“Now Lovell High School is proud to present miss Marilyn Stewart, your senior class president!” the principal said in the microphone. I was so nervous. Justin would be staring at me while I give my speech. I have not talked to him since the… incident. I was still shocked over what happened and I was worried I would forget my speech, even though I had notecards to read from. The principal, Mr. Lewandowski, shook my hand and whispered, “kill ‘em!” while pulling me in a friendly, yet professional hug.
For days I have been working writing and perfecting this speech. At this point, I had forgot all about my hardwork and sleepless nights and just focused on Justin and his previous actions. Would he stand up and yell at me during my speech? Would he look at me weird? Do not make eye contact, I reminded myself. Please do not make eye contact. Just read your speech and look at your sister, or your friends. Now the real question to stand was whether or not I would take Layla’s bet, but at this time I was already at the podium getting my notecards in order and doing a little cough before I begin my introduction.
“Ladies and gentlemen, friends and family of our Lovell 2014 graduates,” there were woo’s from the audience, a sure sign I had caught their attention, “I was asked to write a speech about life and high school. At first, I did not know what to write because life and high school careers differ in all aspects. So, I made this speech personal and I hope you enjoy it.” I flashed a smile to the audience and my classmates who responded in smiling back.
“During high school I hated- well rather, dreaded the time spent in classes and I hated doing homework. Despite all the hard “college level” classes I had took over the course of four years I am currently number eleven in our class of 260. Do you even know how hard I work, and I am not even credited with a top ten spot because our school does not allow extra points on our GPA!?” I heard fellow students agree and respond with ‘you tell ‘em’, ‘fight the system Mary’, and ‘go get ‘em girl!’ I definitely enticed them at this point.
“I never really had true best friends at school, just friends. Which I consider everyone at this point. I know we will probably never talk from this point on, but I believe, deep down, that true friendships will last. Although I, never having a ‘bff’ will not know what this is like, you guys will, especially if you stay in this town. My friends, looking back at it… I hung out with the wrong crowd from middle school on. That’s why my parents had to restrain me from everything and I couldn’t hang out with you guys… But besides the point.. They taught me how to lie to my parents and most importantly, they taught me how to live. Nobody is going to live a perfect life and follow all the rules. That is too boring. Sometimes you have to spice life up and do something daring. I’m not saying break all the rules and do something illegal- I’m saying lie sometimes, stick up for yourself in an ostentatious way, be yourself, and above all do not conform to whomever society tells you to be. Although, I learned that the hard way… I have learned it,” I looked down at my cards and I was flustered. Some of what I said did not make sense, and I was just saying random things because my cards were very vague. Note to self: when making a speech do not write vaguely.
“I do not know what I want to do after high school.. Actually I do not know that I am even going to college,” I heard gasps from the audience because that is what you had to do in this town, or get married. “I guess what I am saying is that I want to travel the world and experience different cultures and practices we do not hold here. I have not figured out who I am yet, nor have I figured out what I want to be. I do not want to settle down with anyone just yet, I want to have fun and experience everything I possibly can before I grow older. As I grow older, I would hope to share my stories and experiences with the world… So I guess you can say that I would like to be an author..” I looked at Justin in the crowd and got really nervous. He seemed to actually enjoy my speech because he was, or what seemed to be, involved by shaking his head. I looked all the way in the back of the hall where the graduation was held and found Layla, she was giving me the thumbs up. I was going to proceed with the plan.
“You see, friends and peers, I am dating Justin Vanderbilt. Our relationship has been perfect and I would not be the woman I am today without him. So please Justin, stand up,” I pointed at him and he looked very confused. God, I do not know what I am in for. “Justin and I have been dating for four years now and now it is over. A few days ago, I saw Justin doing dirty things with another woman. I am not going to go in specific detail, but lets just say it wasn’t anyone’s first rodeo, or trip into a vacant parking lot. As I walked over to his car, he nervously and, might I add, breathlessly came out of the car saying that he did this because he was a ‘man’. Sophomore year, I took A.P. biology and, my memory may be a little fuzzy, but as I recall I thought humans had monogamous relationships. Until I realized one of the people in the relationship had to be a huge douch-” I shook my head,” scum bag. That is what I learned in high school. Do not trust anybody. Thank you,” I bowed my head and slowly walked off the stage. Did I really just do that? Justin sat down slowly and everyone was silent. I either made a huge ass out of myself, or I made the greatest speech in the history of Lovell High School graduations. I looked back at my sister who was the only one standing up, and she was giving me a round of applause.
“What an…. inspiring speech,” the superintendent said in the microphone looking very upset, yet amused,” now will the class of 2014 rise and move your tassel.” As if on cue, all of us in the class moved our tassel over. That was it; I graduated. We walked back through the crowd of people and I winked at Layla. She laughed uncontrollably and winked back at me mouthing ‘meet me after’. Well duh, you’re my sister.
“Shit Mary, that was amazing! I can not believe you actually called Justin out! Looks like his dad won’t be mayor again!” she hugged me.
“He deserved it,” I said quietly. Everyone looked at me differently now. What used to be friendly faces turned more hostile.
“And…” she held up two airplane tickets in her hand,” let our summer vacation begin.”
“You actually followed through with our bet?!” I was surprised. Layla never came through with anything. Once in fifth grade I had made her a bet of five dollars that I could make my teacher do my homework. Needless to say at that point, I was short five dollars, but I had my homework done.
“Yes!!” she giggled. I did not care about what happened at graduation, or what people would say about me throughout all of Lovell, what mattered was that I was going to go on the adventure of my life with my awesome sister. I took the ticket and inspected it.
“Next stop, London, England.”
*Two days earlier
“Mary stop moping around, you are seriously killing me,” Layla sat at my vanity and was putting on my makeup. She was beautiful enough as it was with her dirty blonde, wavy hair. Not only being taller than I was, she had more natural beauty. Her stature was about five foot five, a United States average and had the right proportions. I, on the other hand was average. Of course, I did not wish to be a supermodel or anything like that, I wanted to be, average.
“I can’t,” I said in my mattress. She jumped on top of me and smacked my butt.
“What the hell Lay!” We fought for two minutes and she stopped me at the expense of a wonderful sentence.
“Let’s have a bet okay?” she asked. I was shocked. Since when does she want to bet me? She knows I will win, for sure.
“Yeah sure,” I laid back down on my bed and she sat on the floor beside me.
“Okay, at graduation you have to say something to Justin about him cheating. But, you have to tell the whole class about it… Let’s say… During your speech?”
“Hell no. Who do you think I am?” I said angrily. “Everyone would kill me. Justin has so many friends in school and they would put me in the guillotine for even thinking about doing something like that. I still love him..”
“If he loved you, do you think he would do something like that to you? Huh?” she was irritating, but she had a point.
“Well, I’ll see.. I didn’t finish my speech up yet.. I’ll see if I can find a place to squeeze it in,” I said, but then a thought came up in my mind, “what do I get if I win?”
“Anything,” she replied looking seriously at me.
“Anything? Even…. A plane ticket to London?” I said raising an eyebrow.
“Sure, but I get to come too!” she said smiling at me.
“Eh.. Fine, but really? You’ll buy two plane tickets if I knock his block?” I was excited. I am definitely going to include it into my speech now. But what if she was lying? What if I get up on stage and she does not come through with her deal?
“Of course really, tomorrow I will go to the library with mom’s card and buy two tickets for London. One way of course- because I don’t want to buy round trip, just yet. And I will have them during your graduation because I will pick them up at roll call.” She was being serious and I could tell. This was so perfect.
“So, should I pack now?” I asked her, not knowing when we would leave or if I had time to pack up.
“Yes, I want to leave right after you graduate. This will be so perfect Mary, you could get your mind off of Justin and onto a new boy’s,” she winked and did a little scandalous dance.
I went into the closet and looked at all my clothes. I did not have any cute clothes at all. The only thing that I had that was remotely cute was a dress I wore last year for my dad’s funeral, but I did not want to wear that because it was sacrilegious.
“What can I wear?” I asked her as she was about to leave the room.
“Don’t worry, we will go shopping tomorrow. Have a nice night and don’t forget to write your speech,” she closed the door and I was speechless. How could she leave me on such a cliffhanger like that. At the meantime, I was excited that she was taking me shopping. But, wait, how was mom in all of this. Did she know about going to London? Would she approve of an eighteen year old and a fifteen year old girl walking about London and not having any help in case of emergency? I’ll let Layla do it, I thought. If she had a plan like this she would have thought about something as serious as this. Besides, nothing could go wrong.
*One day until graduation
“Mom we are going out!” I yelled in the house as mom was doing some kind of yoga ritual thing she does every Sunday morning.
“Be safe, make smart decisions,” she yelled in a calmly fashion. I ran out of the house as fast as I could and joined Layla in the car.
We drove along the highway listening to our favorite band, Panic! at the Disco. Ugh, the lead singer, Brendon Urie, was so hot. We jammed along and talked about the most random things.
“I heard Jacob has only nine toes”
“Savannah slept with three guys last night while she was drunk at a party. But there was only five people there!”
My sister was my best friend and I could tell her anything. Sometimes she was bratty and conniving, but other times she was a sweetheart. At any point in time I could count on her for advice or if something was just wrong. I wanted to tell her about how I felt about the trip and how lucky I was to have a sister that would actually do something like this for me, but I figured I couldn’t because she would think I was just being modest and didn’t mean anything.
We got to the mall in a reasonable amount of time since it was further out and the first store we stopped in was H&M.
“You have to get this top,” she pointed to a lace crop top with fringes at the bottom. How do you wear a bra with that?
“Get these pants.”
“Oh my goodness, this bathing suit is so you.”
“This shirt would look good on your figure.”
“PLEASE TRY THIS ON, OH MY!”
I went into the dressing room, exceeding the maximum amount of articles of clothing, but the clerk did not mind. I tried on all the clothing she handed to me and I was surprised at how it all fit and how much of it I actually liked. Some of the clothing though was too revealing and I definitely did not want to get mistaken as a prostitute on my vacation.
“So what do you think?” she said giving me a little smirk and taking a huge pile of clothing from me.
“I loved everything except a few items,” I said pointing at the rack where I only placed about ten of my hundreds of items,” but how are we going to afford all of this?” I asked her.
“Don’t worry about it,” she shrugged. I grabbed her wrist.
“Are you using mom’s card?” I asked quietly.
“No, I know some people here who owe me hundreds of dollars. So mind your own business,” she pulled her wrist away and walked towards the check out. Why was she being so secretive and why did people owe her hundreds of dollars? I was not going to ask or cause a scene, I should just enjoy my day and get all my beautiful free clothes.
After our H&M purchase, we visited other stores such as TopShop and Forever 21. Not only was our purchase free from all three of these stores the managers seemed to be really friendly with Layla.
“How do you know all these managers and why do they owe you money?” I asked when we sat down and got food.
“Long story short, I play a little bit of underground poker, you can say I’m a legend,” she said nonchalantly. Does she even know that’s illegal? She’s fifteen for goodness sakes!
“That’s illegal,” I whispered.
“So are a lot of things. Now we have to get cell phones because we would be screwed if we were lost in London, you might be mistaken for a prostitute or something with all the clothes you just bought,” she smirked. It was funny because I was thinking the same time.
We told the man at the phone store we would only need an international plan because we were only going to use these phones in England. Not only did he understand and actually commemorate us on going a safe route, but he gave us a big discount because of Layla’s underground mischief.
“Let’s get home, we have to pack,” I said and with that we started home after a long day of shopping.
At home, mom was cooking a vegan dinner and I was not excited for it. Tomorrow I would be off to London and I would stuff my face with carbohydrates and bad things. I shook my head and laughed and headed up to my room with my arms full of clothing bags.
My suitcases, three large ones to be exact were filled to the brim with clothing. I could not thank Layla enough for all of this super cute clothing. Just as I was mentally thanking her for the day she walked in.
“I’m going to sneak out and put these in the trunk for tomorrow okay?” she asked. I nodded and I quietly asked, “does mom know?”
“Yes. She knows you are going. I told her I was only going to stay with you for a week though. Too bad all the flights are going to be cancelled for awhile,” she winked. I hugged her and almost started crying.
“You know you are the best sister around,” I said.
“I should hope, because I’m your only sister,” she said as grabbing my suitcases and rolling them down the stairs into the car.
*After graduation
I stepped on the gas. There was no way we were going to make it to the airport in time. Stupid graduation had to run over. Layla was laughing and singing to Pandora at the same time. We finally figured out how that worked once she plugged her iPhone into it. I hurriedly drove into a parking garage at the airport and ran into the airport wasting no time looking like an idiot.
“All passengers boarding flight 271 from Yellowstone National to Chicago, O’Hare please prepare to board,” the lady said on the telecom. I quickly took Layla’s hand and went quickly past security. We made it just in time. Since there was no ongoing flight to London, we had to stop at Chicago and catch a flight there. Wyoming isn’t really an International airport kind of place.
We loaded the airplane and it took off just in time. I realized I still had my cap and gown on, but it did not matter to me. I looked out the window at the clouds then at my sister. She was amazing for doing this. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. I closed my eyes for a few minutes…
“Get up,” Layla was shaking me. We already landed in Chicago and we had four hours to kill until we get on our plane to London. Talk about jet-lag. I scurried out of my seat and cleared the airplane. The luggage took forever to find, but luckily I got cute luggage tags so I could point mine out immediately. Screw everyone having the same durable luggage as I.
“Starbucks?” she says yawning. I nod and we head to the Starbucks a few feet away. She orders black coffee, which I find utterly disgusting, and I buy a chai tea latte. We sit at a small, friendly table near the entryway where our next flight was. People were sitting and getting ready to get on the flight when I saw something that really hit me.
A family was saying goodbye to the father in a business suit, and it was the worst thing ever. The children were crying and the mother looked distraught. I could not imagine something like that ever happening. This scene caused a bunch of ongoers to look over and feel sad over their situation. I could hear the father say, “don’t cry sport, you’ll have fun in Disneyland!” he kissed his son’s head and the kid continued to cry. “Don’t leave daddy!” the children said. I guess the father got called out to London and to make up for it, he bought them tickets to go to Disneyland. I teared up a little bit thinking about my father. He left us here like that father is doing with his kids. Layla and I aren’t going to Disneyland though, we were stuck in the middle of Wyoming, which was no theme park.
Something made a noise, although I could not hear what it was and the father left the screaming kids to get on the flight. I continued to cry a little bit as Layla took my luggage and my hand and we boarded the flight.
“Are you okay?” a man asked who sat in front of me. It was the same dad who left those kids.
“You left your kids behind,” I stammered quietly and looked out the window. He must have heard what I said and he looked out the window too. With that I closed my eyes and drifted off into a subconscious level where I wouldn’t have to think of today. It was such a sad world we lived in when family meant close to nothing and money had all the control.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey guys thank you so much for reading! Remember to vote and comment and fun stuff like that! I know it is a little dry right now, but I needed to make a little backstory so you guys know about the main character and how she acts and stuff, which is why this post is three times longer than the rest! Joe Sugg will be in here soon, I promise! If not in the next chapter, it will definitely be in chapter five! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and comment when I should start updating/ if I should update more! That would mean the world! Thank you so much and remember to comment, vote, like, or send me requests on how the story should finish/go in my messages or in the comments! Thank you my lovelies!!! <3333
-Court.