Dusty looked at her reflection in the full-length mirror in her bedroom. She didn't recognize the young woman looking back at her, wearing a cap and gown, who looked so grown up and full of promise. Sometimes she still felt like the scared four- teen-year-old who was powerless to save her father.
But time had passed and made her taller, stronger and helped her blossom from a girl into a woman, even if she sometimes still felt like an insecure teenager.
"Argh, you look amazing!" Ashley screamed excitedly as she entered the room.
"So do you."
"This thing itches like crazy," Ashley said, tugging at the fabric of her gown. "And don't even get me started on the cap!" Ashley was holding her cap, not yet daring to put it on her head and risk ruining her hair that she'd spent all morning curling for the occasion.
"You've got to put it on at some point," Dusty said, her own blonde hair already squashed tightly beneath the cap.
"I'm going to delay it until the very last second!"
"Fair enough."
"Quick, give me a hug, and let's get a picture of us in our sacred room before everything gets crazy."
The girls embraced, and Ashley held her digital camera away from them at arm's length and clicked, immortalizing the moment.
"I can't believe we're graduating," Dusty said, struggling to believe that it was all happening.
"I know." Ashley put an arm around her friend, and they looked at themselves in the mirror.
"I'm going to miss living in this room," Dusty said.
"No, none of that yet." Ashley raised a hand and put on her stern voice.
"We can get sad later. First, we've got a graduation to enjoy!"
Dusty nodded, though she already felt sad. The thought of no longer living with Ashley was unbearable. The two girls had become best friends over the past four years, and they would be living on separate sides of the country. Dusty hated leaving people. Her least favorite part of life was having to part ways with those she loved, and in her lifetime, she felt she'd already said far too many good-byes.
"Now, I need you to put on your biggest smile and head downstairs to where all the families are gathering for the Kappa Pi pre-graduation tea and cake," Ashley ordered.
"Yes, Madame President." Dusty curtseyed jokingly.
"Ah, I'm going to miss hearing that," Ashley said. "I need to get into the Whitehouse just to hear it again!"
"That's as good a reason as any to embark on a presidential campaign," Dusty quipped.
"Less talk, more walk," Ashley said, ushering Dusty out of the bedroom that soon they would no longer share.
****
As Dusty descended the staircase of the Kappa Pi house, she spotted her mother loitering nervously in the hallway. However, as soon as she spotted her daughter, she sprang to life, wrestling her disposable camera from her purse and frantically taking shots.
"Mom, come on, you can take pictures at the ceremony," Dusty moaned.
"But you look so amazing, I want to capture each moment," Kayla Black protested. She reached out and hugged her daughter as Dusty came over. She held her extra tight, as though scared to let go.
"Mom, I can't breathe." Dusty pulled away, slightly suffocated by her mother's overwhelming perfume. Kayla Black had made an extra special effort for her daughter's graduation. She'd bought a smart new dress from Macy's, thankfully on sale, and had her hair done by a friend in the trailer park. It made Dusty proud to see her mother fit in with the society mothers, who were clucking around their own graduating offspring.
Dusty was painfully aware of how her mother might be intimidated by them, but she was holding her own. "Where's Dust?" Dusty asked, glancing round as her mother appeared to be alone.
"He's here somewhere, but a sorority house is no place for an eighteen-year-old," Kayla said with worry.
"I'll find him," Dusty offered, briefly leaving her mother to search the downstairs of the house for Dust. It didn't take her long to find him, or at least she thought it was him. There was a tall man in a grey suit standing over by the dining table, chatting away with one of the new pledges. Dusty recognized the suit even from a distance; it had belonged to her father.
She felt a momentary pang of despair at seeing it but pushed through it, sending the negative thoughts away. "Dust?" Dusty placed her hand on the guy's shoulder, shocked by how tall he had become. Dust was easily six foot four, maybe five.
"Sis." Dust smiled and hugged his sister, though with less enthusiasm than Kayla. He smelt strongly of cologne. When Dusty pulled away, she studied her brother, who she'd barely seen in the last several years. His skin had cleared up, his acne now a distant, difficult memory.
He was tall and lean, and his features had frighteningly morphed to resemble a younger version of their father. It shocked Dusty to see him so grown up and yet so familiar.
"You've grown," Dusty noted, not sure what to say.
"If you were around more, you'd have noticed," Dust said bitterly.
"I've been busy with college. Don't you start in the fall? You'll soon see what it's like," Dusty replied. Dust rolled his eyes. "Mom told me that you got into Duke. That's amazing."
"Yeah." Dust looked awkward, as though he were desperate to say something but holding it in.
"Everything okay? I thought you'd be pleased to see me," Dusty said, hurt.
"I am, of course I am." Dust smiled and coughed nervously. "It's just... I missed you. And that's hard for a brother to admit about his sister." He laughed.
"I've missed you too."
"You should have come home more."
"I know," Dusty admitted.
"Mom needs you. She won't admit it because she's scared of holding you back, but it wouldn't kill you to visit her during the holidays."
"Dust, I know," Dusty said.
"Good, well, now I've told you, we can be friends again." He wrapped an arm around his sister, dwarfed by his long frame. "And your first friendly act is to tell me all about that hot little redhead." Dust glanced back at the sorority sister he'd previously been chatting with.
"Dust, I'm not helping you pick up women!" Dusty declared, freaked out at the realization that her brother was not only grown up but probably also dating.
"Like I need your help." Dust laughed and headed off towards the redhead.
****
"Did you find Dust?" Kayla asked nervously when Dusty returned to the hallway.
"He's otherwise engaged," Dusty replied.
"Never mind him, today is your day." Kayla smiled. "And I'm so proud of you, Dusty-Rose, as I know your dad would have been if he were here..." Her voice trailed off as she felt a lump form in her throat.
"I'm sorry I haven't been home more," Dusty said, still feeling the sting from Dust's comments.
"It's okay, sweetheart. You're busy living your life, and that's exactly what I wanted for you." Kayla smiled kindly, her eyes now misted with tears. "Now let's go see you graduate." Kayla beamed.
****
Dusty felt lost among the throng of students as she lined up outside the auditorium. Graduates were lined up in alphabetical order, so Dusty was away from both Ashley and Kyera, which saddened her. It would have been nice to be beside a friend as she went up to collect her diploma.
Nevertheless, the sun was shining, and everyone was in high spirits as the seniors began to march into the auditorium that was already buzzing with excited family members.
Dusty sat and fidgeted in her gown while listening to the opening speech given by the president of the school. Ashley had been right about the gowns being itchy.
As the president spoke about hard work, dedication and the future, Dusty scanned the crowd around her for a familiar face. It didn't take her long to locate Ashley, who was half a dozen rows behind. Ashley was also looking over the sea of faces, and when she spotted Dusty, she waved enthusiastically. Once the president finished speaking, everyone applauded politely and took a deep breath.
Next came the part where students went up individually to pick up their diplomas. It was a proud moment, a moment all of them would remember for the rest of their lives. Dusty braced herself, trying not to be overwhelmed by the intensity of it all.
One of the deans read out a long roll call of strangers, but as he got to surnames beginning with As, Dusty's interest piqued as she looked intently at the stage, nervously excited to see Kyera pick up her diploma. "Kyera Aroura, graduating in English Language and Literature," the dean called into the microphone, but no eager gown-clad student made the brisk walk across the stage.
"Kyera Aroura," the dean called again. The president waited with the rolled-up certificate in his hand, poised to be handed over. Still no one came onto the stage; Dusty glanced along the line of waiting students, who appeared bemused by Kyera's absence.
Unfazed, the president handed the unclaimed certificate to a staff member behind him and waited for the next student from the extensively long list of names. Dusty felt numb and powerless. Where was Kyera? She wanted to flee the ceremony and find her. How could she miss her own graduation? What was she thinking? She feared that she'd taken her desire to fight conformity too far. It meant everything to her parents to see her graduate.
Like her own family, they knew the pain of loss, and it made them cherish moments like these more dearly. Dusty's panic turned to anger. She was mad at Kyera for not turning up, for not honoring her parents' wishes in favor of staging some stupid protest.
Seething, Dusty ground her teeth. Kyera could really infuriate her sometimes. But she refused to let her ruin the ceremony for her. She was there to pick up her own diploma, and she'd do so smiling so that her mother could forever look back on the image and be proud.
Later, after all the diplomas had been handed out and as the valedictorian made a speech about the importance of tomorrow, Dusty could think of nothing but Kyera. She felt strangely hurt by her behavior. If she'd chosen not to attend, she should have at least told her as much. She'd gone to great lengths to appear to care; she'd even rented a cap and gown. Only the previous day Dusty had been in Kyera dorm room joking about in it, pretending it was a bat cape, and she'd berated her, saying to be careful as she'd have to return it after the ceremony.
She appeared to be taking the whole graduation thing seriously, but then why hadn't she turned up? "We're graduates!" Ashley ran over to Dusty once they were released from the auditorium and allowed to mill about outside for pictures. The girls hugged and giggled excitedly. "One step closer to world domination," Ashley joked.
"Yeah, exactly." Dusty smiled back but couldn't hide her troubled feelings.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." In her peripheral vision, Dusty saw both sets of parents approaching them so knew she had to remain composed and happy.
"Worried about Kyera?" Ashley guessed.
"I just don't get why she wouldn't turn up," Dusty admitted.
"It's trademarked Kyera, if you ask me." Ashley sighed. "But if you're worried, just give her a call. Put your mind at rest before we all go out for dinner."
"Yeah, you're right." Dusty nodded.
"Hey, Mom, can I have my cell phone for a moment?" Dusty called to Kayla as she came over, Dust lagging behind with the camera that was already all used up.
"I just need to call Kyera real quick."
"She wasn't there, was she?" Kayla asked, concerned.
"No, she wasn't."
"Is everything all right?"
"I think so, yeah, I just need to call her."