~ CHAPTER 22~

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"Say wake up Aunty," I say to Scarlett and I have her little hand repeatedly hit Scarlett and she rolls over and groans looking at me

"Say good morning" I reply and she opens her eyes "Happy Graduation day," I say and she smiles

Today is Scarlett's graduation day. All of her hard work has finally paid off. I am so proud of her and her complete commitment to high school, especially after she supported me with Violet.

"Thank you, Miss Violet," she says

"Congratulations bestie, I am so proud of you" I reply and she smiles at me

"I couldn't have done it without you," she says

"No, Scar. I couldn't have done it without you" I reply and she laughs.

It's 7 am. Her graduation ceremony is at 12, so we have time to eat, get ready, take pictures and get to the ceremony. We get out of the bed and quickly tidy the room. No matter how hard we try we can never keep this room clean. We then make our way down the stairs to get something to eat.

I make us something to eat and Scarlett makes us some coffee. I place Violet in her baby bouncer and put it on the bench so we can eat arms free. Whilst I am waiting I decided to check my emails on my phone to see if I had anything important from work

"Oh my God," I say and I almost drop my phone in my bowl of cereal

"What," Scarlett says handing me a mug full of steaming coffee

"Thank you" I mutter staring at my phone

"What is going on" she replies to me and I hand my phone to my face

"What is it" she replies

"My exam scores- we'll not the scores, the email" I reply and she gasps to

"Open it," she says

"NO I can't," I say and we both stare at my phone and I feel butterflies erupt in my stomach. I am so nervous right now. This was my first semester in college, and I completed it pregnant and with a baby.

I don't have high hopes, but I have worked my ass off to maintain straight A's. I had them throughout all of high school and I really do not want to drop below this. I know that I have a baby and like my family tells me, that I should not be upset and beat myself up if I don't get what I want.

But I want the best life for us, and I will do anything to get this. I want to be a lawyer like Jane and Julian and I will not stop until I get there.

"Open it," she says and I shake my head. She grabs my phone and opens my email

"Hey, what are you doing?" I say rushed

"Opening the freaking email" she replies and I sigh, it's better that she does. I watch her open it and I see her face change.

"Oh no, I did bad, shit," I say and I feel my heart drop and then she looks up at me and her face turns into the biggest grin

"OH MY GOD T! ALL A'S," I say and I look at her in shock, and I grab my phone and the email reads all A's next to every single one of my classes.

"HOLY FUCK" I say and we get up and start jumping. We look at Violet who is in her baby jumper and we both grab her hands and cheer

"What is going on?" Grayson says stumbling into the kitchen

"I got all A's," I say to him and he cheers and we all do a happy dance. I cannot believe this, this is seriously amazing. After we tell all of my family we make it back up to get ready. We both shower and do our makeup.

Scarlett is wearing a yellow halter neck dress, with lace. It comes to her mid-thigh so her mother approves. She is pairing it with a pair of wedges and of course her gown and cap.

I have on a navy blue polka dot wrap around dress, which I pair with a nude pair of heels. Violet also has a cute little white dress. But we both know she is probably going to get it dirty so I pack a spare.

We then head down to where my family are ready to go to the ceremony and we wait for Scarlett's parents to arrive. They get here quickly and we make our way over to the high school

"Nervous?" I ask her and she nods

"Don't be, you are amazing, you should be so proud?" I say to her and she smiles and shakily lets out a deep breath and I grab her hand.

We arrive at the high school and whilst she goes to join her class, we take our seats. I sit down and I watch all of the families pile in and I cannot help but wonder what it would be like if I was walking today.

I am watching everyone arrive, and in my own head with Violet in my arms. I am lost in my thoughts when I feel someone touch my shoulder and I turn and jump, it is the principal Mr Kent.

"Tori Bell!" he says to me

"Hi Mr Kent," I say to him

"Michael please- who is this?" he says and he touches Violets hand

"This is Violet" I reply and she smiles at him

"Ahh the little bugger, who mummy had during senior year," he says and I laugh, Mr Kent was so sweet and helpful when I found out I was pregnant. He did everything he could so I could finish high school early and he helped me get into college.

"How have you been? How is college?"

"I've been good, college is fun"

"Straight A's still?" he asks and I nod

"Yes," I say

"Wonderful, well congratulations, I am glad you are well- enjoy the ceremony," he says and I wave goodbye to him.

The graduation ceremony is beautiful. I watch as every single one of my classmates walks across and get handed their diplomas. It finally gets to Scarlett. As the person before her walks across, I see her at the stairs nervously

"Hayes, Scarlett" is called by the principal and Scarlett walks across the stage and grabs her diploma

"Whoo! Go Scarlett" I call and I clap for her, as does my family and hers.

We also clap and shout for Chloe when she walks across the stage and takes a hold of her diploma. We watch the rest of the ceremony and wait for Scarlett to come to us when it ends.

She makes her way over to us, and both my parents, her parents and Violet and I hand her a bouquet of flowers, which we also do for Chloe, I also hand both of them a small package. I brought them both a set of diamond earrings. We then head back to the Shepherd house for a celebration.

"Everyone, I think another congratulations is in order for our news graduates Chloe and Scarlett," Julian says and we all cheer and clap.

The Shepherd's are hosting a graduation lunch in their backyard, and my old friends are having a little gathering later on tonight. But the graduation festivities do not stop there. A graduation party has been planned for the weekend, for Chloe and Scarlett.

My mum has offered our house and all of their family plus my family are coming.

They are also using this time to celebrate my graduation from high school even though it was 6 months ago, which is why my family is coming. I was too pregnant to have a party. Tonight it is just the Shepherds, my family and Scarlett's parents.

"Congratulations," I say and I lift Violets little baby hand

"Thank you, Vi," Chloe says and she smiles, Scarlett squeals and lifts Violet from my arms and lifts her above her head. She then spins her around and snuggles her close.

"We did it Vi" she sings songs and hugs her tight

"I am so proud of us," she says to Violet again and I giggle. I am so lucky that I have Scarlett.

We stay and have lunch, and Jax doesn't ignore me, but he doesn't exactly have a conversation with me.

Although Ellie is nowhere to be soon, and I hear from Chloe that she is with her friends today, and is spending the night in the city with them.

But I am glad. I don't have her to worry about, my full attention gets to be on Scarlett and her big day.

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