Hey guys, this is my first fanfiction. English isn't my first language, so feel free to correct me if you find any mistakes!
The sound of applause slowly faded away when everybody left the stage. Keira was beaming and tried to make her way to a group of three people standing in the crowd. They were smiling and one of them came running up to her. She felt two arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug. She looked up and saw the face of her younger sister Louise, who had tears all over her face.
'I'm so proud of you sis!' she said excitedly.
Keira smiled and finally felt a little bit proud. She had done it, she finally graduated. She already knew for a couple of days, but holding the diploma in her hand made it more real.
Keira O'Donnell
Mechanical Engineering
Nobody could take this away from her and she felt happy, something that hadn't been the case for a long time. Looking down at the diploma she smiled, this was the start of something new, something exciting. She couldn't wait to finally start working, college was fine, but it was time for a new challenge. While hugging her sister she could see her parents standing a few meters back. They looked so proud, especially her father. Without them she couldn't have done it, they always had total faith in her and they always encouraged her to follow her dreams. Her father being an aviation engineer fuelled her interest in engineering already at a young age. She always imagined herself following in her father's footsteps, although he always told her that she didn't have to. That's why she was so fond of her parents, their support meant everything and she always felt free to pursue whatever her interests were.
She slowly let go of her sister and made her way over to her parents. They also hugged her and she could see tears in her father's eyes, although he tried to cover them up. She giggled, he always tried to look tough, but she knew he was a big softie. She gave both her parents a kiss and looked around the room. The room was full of people in the same situation as her, all proudly in possession of an engineering diploma. Proud families were filling the seats or were hugging their children, they all looked happy and content. A lot of the students received flowers or even gifts and all looked ready to take on the world. This was one of those days which you would remember when you're old and are looking back on your life.
She looked around to find a glimpse of her two best friends. She had met Abby and Tom during her first week at college. The first week had been tough, having moved from Belfast to London had been a big change and she didn't know anyone. She had been sitting alone and hadn't had the courage to talk to someone, so she had sat quietly and observed the people around her. Most people had looked nervous, but also excited to finally start college. All their stuff was new and people proudly had showed of their new laptops and books. Tom had been sat in front of her and had looked surprisingly calm, almost like it wasn't new for him. Later she learned it was his second year at college, he had switched to Mechanical Engineering after his first year. She had been so absorbed in observing people that she hadn't noticed her notebook laying dangerously on the edge of her table. When she had wanted to take a water bottle out of her bag, she had accidentally knocked the notebook of her table. With a look of horror on her face she had seen it drop right on the boy in front of her. He had yelped in surprise and had turned to look for where it came from, she had felt horrible and her cheeks had turned bright red. He had seen the look of horror on her face and had let out a little chuckle. He had held out his hand and Keira had shaken it shamefully, still with a smile on his face he had given her the notebook back.
'Hi, I'm Tom.'
'Hi,' she had sputtered. She still had felt ashamed and a lot of people had looked at her.
'You could've just asked my name, you know,' he had said. Although the corners of his mouth had turned into a grin.
'I'm sorry,' she had answered still looking mortified.
'And you are?'
'Oh, I'm Keira, Keira O'Donnell.'
'Nice to meet you Keira. You are from Ireland?' he had asked after hearing her name.
'No, Northern Ireland, but my father's from Ireland,' she had smiled and finally had felt her cheeks returning to its normal colour.
'Close, it's on the same island,' that was true she had thought.
After that they had ended up in a conversation about their past and how they had ended up here. Keira had told him she grew up in Belfast with her sister Louise and her parents. He had told her about him growing up in the outskirts of London. For the first time that week she had felt less nervous and ready to start this new chapter of her life. Tom was very laid back and easy to talk to and she quickly had found out he had the same interests. Although he was interested in cars, instead of her being interested in aviation. They had ended up eating lunch together and from that point on they were friends.
Abby she had met during class, she had been sat next to her and she had reminded her of her sister. She had the same blonde hair and the same facial features. Abby had noticed her looking and had introduced herself.
'Hi, I'm Abby. You?' she had asked spontaneously.
'Hi, I'm Keira.'
'Keira Knightley?'
'No, unfortunately not,' she had chuckled.
With that their friendship had been born and they almost had became inseparable immediately. They could talk about everything and always had fun going out together. Boys had been discussed almost weekly and they would rate every boy on a scale of one to ten. They always borrowed each other's clothes and held regularly sleepovers at Abby's or at hers. Abby was very outgoing, while she was always rather shy. However going out with Abby had boosted her confidence, especially when Tom had came along too, as they could push her out of her comfort zone to have fun. She had appreciated the effort of her friends and was glad that college hadn't been only revising and hard work. Keira smiled when she remembered it all, she was lucky to have such good friends.
Her eyes were still scanning the room to find her friends when she was ambushed from behind. She screamed and turned around, only to find the laughing face of her friend Abby. She sighed, because it was typical Abby behaviour.
'We did it, we really, really, really did it!' she yelled while swinging Keira around.
'I know, we aren't as stupid as we look!' she yelled back.
'Now we are grownups.'
'You both still don't behave like ones,' snorted Louise who was still standing beside Keira.
'Shut up!' both Keira and Abby said. They looked at each other and laughed, Louise was right, they had some growing up to do.
'Come on, let's go find Tom,' Abby pulled Keira's arm and led her through the crowd.
Keira's parents smiled when they saw their excited daughter leaving with her best friend. They knew how tight their friendship was and hadn't seen her so happy for a long time. Keira spotted Tom first and yelled his name, while swinging her arms above her head. He looked around to spot the source of the yelling and his eyes lit up when he saw the two girls running towards him. He opened his arms and pulled them into a hug, he also looked very excited. However, when Keira felt their friends so close to her, she also realised that this was also one of the last times they would be together. Abby had already landed a job at Boeing and Tom was going to work in some kind of motorsport series. She was the only one who still hadn't decided what exactly she wanted to do after college. Unfortunately, graduating meant that they would all move somewhere else and leave the safe place that college had became behind.
Keira felt the tears well up in her eyes and it was not long before the tears were streaming over her cheeks. She was not ready to leave it all behind yet, as she had became very depended on her friends, especially during the difficult times the last few months. She had found herself staying over at their houses more and more and only they had been able to make her laugh and forget. Abby also started crying and Keira felt Tom trying to hold his tears back, although not very successfully. They stood there for a couple of minutes, but it felt like hours, it felt so good to be close to them. Abby was the first to let go and mumbled something about not wanting to screw up her make-up. Keira was able to put on a watery smile and assured herself this would not be the end.
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It was rather noisy in the restaurant, due to a lot of families celebrating graduation. Keira saw a lot of familiar faces and stopped a few times to say hello and to congratulate them. She spotted the table were Abby and her family were already positioned and she pointed to the table when her mother asked where they had to go. Her mother and her father disappeared in the right direction and she spotted her sister still talking to one of her friends. Keira looked to her right where David, her boyfriend, was standing, looking a bit lost. She immediately felt a bit guilty, because he hadn't graduated this year. He had fallen behind a couple of months ago and hadn't been able to catch up. That's when the problems had started, resulting in him going out during the week, drinking way too much and becoming agitated about the smallest things. She blamed it on the pressure that had came with the last year of college, but it had put a very heavy strain on her. The last few months had been tough and they had ended up fighting almost every day. She now felt like a stranger at home, especially when she felt like she hadn't done anything wrong. She sighed and took his hand, she knew it wasn't easy for him and she wanted to at least make it a happy evening for once. He looked at her and gave her a little smile, which she returned half heartedly.
Dinner was very enjoyable, a lot of stories were shared about the past few years. Not all were suitable for their parents to hear, but they were maybe a bit too drunk so their judgment was a bit clouded. It brought back a lot of forgotten memories and they all realised how much they had enjoyed their college experience. Keira was glad to see that David was participating in the conversations, as it reassured her that everybody was having a great time. She smiled at the potato on her fork and it reminded her of that time they had ended up in a potato fight at her house. Everybody had ended up with a lot of bruises, but it had been fun nevertheless.
It hadn't been as bad as the time they had ended up with several trays of broken eggs on the walls and furniture. They had tried to bake a cake, but Tom had experienced some trouble breaking the eggs. Abby had tried to show it to him, but had been a bit too enthusiastic. The egg had ended up on Tom's shirt and naturally he hadn't been amused. Before they could do anything, Abby's hair had been full of egg. It had made Keira chuckle, as the look of horror on Abby's face had been priceless, although her laughing had made Abby throw an egg at Keira. That had started a whole egg fight, needless to say that the cake never got baked. They had decided on just buying one and had received confusing looks from other customers in the store, because they had been still covered in egg. Cleaning up had not been as much fun, but the house had ended up cleaner than before the egg fight. So it had been beneficial, in the end, or that's what they had told themselves.
'Keira, do you remember when we had to hand in that paper, but we forgot?' Tom's question brought Keira back to the conversation.
'You forgot to hand in a paper?' asked Rose, her mother, being alarmed.
'Oh, yeah, we forgot. It was very stupid, because we actually had finished it,' Keira said happily.
'What happened?' Tom's father asked.
'Oh, Keira told our professor she just found out that she was pregnant and that's why she forgot to hand it in. Her crying was very convincing,' Tom said nonchalantly.
Keira heard her mother gasp and she grinned, the story was true. It had been rather convenient that her acting skills were not that bad.
'You did not!' Rose said, 'that's very-'
'Smart,' George, her father, finished.
That earned him a look of disgust from Rose. He smiled mischievously and the rest of the table laughed. Her father had always been the joker of the family and she liked that about him. Especially when her mother felt embarrassed by his jokes. Her sister was especially good in provoking her mother and her father always happily joined in. Her sister had always been the most extravagant of the two of them. She envied her ability to just go up to people and talk to them or to stand up for herself. Her sister was only two years younger than herself, but she was already more at ease with the world than she was. She always hoped that one day she could be more like her sister, especially her looks, because she was naturally blonde and had the best pair of cheekbones she had ever seen. Her own reddish brown hair looked rather dull next to her and it showed their Irish descent. That always gave people reason to insult her, for whatever reason. Her sister also got a lot of male attention and she didn't mind one bit. She always had boys around her, although she went through them quite fast. Not that she wanted to do the same, but she would like to be less awkward around people. She smiled, her sister was one of the best persons in the world and she would do everything to protect her. Not that she needed it, but she wouldn't let anyone hurt her nevertheless.
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Keira let out a tired yawn while she kicked off the heels she was wearing, it had been a really long day. A very nice day, but also very exhausting. All the official ceremonies and dinner afterwards had really worn her out and she longed for her bed that was waiting for her upstairs.
'Are you coming upstairs?' she asked David who was also taking off his shoes.
'In a bit, I'm going to watch some TV,' he answered while shrugging his shoulders.
'It is 1:00 AM, why not go to bed?'
'Not tired.'
'OK, fine, but please keep the volume down, I'm really tired,' she sighed.
She got no answer and David had already disappeared into the kitchen. She climbed the stairs whilst she already heard the sound of the fridge opening and a bottle of beer being opened. She closed her eyes, trying not to shout something to David in the kitchen. He already had enough to drink during dinner as he had drunk more than anybody else. No one really had noticed, but she had kept a sharp eye on his alcohol consumption. He thought she hadn't noticed, but she always did, be it for the sudden change of moods. She decided that she was too tired to go into this discussion again and went to the bedroom. She got out of her dress, took off her make-up and got into the shower. The warm water on her skin made her feel alive, it took away some of her worries and it drowned out the sound of the television downstairs. She didn't want to get out, but she knew that she would fall asleep in the shower if she didn't. Yes, she already had that experience once and it wasn't really a nice one.
She slipped under the covers and positioned herself so that the duvet covered every bit of her body, she loved that feeling of protection. She tried not to notice the empty space next to her and tried to ignore the sound of the television, that was louder than when she went upstairs. Now was not the time to worry or to be angry, she just wanted to sleep. She closed her eyes and thought about all the good times she had had with her friends, with a smile on her face she fell asleep.