I don't want to be "that friend," but Mark and I have been pulled apart over the last year. All because of Claire. It still boggles my mind how they got together. I don't know the story on how they started dating. It's more or less I'm surprised that they're dating their exact opposites. It doesn't help that my younger sister keeps mentioning it.

"What if he makes a speech at graduation, about how you like him? What if he makes a speech about how much he looooves you! What if-"

"Stop!" I cut her off. "He's still dating her. None of that is happening. He's not even giving a speech. Grace is."

"Oh..." she pauses. "Well, what if Grace mentions- "

"Knock it off you little troll!" I slam my door shut. Not really the choice of words I wanted to use, but I'd rather not get yelled at by my parents on graduation day.

I put on my cap and gown so that way we can get going. My mom takes a rather generic picture of me in front of the fireplace.

Once we get there, I meet up with my normal group. As I walk up to them, I notice Mark is there. I feel a smile spread across my face.

"Hey (y/n)!" Grace says. "I'm so nervous for my speech!"

"You'll do great!" I give her a hug.

As we talk I notice Claire walk up to Mark and give him a kiss. I look away and do my best to ignore it.

"Bob, you read my speech, was it any good?" Grace asks, turning to him.

"They made a good choice in choosing you to do the ending speech. It's easy to relate too, and we'll put."

"Thank you! I'm still nervous though!" She gives off a shaky laugh.

We all line up in alphabetical order and head out to our seats. The first speech I don't pay attention to. I don't really care about what they're saying about our careers, I also don't really know this person. They go off and start calling the names. The first of my friends is Wade. I clap and cheer for him. After a while, they call out Mark's name. I clap for him too. They get to Grace and she almost trips across the stage. She recovers and just laughs it off.

They call my name and I go up and grab my diploma which is really empty at the moment. We get the actual paper after the ceremony. When I get to the handshake my eyes drift to Mark. He's smiling at me. I ignore that too. This is going to be my new fresh start. College is my new beginning. I'm going to leave Mark and Claire behind me. This is my promise. I won't be hung up about Mark anymore. This is me, starting my new life.

They end up calling Bob's name shortly after. Once they end, Grace is up and ready to give her speech.

"So this is it. A minor part of our life has just ended. Now it's time for us to start the major part. For some it's college. For others, it's just starting work. Either road we take we will all end up in the same place. We will be happy in our hearts.
May the choices in your life lead you to be happy. Whether we all stay together, or whether we drift apart, I wish all of you the best in life. Let's raise hell as new adults!"

We all cheer at her ending. One thing is for sure, all of us are going to the same college. It's going to be hard to avoid Mark and Claire, but nothing is going to make me break my promise to myself.

I am over Mark.