THIRD P.O.V.

"Max, you have to wake up or we're going to miss your ceremony!"

"...what?" Max grumbled as he cracked open an eye. He looked at the clock on his nightstand and frowned when seeing the time on the clock.

"Kade..." Max said lowly and Kade tilted his head.

"Yes?" Kade asked.

"It's six in the fucking morning, the only thing you're going to be missing is a few teeth if you don't let me go back to sleep right now" Max said while throwing a tired glare at Kade who just shook his head.

"You have to get up right now! I refuse to let you be late for one of the most important moments in your life" Kade said and Max just groaned.

"Alright. I understand, now get out" Max said and Kade said a quick 'thank you' before leaving out of the room.

"Most important moment of my life...yeah fucking right..." Max grumbled before throwing his covers over his head and going back to sleep.

~ An hour later ~

"AHHHHH?!"

Ceres was startled awake by the sudden sound of one of her brothers screaming. She looked over to her clock and saw that it was almost seven thirty which means it was time for her to get up anyways.

Ceres walked out of her room in search of the source of the scream only to see Kade with wide eyes standing in the doorway of Max's room.

"Why are you still asleep?!" Kade cried as he ran into the room and started shaking Max but it was as if Max was dead as he slept through Kade's constant shaking.

"I swear, he better start counting his fucking days..." Ceres turned her head and saw Ares coming out of his room with disheveled bed head and an irritated look on his face.

"The ceremony isn't until 9, what the hell are you stressing about?!" Max yelled.

"I don't want you taking forever, c'mon now. Get up!" Kade said and Ceres saw that Max was now sitting up and glaring at Kade.

"I swear it's as if Kade is the one graduating" Roman said as he also came out of his room with a yawn.

The rest of their morning was filled with complaints from Kade. First it was his hair not staying the way he wanted it to, and then he thought his suit was too wrinkled, now Kade was busy trying to catch some photos with Max.

"Ceres, you ready?" Lucas asked as he came into his sister's room and his eyes widened a little when seeing her.

Ceres was dressed in a simple white dress with floral patterns on the bottom and she had some flats to compliment the dress. She was wearing her friendship bracelet on her wrist as well as the pin Kade had bought her for her birthday in her hair. Her hair was slightly curled at the ends and thanks to the pin, it stayed out of her face.

"You look beautiful" Lucas said with a smile and Ceres cheeks reddened.

"R-Really? This is my first time wearing something so...dressy?" Ceres stuttered out. She was still looking at herself in the mirror, unsure if the dress looked alright on her.

"Of course you do. I'm sure the others will think the same" Lucas said and Ceres gave him a small smile.

"Thank you. You look nice as well" she said. Lucas himself was wearing a regular black suit although he hated wearing suits since it got hot a little too quickly for his liking but since it was a special occasion, he would deal with it.

"Thanks. Let's head down before Kade blows a short in his fuse" He said and the two headed downstairs.

The first one to notice the two was Ares and he let out a whistle when seeing Ceres.

"Kiddo, you look amazing!" He said and that was the signal for all the others to turn their heads. Ceres had received multiple compliments and all she could do was smile, even though her cheeks were hurting from how wide she was smiling.

"I knew the dress would suit you. It isn't too much, is it?" Lance asked and Ceres shook her head.

"It's perfect" she said.

"Both of my babies looks so beautiful...this is such a good day to be alive" Kade said as he sniffled and wiped his tears.

Arthur just gave a short chuckle before speaking up.

"Is everyone ready to go? No one's leaving anything?" Arthur asked as he looked amongst his children and everyone nodded.

"Then we have a graduation to attend" he said and with that, everyone headed out.

When they had arrived at the hall where the ceremony would be held, Max had headed off on his own and the rest tried to look for vacant seats.

"Fuck, I knew we should have came earlier" Kade muttered as he saw that the front rows were filled up.

"Your idea of earlier is the day before" Ares said and Kade frowned.

"If coming the day before would have saved us those front row seats then I would have done it" he said and Ares just shook his head.

They had all eventually found seats in the middle rows and they were pretty good. That is until someone sat in front of Kade and his vision was immediately blocked.

"Did he just-? He didn't just sit in front of me...?" Kade asked with a look of disbelief on his face and Lucas just snickered.

"Kade, don't start" Arthur said and Kade frowned.

"How the hell am I supposed to see with this big head in front of me?" Kade said loudly, not even caring that the person in front of him could hear him.

"One of you switch with me?" Kade asked and when he saw that none of his brothers were willing he just frowned.

"I can't believe this is happening to me" Kade grumbled. When he felt a tap on his shoulder he looked and saw Ceres pointing at her seat.

"I'll switch with you" she said and Kade frowned.

"Honey, you're small enough as it is and if I can't see then you definitely won't be able to see. Thank you, though" Kade said and Ceres just nodded.

The ceremony had started off with a slideshow of all the seniors throughout the years and although Max wasn't really in any of the photos, some of his art had been shown and that made Ceres smile.

Throughout all of the speeches and awards, Ceres did begin to get a little bored but once they were finally beginning to call students' names, she perked up.

"...Maximilian Spencer"

It had taken a while for Max's name since he was towards the end of the alphabet but when they finally said his name, Ares & Kade were up like firecrackers.

"WOOOOOH!!! THAT'S MY BABY BROTHER!!" Ares yelled.

"IM SO PROUD OF YOU MAXI!!" Kade followed up with a yell of his own and Ceres couldn't help but laugh at the two.

Even though he was was far away, the look of embarrassment was clear on Max's face as he grabbed his diploma and hurried off of the stage.

After everyone else had been called, there was an ending speech from the principal and once the principal congratulated the students, caps started flying everywhere.

"Now, we do ask that the families wait until the graduates move outside. Once they do, you also may proceed"

"Come on, I can't sit here any longer" Ares said as soon as the last graduate left the hall.

They found Max quickly as he was talking to someone just outside.

"Your art is really cool. I didn't know you painted"

"Thanks, it's not a big deal or anything"

"Sure it isn't. Look, I know we didn't really speak much but I'd like to keep in touch if that's okay with you?"

"S-Sure..."

"Awesome! See you later man"

Ceres could hear just the small ending of the conversation before the person Max was speaking to had left.

"Wow, graduation sure does bring out the best in people" Roman said and Max frowned.

"Shut up" he said.

"Oh, Max! I'm so proud!" Kade said as he began to hug Max who surprisingly just let him.

"So, how does it feel to no longer be a high school student?" Lucas asked and Max shrugged after finally getting Kade away from him.

"The same if I'm being honest. I don't feel like anything is going to change" Max said.

"Well, I'm sure once you start college a lot of things will begin to change for you" Arthur said and Max nodded.

"Alright, let's get out of here. It's starting to get a little too hot" Ares said as he took off the jacket of his suit.

"Where do you want to eat?" Lance asked.

"Let's just go home and order some pizza. Restaurants take too long and the ones around here are gonna get crowded fast" Max said. He wasn't really in the mood to wait around for food so he was glad that no one complained about his choice.

~ A few days later, Ceres P.O.V. ~

"What's wrong with her?" I heard one of my brothers ask as I laid on the couch, just staring out the window.

"She's having bagel bite withdrawals I think" Ares said.

"Oh, Honey. It isn't so bad...you've gone without them for a long time now" I heard Kade's voice getting closer and closer until I could see his knees in front of me.

"Cannot compute...need energy" I muttered as I felt my stomach growl. I was craving one thing and one thing only.

Bagel bites.

"Hm...you need something to take your mind off of them and the best thing to do is shop!" Kade said and I looked up at Kade who was just smiling down at me.

"Let's get you some breakfast first because we have a full day of shopping ahead of us" Kade said as he dragged me to the kitchen.

After we ate, all three of us (yes, Ares is tagging along) headed to the mall for a "fun" day of shopping as Kade puts it.

"Oh, that's right. Max mentioned something about you wanting to go to the beach. Let's get you a swimsuit" Ares said and I perked up at the mentioning of the beach.

However, Kade wasn't too open to the idea.

"She doesn't need a swimsuit. Kids go in the water with shorts and a t-shirt all the time" Kade said and Ares rolled his eyes.

"That's the thing, Kade. Kiddo here isn't a kid, she's fifteen. Let her make some choices for herself, y'know?" Ares said and Kade gave a small huff before allowing Ares to drag us into a nearby store.

I looked among all the different swimsuits. A lot of them were two pieces which Kade had tried to steer me away from and we mostly looked at the one piece suits. I saw some nice colors and patterns but I didn't think any of them were the one I wanted.

"Hey kiddo, what about-" Ares turned around with a blue two piece in hand but Kade was quick to cut him off with a deadly glare.

"Put. It. Back." He seethed out and Ares just rolled his eyes before throwing it back on the rack.

"We've been in here for almost an hour now! I'm just trying the speed up the process" I heard Ares say as I walked towards a different rack.

While I thought that this was just going to be another rack in my endless search, a flash of green caught my eye and I walked over to it. It was a simple green one piece and the color was of the darker shade which I liked so I picked it up and brought it over to my brothers.

Ares noticed me first and when seeing the swimsuit in my hand he gave a smile.

"That's the one you want kiddo?" He asked and I nodded.

"I guess I'll deal..." Kade said with a sigh at the end. We were finally able to purchase the clothing and get out of the store.

"Where to next?" Ares asked and Kade gave a hum as he looked around.

"The dress you were wearing the other day was really cute so let's get you some more cute ones!" Kade said and I just nodded even though I didn't necessarily agreed with his statement.

I felt kind of weird wearing the dress. It felt so out of place for me and I wasn't really sure if I suited it at all but nonetheless I allowed Kade to drag us off to try on some.

After the first few dresses that Kade had picked out, I found myself ready to hike it out of there. Some of the dresses were itchy, some were a little tight, and others just didn't make the cut.

By the time we were done, Ares was fast asleep in one of the chairs. However, Kade rolled his eyes before kicking Ares in the leg.

"You can stop pretending now" Kade said and just like that Ares was up.

"Finally you two were taking forever. I thought you'd get the hint" Ares said while nudging Kade who just frowned at him.

"Beauty doesn't take five minute sweetie" Kade said and Ares laughed.

"Whatever. I'm hungry, let's find something to eat" Ares said as he gripped his stomach that suddenly growled.

"You worked up an appetite from doing nothing? Unbelievable" Kade said and this time it was Ares' turn to frown.

"Doing nothing? I had to stand there and hold all the choices of clothing you had picked out. I'd say I've done my fair share" Ares said and I just found myself wanting to be finished with this day.

Maybe shopping was fun for Kade but I myself was not really enjoying it. It was a tedious task and I was now tired from trying on all the different clothing.

Though as we walked to find some food, a thought occurred to me.

I hadn't thought about bagel bites the entire time we were here. So maybe Kade was right about shopping being able to take your mind off of things.

I just wished that it wasn't so tiring.