Click. Click. Click.
"What is that?" I grumble, opening my eyes a slit to look at the digital red numbers on my alarm clock. 3:54 am. I press my fingers to my throbbing temples.
Click. Click. Click.
With a deep breath and a shake of my head, the dull pain eases, and I realize someone is hitting my second-story window with pebbles. Furrowing my brows, I throw back the covers and drag myself out of bed, stumbling sleepily over something hanging over the back of my desk chair.
Something that, even in the pitch dark, is blindingly white.
My graduation gown.
"What the..." I murmur, coming out of my sleepy state.
I lift my hand to touch it, but something sticks to my palm. The Make Over Project. I peel it away and stare at the familiar paper with the purple ink scrawled on it. My feet move of their own accord, heading for the window. I stop short of pulling the blinds open and stare at the goals I set for myself. Shaking my head, I glance back at the graduation gown, exactly where I left it before...
Click.
With my heart racing and my mind reeling, I hesitate to open the blinds. I don't want to be here and give up all the things I accomplished.
I look at the list again.
The last item is checked.
Let go of the people and things that have hurt you.
All the items are checked.
"Oh, please," I beg, pulling up the white slats and looking down.
Dalton stands on my front lawn, his hands crammed in his pockets, neck craned up, and a brand-new pair of white Vans on his feet.
I lift my window and stage-whisper, "What are you doing?"
"I just thought...maybe you would like to watch the sunrise with me. It's the first day of officially being adults and all."
My head spins with questions of what happened to the last two months—leaving school, missing spring break, skipping finals, no prom, staying inside for weeks on end, quarantining away from everyone besides family—but I push it all aside and grin down at the handsome boy in my front yard. "What about social distancing?" I say with a smirk.
He shrugs, and even in the dark of night his eyes sparkle. "We can social distance...from the rest of the world. Just you and me. Come on, Maddie. I know that adventurous side of you is dying to get out of the house. Come do something crazy with me."
For a moment, I'm transported back to the pool at Sunny's when Dalton asked me to do something I wasn't sure about. That was the moment he saw me for who I was becoming.
And now, I am that girl. I'm the girl who lives for the present and not in the past. The girl who is stronger, more confident when I give her permission to be. I'm who I was made to be.
I lay the list on top of my graduation gown and hurry outside to meet my future.