and he's going to have to get a restraining order against you," Mar muttered into my ear.
I looked away from Mason, "What?"
She rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Nothing."
Frowning to myself, I gave one last look toward Mason, then stood. "I'm going to bed," I sighed.
Niko's mouth gaped, "But you- I just- The pizza!"
"Did you hear nothing of what Mar and Drey has said?" I asked blatantly, gesturing to them, "They can still eat it." With that I have another sigh and left upstairs to my room.
I missed the 'old' me. This 'new' me was irritating and tiring.
<><><><><><>
"Oh, it's a happy day, a happy day, let's all cheer for a happy day, a happy day, a happy-"
"Ugh, shut up!" I yelled back at Drey, who just laughed aloud at me.
We were on our way to the school's gym for the graduation ceremony. I was excited, yes, but Drey and the others were freaking ecstatic. Mar wouldn't stop singing, the guys kept laughing about the Senior Prank that went so well the other day, and Drey kept singing the annoying 'Happy Day' song that she came up with. It was turning my day into an unhappy one.
"God, we're finally done, guys!" Mar gushed.
I raised an eyebrow at her, "This, coming from the smartest one of us?"
"Oh, I hated school just as much as you did, Bail, maybe even more. Why do you think I did so well in it? I made sure I never had to stay back or do extra credit," she replied.
"Damn, I should've thought of that," Carter frowned, "Would've saved me some hours spent after school with Mr. Humphrey."
Niko made a face, "Ugh, I hate him."
"Yeah, once, he made me scrape underneath the desks for gum, sweep and mop his class, and even replace all his missing dry erase markers," Jason added.
"Um, Jason, that wasn't for extra studying, that was for scratching his car straight across the right side and refusing to pay for the damage," Drey clarified, "It was the only way he wouldn't press charges."
"Oh, yeah," he remembered dubiously.
To drown them out for the rest of the short drive, I was about to put in my earphones. I didn't, however, because Mar began pulling into McDonald's.
"What are you doing?" I asked her, putting my phone away.
She shrugged with a smile, "It's our graduation day. Ever since we started school we've always stopped here first to get something to eat. This is our last time to stop here before our last time to go to school, you know?"
I sighed and looked toward the tiniest McDonald's, probably in the world. I remembered the first time my mom and dad took me there to buy me chicken nuggets so I wouldn't cry on my first day of preschool, and the first time my dad took the girls and I on their first day at my school.
"I don't even think Greg is in there; it looks closed. He might be at the ceremony," I said, gesturing to the restaurant.
Carter hopped out, "I have keys."
The rest all followed him, leaving me to smirk at the fact that we were all still unstable in the head. I got out and we all walked to the doors. Carter unlocked the doors and we made our way to the kitchen. Drey got all our sandwiches, Niko and Jason got our fries, Mar and Carter were paying for our stuff by putting money into Carter's register, and I was getting the drinks and my coffee. When we finished, we made sure to shut off all of the lights and lock the doors again.
"What a way to make our last trip before a school day," I smiled.
The rest of the drive to school was short and we met up with Lakefield where all the other graduates were gathering.
"Hey, guys. Greg left just to make you guys food? I didn't even know he left. He came by and asked where you guys were," he greeted us.
Mar waved it off with a small smile, "Eh, he found us. So what's happened so far?"
After lightly giving her a kiss, he replied, "Not much. Vanders just made sure everyone knew where their spots were, whether everyone was present or not, and why the headpiece for the mascot costume is missing."
"Oh, crap, I was supposed to return that from the Senior Prank," Drey frowned.
"I don't remember us needing that for the prank," Jason said.
She shook her head, "I poured honey inside it and left it by the big tree in the school courtyard."
After a second of thought, Carter raised an eyebrow, "There's a beehive somewhere in that tree."
"Exactly," she shrugged with a smile. "Imagine the surprise that falls onto the unfortunate person that comes upon it."
Niko rolled his eyes, "I love you and all, but don't try to talk smart."
She stuck her tongue out at him before they both went to put on their cap and gowns. I turned to Mar and the rest.
"Okay, let's go put our crap on and meet back here afterward, okay?" I confirmed. They all nodded and we went on our way.
I was the first one back and was waiting for everyone else. Mar came back next.
"The guys aren't back yet?" she asked, searching through her purse for something.
I looked around, "Nope. Funny how they said we would have taken long."
"Ah! There are my girls! Oh, I'm so proud of you!"
Mar and I had confused looks on our faces until we saw who that came from.
Jenn and Niko's mom, Yvonne, were making their way through the other students toward us. When they got to us, Jenn caught me in a hug while Yvonne wrapped her fragile arms around Mar. They traded places after that and stepped back with a smile.
"Where's Niko? Where are all the others?" Yvonne asked, searching the crowd.
I shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine. We sent them to get ready, but they're taking forever."
Jenn waved her hand, "They'll be here. They're probably finally having that feeling set in that they're graduating! Oh, I am so crazy proud and happy for you all!"
"Thanks, but we're not so happy that we won't be seeing you as much anymore," Mar told her.
"Well, as long as you visit my class sometimes, we'll be fine. Besides, we still live in the same small town as always. I'll still see you almost everyday."
I nodded, "Well, yeah, but still, you know?"
"Hey, guys!" Drey smiled, walking up. She hugged Yvonne then Jenn. "The guys aren't back yet?"
"I thought Niko was with you," Mar insinuated.
"He said he was going to meet up with the guys."
"So where the hell are they?" I asked, scanning the crowd.
Yvonne frowned, "I just hope they get back in time."
I smiled at her, "I'd skip this ceremony any day, just to make sure you see Niko cross that stage."
"Thank you, but I would never let you do that. This means so much to all of us, especially your father," she replied, patting my hand.
"Yeah..." Mar smiled tightly. She'd been really sensitive about my dad lately. She said it was the fact that we all had worked so hard since the beginning for my dad, and now he isn't here. She just misses him so much.
Vanders' voice had come over the speakers just then.
"Okay, if all the graduates would please assemble in your lines behind the gym, we'll go ahead and get started in a few minutes, folks," he said.
The herd was on the move, so the girls and I said our farewells to Jenn and Yvonne, who were now worrying about the guys. I was, too. Drey, Mar, and and I went to our spots in the line. We kept texting one another, looking around for the guys, then texting again. I heard Vanders give a lame speech about the students' achievements over the year and all the fond memories he has of us. After a while, he announced us all out and the line began to move along. I frowned over the fact that the guys still weren't here.
"Bail!" Mar called.
Just as my line began to go out, I turned and saw Carter run to his place, followed by Jason and Niko. They had big smiles on their faces as if they weren't about to get their asses kicked by me later. I turned back around and walked out, feeling confident. The ceremony didn't take as long as I feared, given that we had a small graduating class. As I walked onto the stage to receive my mock diploma, I almost teared up. I looked out to see that almost everyone in town had cheered loudly for me- and for the girls afterward. Randy was there, as well as almost all of his staff, and Jenn and Yvonne were bawling their eyes out. Even though my dad was gone, I knew I still had a huge family looking after me. I quickly shook the hands of whoever I had to, also passing Sebastian, then I took my seat once again. The rest of the ceremony went by quickly until it was finally over.
The group assembled by the front of the school and we waited for Jenn and everyone else.
"Where were you guys!?" Drey asked, slapping Jason's arm.
He flinched, "Ow! It wasn't my idea!"
"What idea?" Mar asked.
Lakefield wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her cheek. "We have arranged for a graduation getaway trip to Miami," he said.
I frowned, "Florida?"
"No, Mexico," Niko smirked.
I pointed a finger at him the way Yvonne used to when we were kids, indicating that he was being a smart ass and was in trouble for it.
"Oh! It's done! My baby is all grown up!" Yvonne showed up and gathered Niko in a vice tight hug, from which he was squirming out of.
"Okay, okay!" he stressed and stepped back.
"Hey, girls!" Randy smiled, coming up to us as well.
Drey smiled, "Think you can make it back to the shop in time to make us an triple large pizza?"
He nodded, "For graduating, you can have whatever you want today, on the house."
"We'll pay, anyway," Mar smiled back, "Thanks for coming!"
"I couldn't miss it for the world. Your dad would kill with how proud he'd be, you all know that, right? His happiness would literally slice through anything he sees."
"Yeah, we know," I smiled. "We'll stop by later for that pizza."
"You better," he raised an eyebrow. He gave us each a hug before leaving.
Jenn had to meet other students to say goodbye, so we would see her later as well.
"Yvonne you want to join us to hang out?" Drey asked.
She shook her head jokingly, "Me, with a bunch of fresh graduates? Thanks, but, I actually have a date."
"You scheduled a date on the night of my graduation?" Niko asked, pretending to be hurt, "And with who?"
"James from the bookstore. He asked me out a while ago, but I was too shy. I only called back to confirm when I heard about your trip to Miami," she smiled.
I furrowed my eyebrows, "But we just heard about that right now."
"No, we'v been planning this for weeks now. We just wanted to surprise you girls. Randy, Greg, Jenn, even Yvonne helped with the payments, car rental, hotel reservations, all that stuff. Lakefield's dad is letting us use his jet so we didn't have to pay for tickets, and he also payed for half of the expenses. We left earlier to confirm everything and to let Mason and Carson know to start packing as well," Carter explained, taking off his graduation cap and gown.
"Oh, they're, uh... They're going?" I smiled uneasily. I was kind of hoping for this to be an opportunity for me to have space from Mason.
Mar nodded, "Um, yeah. That's okay, right?"
I nodded with a smile. "Hey, I have to call someone real quick. I'll be back," I said. I walked away toward the big statue of the founder of our school- totally clichéd if you ask me- and took out my phone. Sure enough, Mason had texted me. I was about to scoff, but I noticed that it wasn't the usual text he sends.
Congrats. See you later.
I frowned at the subtlety and the lack of real emotion, but I wasn't going to pine over it and act like I wasn't ignoring his texts before anyway. I dialed his number though, to see what's up.
"Yeah," he answered, sounding busy.
I blinked in surprise that he answered at all for a second. "Uh, hey. Um, so you're going with us on the trip, huh?" I asked lamely.
"Yep. Unless you don't want me to. It's your gift anyway."
"No, you can go, of course."
"Okay."
We both got quiet for a while, then I tried to speak.
"Mason, can we talk about-"
He cut me off, "Listen, I'm actually packing right now and Carson is flipping about something or other, so I'll just see you later, okay?"
I knew he just didn't want to talk at the moment. "Yeah... Okay, see you," I finally replied.
"Alright. Congratulations."
He hung up before I could even say thanks. I wanted to know why he was suddenly so distant from me again, despite the fact that I was being distant from him in the first place. It was a constant merry-go-round with him. I was starting to think that he and I would never feel the same for one another at the same time. If it was like this right now, I guess it's just better for us to be apart. I sighed and walked back to the group.
"You okay?" Carter smiled at me and hugged me. "I would think that you of all people would be smiling from ear to ear over the fact that we're done with this place."
I smiled back, "Yeah, well. I'll miss the memories and blood stains that I've made and caused here."
He laughed and steered me to the others.
The rest of the day consisted of all of us packing for the trip. I was excited and bummed at the same time, which then gave me a headache shortly afterward. After I was packed, I brought my stuff downstairs.
"Damn, do you plan on living in Miami?" Jason smiled as he helped me get th last suitcase down the stairs.
I let out a short laugh as I lifted my bag, "Well, I don't know how long we're staying, so I just want enough clothes."
Mar walked up just then and frowned, "Bail, how do you plan on bringing home all of the stuff you'll buy?"
Now I frowned and dropped my bag. "Crap," I huffed, "I forgot that I actually buy things. Okay, Jason, can you just bring up, um... I think the blue suitcase and the purple one."
He furrowed his eyebrows and complained, "Aw, man, those are the heaviest ones! Fine." He lifted the bags easily and walked back up to my room.
I turned back to Mar, "So, what time do we leave?"
She checked her phone, "Um, nine tonight. We have two and a half hours before we board. However, because the drive will take a while, we only have an hour left here, thirty minutes for the drive, and an hour before we board. I'm going to make sure Drey doesn't bring her whole closet with her, too."
She went upstairs and I could soon hear her and Drey arguing about how much clothes Drey was going to bring. The front door opened just then.
"We're good to go!" Carter announced, walking in with Niko, "Is Jason here already? He wasn't home."
I nodded and pointed upstairs, "He should be down any second now. Niko, you told Yvonne everything she needs to know, right?"
He nodded with a roll of his eyes, "Yes, 'mom number two'. I was actually done getting my stuff hours ago, but she made me check and re-check if I had everything I needed, she has all of our cell numbers, of course, and she also has the name and number of the hotel we'll be at. Don't worry, I made sure she had a full refrigerator of food."
I smiled and patted his head, "Good boy."
He furrowed his eyebrows at me and walked away.
I sighed as I watched everyone get their stuff ready, enjoying the fact that I didn't have to go to school next week and I could sleep in all I wanted. The only problem now, was Mason.
Among others...