LAST CHAPTER!!!!!!! ARE YOU READY?

48 || A very cliche ending

There comes a time in your life that you say goodbye to something old in order to say hello to something new.

That time for me, for all of us, was now.

"I think I'm going to cry," Chanel sniffles on our last day of school. "This is the last time we'll walk these halls, have these lockers, see these teachers, eat their food."

"I for one will not miss the food," Trevor pipes up. "But I will miss my precious lockers," he sprawls his arms across them in a hug.

"I know what Ivy will miss the most," Ryan says.

"What?" She crosses her arms.

"Being in charge of everything."

She rolls her eyes and we all laugh.

The bell rings, the first out of six that will be our last.

"I definitely won't miss chemistry," I grumble as we all split up to go to our respective classes.

"I thought it was interesting," Carter says. "Mostly because of how many times you could've blown up the classroom or the school."

"Hey if I did that you'd been thanking me."

"You can't exactly thank someone if you're dead."

As we step inside for the last time a flood of memories wash over me.

"Hey remember when we first met?" I ask as we take a seat.

"You mean when you bumped into me?"

"For the millionth time you bumped into me."

"We'll agree to disagree."

"Last one to the water is a rotten egg!" She takes off and I shake my fist at her.

"Cheater!" I move to follow her but collide into somebody instead. I fly backward down onto the sand.

"Fuck!" The voice curses. "Watch where you're bloody going!" Is it me or does that voice have a strong British accent?

"Excuse me?" I splutter. "You bumped into me!" I raise my sunglasses to glare at the attacker but instead my breath catches.

Sexy. That's the word that pops into my head. Tall, with defined muscles and a v-line that has my mouth hanging open. A mop of brown hair that hangs wet across his forehead. Killer hazel eyes. Light stubble.

It should be illegal to look that good.

"I bumped into you? You're kidding right?" Yep, I wasn't imagining the accent. It's definitely there. And only adds to his overall hotness.

I gape at him like a fish.

"Well maybe if- if..." I struggle for a worthy comeback. I'm usually full of them but my mind comes up blank. He gives me the dirtiest look.

"Asshole," I finally respond standing up and brushing sand off my legs. Before he can say anything I head down to the water.

I smile at the memory. Oh how long ago that seemed.

We don't really do much in class, everyone just talks and uses their phones. My mind drifts off to when I found out Carter was a student here.

This is absolutely ridiculous. How can one guy cause this much commotion?

"Excuse us!" Nikole pushes through the crowd. The quad is usually packed but today it seems the entire school has gathered here.

"This better be good," Ivy grumbles.

We reach the front of the crowd. "So where is he?"

"There," Chanel points and Ivy and I swivel our heads in that direction.

I swear the wind is knocked out of me.

It's him. The sexy jerk.

He's the new guy. He's not a tourist.

He's a student here.

Every time I see him he only gets better looking. Right now he has on a navy blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and dark wash jeans with a chain looped around it. His sneakers are scuffed and his curly hair is pushed back with a bandana.

Of course Britney has already sunk her claws in him, and is shamelessly flirting with him while using her minions to keep the other girls at bay. Still, his eyes wander about, not really paying attention to her.

Then they lock on me.

I stare. I can't help it. My mouth parts open slightly. My gaze is glued to his. He's the predator and I'm his prey.

"It's him!" Ivy shakes me. "OMG I was right! We need to abort now!"

"Ivy, I can't move."

"Then I'll help you," she digs her nails into my shoulder and drags me off. Nikole and Chanel don't even notice.

I'm so deep in my thoughts I don't even notice when the bell rings. Carter shakes me.

"Earth to Aubrey. Time for our last day of English."

Ok English is one class I'm going to miss. I love Ms. Faye and as disastrous as our play was it was still a fun experience. She always made everything fun and she's one of the few teachers I'll miss.

When we reach her class I pause. Carter turns to me.

"Are you just gonna stand there?"

I narrow my eyes at him.

He sighs. "What now?"

"This is where you stole my first kiss."

"Oh yeah," he grins. "And I wouldn't exactly call it stolen.

"You took it without my permission. That is the vey definition of stealing."

He smirks. "You weren't exactly complaining. And you did kiss me back sooo..."

"That's not the point you thief."

We reach A32 and I grab the door handle. He pulls me back.

"What're you-"

My brain stops as his lips meet mine.

He's kissing me.

And...and...

I'm kissing him back.

When did this strange turn of events occur?

His lips are soft. So soft and very skilled. His hands caress my face and I stand up on the very tips of my toes.

Why am I kissing some random stranger?!

And can lips be described as kissable? Because he has extremely kissable lips.

Ironically when he pulls back my face is flushed pink. I stare at him wide eyed.

Then he vanishes into the classroom leaving me standing out in the hallway.

"Hey I have an idea," Carter says.

"Well that's a first."

"Very funny," he says dryly.

"So what's your great idea?"

He gestures for me to go inside first. I give him a suspicious look but he just smiles and beckons me forward. I place my hands on the handle to open the door when he pulls me back.

"Ok seriously what are you doin-"

My sentence is cut off by his lips. I don't even think, just wrap my arms around his neck and run them through his hair as he opens my mouth to deepen the kiss, and the feeling of his tongue piercing, which is a turn on for me, causes me to moan into his mouth. In the back of my mind I know people are walking around us, but I can't find it in me to care.

"No PDA!" A teacher barks and we pull away, me trying to catch my breath and him chuckling.

"You are so sneaky," I shake my head at him, but I'm smiling.

"Now we can go in," he opens the door and I step inside. Second period passes by in a blur of fun games and laughter. I have Ms. Faye sign my yearbook and give her a hug goodbye.

"Go out there and do great things Aubrey," she says. "Remember, all the worlds a stage-"

"-and all the men and women merely players,"' I finish. She smiles at me.

"I taught you well."

When lunch rolls around we all pass around each other's yearbook and sign them, even though we'll all undoubtedly see each other this summer.

"Last lunch here," Nikole says wistfully. "So much has happened at this lunch table."

We're all silent for a moment before Trevor suddenly climbs up onto the table.

"I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD!" He yells spreading his arms wide. Everyone is staring at him. Some are video recording and taking pictures.

"Get down from there at once!" A teacher yells.

He flips her off and I'm pretty sure everyone gasps. Then he backflips off the table and bows. There's tremendous applause.

Ryan and Carter high five Trevor. Ivy's mouth is agape along with Nikole while Chanel and I are laughing.

"That. Was. Iconic," I state.

"I am iconic," Trevor states cockily.

As the day passes I start to feel more and more wistful. I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm even going to miss Britney and cheerleading.

"What is wrong with you people!" She yelled. "This is cheer tryouts, not the circus!"

"You don't have to be a bitch," I said to myself. Britney froze.

"What did you say?" She glared at me.

Shit. I didn't know I had said it THAT loud.

"Nothing," I muttered.

"No, you called me a bitch."

"Well you kinda are," I said tired of her attitude.

"Oh really? I bet you can't do any better than these girls."

"Actually I can."

"Ooooh," the guys said from the bleachers.

Britney laughed. "Please. What can you do?"

"More than you," I got in her face. "In fact, I bet I'm better than you."

"There she goes being pretentious again," Carter said and I whipped around to glower at him.

"If you can do so much better than me prove it," Britney snapped.

"I will."

Ivy grabbed my hand. "Aubrey don't," she said in her warning tone. I shook her off. My ego had been challenged.

Now I wasn't completely speaking out of my ass here. When I was four I started taking gymnastics. Was one of the best actually. I'd won lots of ribbons and medals.

Then eighth grade year I was doing a flip and landed the wrong way, breaking three places in my leg. That was where my fear of falling had stemmed from. After that I quit gymnastics.

Sometimes I brushed up on my skills once in a while but nothing major. I figured it was like riding a bike, once you learn you never forget.

"And I'll try out with you!" Chanel stood up. Britney smirked.

"This should be fun."

"What do you want me to do?" I crossed my arms.

"We'll start easy. Cartwheel."

Easy. I did it without a problem.

"Backflip."

Again I did it with no problem.

"Frontflip."

Even easier.

"Handspring. Back handspring, front handspring."

I did all three in a quick succession. There was some light applause. Britney glared.

"Front aerial and side aerial."

Geez could this get any easier?

"Layout and half twist!" She shouted. I did them. That's when she started firing harder flips.

I started breaking a sweat and I got nervous. Still I completed each flip with no problem. She was practically livid.

"Double Layout Full In, Full Out," she spat.

Oh no.

This was the one I broke my leg on.

"I think that's enough," Ivy said nervously.

"No. She thinks she's better than me, she can do this," Britney said gleefully. I think she saw the fear in my eyes.

I couldn't let her win.

I tied my hair up and took a deep breath. Nikole came up to me.

"You don't have to do this," she said cautiously. "Anyone with a brain knows you're better than Britney."

I ignored her and prayed to God above that I would stick a good landing.

I stood at the edge of the mat and made the cross sign before taking a running start and launching myself in the air.

I didn't think. I just acted.

My eyes were squeezed tightly and it was completely silent. I opened my eyes.

The entire gym was staring at me.

"OMG," said a cheerleader. "She actually did it!"

To think that I never wanted to join the cheer team in the first place.

Finally the last period of the day arrives. By now we're all ready for it to be over. It feels like spring break all over again, watching the clock and waiting for the bell to ring.

When it does everyone throws their papers up like we're in high school musical and dash out.

School is finally over.

We all meet by our table in the quad one last time. Nikole is crying.

"I'm really going to miss this place," she wipes her eyes.

"You're going to make me cry again," Chanel says, her own eyes starting to water.

"FUCK THIS SCHOOL!" Ryan screams throwing his middle fingers up. "Stop crying and let's ditch this bitch. You still have plenty more time to reminisce at graduation."

I stare at the building. Who knew so much would happen my senior year? Becoming a cheerleader, falling in love. If someone had told me this is how my life would be right now; I would've laughed in their face and called them insane.

"Come on," Carter stretches out his hand. "Let's go."

With one final glance I take Carter's hand and we all walk away together.

💕💕💕

Just like I knew she would, my mom cries as she stares at me in my cap and gown.

"I can't believe you're graduating!" She blows her nose. I resist the urge to roll my eyes.

"I can't believe you're coming back with me to school," Jason grumbles.

"Believe it," I grin. "I can't wait to meet all your friends."

He groans and flops back down on the couch.

"Let's get some pictures," dad says and has me stand in various poses as he snaps a couple shots. "There. We'll take more later."

"Great. Can I go now? Carter is waiting outside."

"Of course sweetie. We'll see you later," mom hugs me before I dash outside. I whip off my gown and stuff it into my bag before climbing on the back of Carter's bike.

He hands me the helmet and I secure it before we speed off.

All graduating seniors are supposed to meet in the student council room but of course we meet Trevor, Ryan, and the girls at our table in the quad. It will always be our table.

"You brought your road truck van?"Nikole is saying as we approach. "Why?"

"It was the only car available on short notice," Chanel replies.

"I really don't want to go in there," Ryan runs a hand down his face.

"Why?" I ask. "You don't want to graduate?"

"I just think we could be doing something better instead of listening to long ass speeches, waiting for our names to be called, walking across a stage, and accepting a piece of paper."

"That piece of paper is our diploma," Ivy says pointedly.

"Yeah but it's still stupid."

"Here's an idea," Carter spoke and we all turned to him. "Let's ditch graduation."

"What?" Nikole exclaims. "We can't just ditch graduation."

"And why not? There are no rules that says it's mandatory. We could take Chanel's van and go wherever we wanted."

"I've been waiting to graduate since I was seven," Chanel says. "I'm not sure I want to just leave."

"Trust me, you're not missing much."

"Gee Carter," I interject. "From the way you're talking it's as if you've graduated already."

He shrugs. "I haven't. But it doesn't seem all that great to me. And if none of us really want to be here..." he trails off and we all look at each other.

"What about our diplomas?" Ivy questions.

"They'll mail them to us," Trevor answers. "Come on guys, let's do this. Let's give graduation our middle finger."

"I'm game if you guys are," I say. "I'll just text my parents and say I won't be there. Explanations be damned."

I expect Ivy to be the most reluctant but instead she too says, "Yeah, I surprisingly don't care at this point."

"You know I'm in," Ryan said.

"And me," Trevor adds.

We all turn to Nikole and Chanel. They look at each other before looking back at us.

"Oh screw it," Nikole throws her arms up. "Let's go. Let's ditch graduation."

"You in babe?" Trevor asks Chanel.

She bites her lip. "Only if we can go to San Francisco. I really wanna go back to the Golden Gate Bridge."

"Wooh!" Trevor cheers. "Fuck graduation!"

"Language," Ivy scolds him.

We all run out to Chanel's van and pile in. Ryan volunteers to drive first.

"You guys ready?" He turns the key in the ignition and the van rumbles to life.

"Yes!" We all exclaim.

"Then let's ditch this bitch. For the last time."

And then we drive off into the sunset.

Just kidding that's so corny.

And cliche.

Totally, totally cliche.

Now now don't cry.

lol jk you can cry

I'll save you the sappy goodbye author's note for after the epilogue.

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