Twelve years. Twelve long years of tears, breakdowns, late nights, essays, projects, parties, dances, sports, and clubs. Twelve years all culminating to this one single moment. 

Our graduation ceremony is being hosted at Gotham Hall, and the entire senior class is waiting in the wings as the ceremony starts. Everyone is buzzing with nerves and excitement as we wait for our cue to begin the procession.

"I can't believe we made it," Vienna says. "Like, we're about to become full fledged adults and enter the adult world. I'm going to NYU. You're going to Yale."

Not long after my acceptance to Yale, Vienna got her acceptance to NYU. Not only that, she was admitted into the Tisch School of Arts. The night ended with another round of wine and ice cream.

Vienna continues. "I mean this has to be a dream. It has to be. Someone pinch me."

Hannah pinches her and she yelps. "Ow! I didn't mean actually pinch me!"

Hannah shrugs innocently as Tiffany adjusts her cap for the thousandth time. "These things are so ugly. They make my head look big."

Chloe rolls her eyes. "Your head looks fine. Why do you even care anyway? You only have to wear it for a few hours."

"And in pictures! I don't want to look back on this day and see I had a watermelon head."

A laugh escapes me. "Tiffany, you look great. We're about to walk across the stage and accept our diplomas. No one is going to be looking at you head."

Tiffany crosses her arms and pouts. "You don't know that," she mutters.

"We're about to walk in!" Naomi suddenly yells, capturing everyone's attention. We all scramble to get in position as the music starts.

"And now lets welcome our graduating class!"

Vienna shoots me a smile and squeezes my hand. I smile and squeeze back, then we both turn to face forward. We're walking together in pairs, and I obviously chose Vienna to be my partner. There's clapping and cheers as we enter, and I find myself scanning the crowd for my family. Unfortunately it's just too crowded to really make out anyone in particular.

When we're finally all seated Principle Jones steps up to the microphone. He along with Ms. Brookes and some other teachers and staff are on stage already, dressed in their faculty regalia.

"Welcome family and friends, to the commencement ceremony for the class of 2020!"

There's more whoops and hollers as he clears his throat. "As always, we'd like to start off by thanking everyone for being here to share this special day with our seniors, who have all worked so hard to get to where they are today."

He goes into the opening remarks and to be honest, none of us are listening. Everyone is too strung up, whispering excitedly to one another as we mentally prepare for the moment our name is called. It's enough to make me forget I'm giving this years valedictorian speech.

"And now I'd like everyone to give a warm welcome to this years senior valedictorian, Kennedy Davis!"

I make my way up the stage to the sound of thunderous applause, whoops , and hollers. Principal Jones smiles at me and steps back so I can take the microphone. I tap it twice and take a deep breath as the noise of the crowd dies down.

"Good afternoon parents, faculty, and fellow graduates," I glance down at my notecards, then make a split second decision.  "I spent weeks preparing what I thought would be the perfect speech, because that's the type of person I am. I always strive for perfection. And to be honest, my orignal speech was so long some of you might have fallen asleep by the time I was done," there's some laughter among the crowd and I smile, continuing. "But instead, I'll keep it short and sweet. This year has made me reevaluate my outlook on life. Sometimes what may seem perfect on the surface is actually rotten underneath," I pause, thinking of Gabriel and his family. "What I've learned this year is that the relationships and connections we build with people are far more valuable than anything else. We try to deny it because it's human nature, but we need people. We need love and we need support. And unfortunately, not all of us are lucky enough to have that. So cherish those people in your life more often. Tell them you love them. And don't ever, take them for granted. Thank you."

There's enormous applause once I'm finished and I smile. It's not the speech I planned, but it's the speech I felt was right. Soon it's time for us to accept our diplomas. I thought I would be more excited, but there's a bittersweet feeling mixed in with that excitement. It's the end of one thing and the start of something new.

"We're so proud of you!" My mother squishes me in a hug after the ceremony. She pulls back and dabs at her eyes with tissue.

"You're going to do great things," my father wraps an arm around me.

Austin pulls me into a noogie, knocking my cap off. "Proud of you buttface."

"Asshole," I shoot him a look as I fix my hair and cap. "But thanks."

Holly squeezes me tightly. "Congratulations Kennedy!"

"What she said," Tristan adds with a smile. "You're going to kick ass at Yale."

More family and friends offer me congratulations, and soon my arms are loaded with flowers and gifts. I pose for picture after picture, all the while trying to find Winston among the chaos. After the ceremony I was swept away, so I hadn't seen him yet. He did text though and say he was with Danny, Vienna, and Cecilia. After awhile I decided I'd go find them myself. I handed off my stuff to my parents and began squeezing through the crowd, having to stop for even more pictures with the tennis team, the student council, and all the other activities and clubs I'd been apart of.

"There she is!" Cecilia is the first one to spot me. "Congrats darling!"

Winston sweeps me up in a hug and I laugh as he spins me around. "I'm so proud of you love."

"Thank you," I press a kiss to his lips.

"So how are we celebrating?" Vienna asks with a grin. "Party?"

Cecilia whips out her phone. "I can have one put together with just one phone call."

Winston places a hand on her shoulder. "Slow your roll."

I shake my head. "I can't. Since Austin and Tristan are in town my mom is hosting dinner for us tonight. You're welcome to come Vienna."

She gives me a soft smile. "That's okay. You should enjoy your time with your family."

I frown and it's only then I realize her parents are nowhere in sight.

They didn't come.

"Vienna..." I trail off. She waves her hand dismissively.

"It's fine, I'm fine," she insists. "I mean I knew...I had a feeling they might not come. But that's okay. I don't need them." Even as the words pass her lips she blinks rapidly, fighting off tears. Danny wraps an arm around her and kisses her forehead.

"Don't worry. We'll have an amazing celebration without them, just the two of us."

Vienna gives Danny a wobbly smile. "Thanks."

Out of nowhere guilt claws up my stomach. I've gotten good at burying it and pretending it doesn't exist, but I can't lie and say the fact Vienna never told Danny about her pregnancy sits well with me. He deserves to know. What if he wanted the kid, and she made that decision for him?

"Can I talk to you Vienna?" I give her a meaningful look.

"Sure." We make our way out of earshot and I take a deep breath, placing my hands on my hips.

"You need to tell Danny."

"About what?" She plays dumb.

"You know about what. This is wrong."

"You're the one who supported my decision," she hisses.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. "I know. But I didn't support your decision to not tell him. That's just wrong. He deserves to know."

Vienna's entire face crumples. "What if he hates me?" She whispers, quickly wiping the tears that managed to escape.

"He loves you. He may be mad yes, but he'll never hate you."

"Could you be there? For moral support?"

I sigh. "V, this is a conversation the two of you need to have privately."

Vienna bites her lip. "Fuck. Okay, okay, I'll tell him tonight."

"Good," I squeeze her in a hug. "Call or text if you need me."

"I may actually take you up on that," she gives me a weak smile before linking her arm with mine. "Now cmon. Let's go celebrate."

...

The day passes by in a whirlwind of activity, and it's only well after midnight that I finally get to take off my heels and strip out of my graduation gown. I toss the cap aside and flop backwards on the bed.

What a day.

I'm so tired I could probably fall asleep in my dress and makeup, but that wouldn't be the best idea so after a minute I get up to wash my face and change into pajamas. Afterwards I climb back into bed and shoot off a text to Vienna asking if everything's okay. When I get no response I assume things must be alright, otherwise I'm sure she would have called me in hysterics. I text Winston goodnight and just as I'm falling asleep, my phone rings.

Groggily I fumble for my phone on the nightstand and bring it up to my face. I don't recognize the caller ID so I place my phone back down and roll over to sleep. Except it rings again. And again and again.

"What?" I snap after answering the fifth call. "Who is this?"

"Now that's no way to answer the phone Ken. You can do better than that."

I abruptly sit up, wide awake.

"Gabriel?!" I splutter.

"Surprise!" He cheers. "Sorry about the unknown number by the way, I had to get a new phone."

"Why the hell are you calling me?" After our last encounter, I never wanted to speak to Gabriel again. I wanted nothing to do with him. So why did he keep bothering me?

Gabriel chuckles over the line. "To talk of course."

"No, you've had plenty of chances to talk you asshole. Just leave me the fuck alone or I'm going to file a restraining order." At this point his behavior was borderline stalking.

"Feisty," Gabriel says. "That's one of the things I always loved about you. You never took shit lying down."

"Just leave me alone!" I yell. "I'm hanging up."

He clicks his tongue. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. You see, I have an offer you might want to consider."

"I don't want shit from you," I snap, then hang up. Not a minute later I get a text.

Gabriel: you shouldn't have done that. Nonetheless I'm feeling pretty generous, so I'll still tell you my offer. Break up with Winston

I stare at my screen in disbelief.

Me: you must be out of your ever loving mind

Gabriel: I'm serious. Break up with Winston, or I'll ruin your life

Me: go to hell

Then I block his number. Tomorrow I'm going to get my phone number changed and file a police report.

I cannot believe he had the audacity to try and threaten me into breaking up with Winston. Not once has Gabriel taken responsibility in his role during our breakup or his completely unacceptable behavior afterwards when I wouldn't get back with him. Not to mention blaming me for what happened with his father after he pointed a fucking gun at my head! Gabriel has always tried to blame me for the problems in his life and never owned up to his own mistakes. Does he not realize how crazy he looks?

Gabriel wasn't the best person when we dated or even afterwards when we broke up, but it's like he's a completely different person now. I just want him to leave me alone.

For good.

...

Love, G❤️