My mom never cries. Like, in my almost eighteen years of life, I've probably seen her cry three times and those times were because I made her laugh too hard. My dad on the other hand, he's the emotional one. McKinley and I used to joke that she got her stony scariness from our mom and I'm only overemotional because I inherited the trait from our dad.

So it's a little alarming on graduation day when my dad is consoling a crying McKinley and my mom is dampening David's shirt. They look at me with so much pride in their eyes and go back to crying.

The graduation ceremony hasn't started yet. We haven't left the house. I'm literally in my pyjamas.

"Kenny, you're so grown!" My mom says. Tyler sits at the counter, looking weary. He's been awake for about an hour longer than I have so something (shout out to the tissues crumpled on the counter and the tear tracks on David's face) tells me that this conversation has happened to him already.

"Hey everyone..." I say and yawn. I'm still tired even though I slept more than I wanted to.

My mom stands up and gives me a huge hug that McKinley joins in on, both of them sniffling into my hair. Then, because he's extra, my dad wraps his arms around us and lets out a loud sob.

I really didn't expect this. On both of McKinley's graduations, we ate cake in the morning and then went for sushi at this fancy place, no tears involved. I was expecting the same thing for me but I'm feeling Korean barbeque more than sushi if I'm honest, but I wouldn't mind as long as they paid for me.

"You guys can stop crying now," I say though my voice is a bit muffled by them squeezing the death out of me. "Mom? Dad? McKinley?"

McKinley's the first to let go of me, sniffling. "She's so small, I can't believe this potato head is graduating," Then she hugs me again and they begin weeping like I just died.

After this goes on for five minutes, they finally let me go and let me sit next to Tyler. He looks as fed up as I feel and I don't blame him – his mom and grandma are blowing up his phone and they don't look like they're letting up. We get a special plate of bacon of eggs arranged into some sort of warped smiley face and I'm about ready to go back to sleep.

Jackie on the other hand is way annoyed that he's not getting any attention. He begins jumping around in front of my dad and shows him a bunch of drawings from school but it doesn't get him anything apart from a pat on the back. He sulks all through everyone getting ready and even though he looks totally cute in his little tie and dress shirt, he has a frown on his face up until when we leave the house.

I drive with McKinley and my dad's bright blue suit. He thought it was fitting because someone told him our school colour was blue.

"You know, when you were born, Kenny," McKinley starts dramatically. I really didn't expect her to do this. "I knew you were going to graduate high school,"

"Really," I massage my temples. "Tell me more,"

"I can co-sign on that! She said that you'd get a degree in princess school." Dad says as he parks the car. "We're so proud of our plant princess!"

We get out of the car and guide my very emotional family to where they'll be sitting today. Then Tyler and I run away under the guise of getting ready for the ceremony.

"You think because my parents have done this twice they wouldn't even care!" I say, sighing. Tyler chuckles and then puts his hands in his pockets.

"We're their babies, that's why they're freaking out. Y'know, when I came down this morning, my dad had these cupcakes with congratulations written on them,"

This is news to me. "Why didn't I get any of these cupcakes?"

"Because McKinley started crying all over them. Then your dad came and he started crying with her and then my dad started so I just... put them away," He rubs the back of his head.

Stacy and Nicole come into view just as he spots his friends and goes over to scream with them.

"Kenny!" Stacy hollers. She's dressed in her robes but instead of her graduation cap, she's wearing her prom queen crown.

I advance toward the two of them, smiling. "Hey girls! What's up?"

"I'm trying to convince Miss Prom Queen here not to wear her crown for her graduation photo." Nicole high fives me and we begin walking to get my robes. "She's gonna look like she peaked in high school in the yearbook photos."

Stacy flips her hair. "But I haven't peaked in high school! I'm still on a slope upward, so that means I can wear my crown,"

I keep quiet as I find a robe that's my size. Somehow they begin talking about college and I begin to feel bittersweet because I'm the only one out of the three of us that is properly leaving home. They'll still see each other on weekends and I'll only see them at Christmas, Easter and the summer.

"Girls, I've picked the colour I wanna paint my dorm room!" Stacy says in a singsong voice. "Royal blue! Tyler said that –"

Nicole holds her hand up and stops her. "Okay this is the sixth time you've mentioned Tyler in the past hour. Is there something you wanna tell us?"

I pick up my hat, knowing that this conversation is premature. "Hey, royal blue is cute as hell," I tell Stacy, noticing her blush. She doesn't answer Nicole but starts babbling about how many cans of paint she'll buy and whether she'll like her roommate.

We go to the football field where chairs are set up around a fancy looking podium. It reminds me way too much of High School Musical except everything is blue and white instead and our principal is half asleep on the stage. Since our names aren't together on the register, the three of us sit apart from each other but luckily we can still see each other from where we are.

The valedictorian, a cheerleader named Heather, gives a speech about how we are all budding plants that have been nurtured with high school flavoured water or something. She probably thought it was a nice analogy but the biologist in me is very stressed out by it. Nevertheless, I clap for her because well, she tried (and she ploughed on through my dad's loud crying so brownie points to her!).

Tyler is the first one out of all of us to go up on the stage. He gets his diploma, grins and then points at our shared family who haven't stopped making noise since they got here. Then Nicole goes up, then me. I take care not to fall down when I get on the stage because that's the kind of thing I'd do but I make it up there in one piece. Our principal shakes my hand and gives me a diploma, winking at me when I thank him.

Stacy goes up a few names after me and she bows to the congregation, still wearing her crown. Someone from yearbook takes a photo of her and she poses dramatically, making a few people laugh. She's so extra but it works for her and I'm pretty much as extra as she is so I can't fault her.

The principal gives his last speech, wishing us well and telling us to come back in ten years for the reunion. I suddenly start to feel a little emotional and get a text message from Nicole telling me to stop crying. When I look up to where she's sitting, she's turned around and sending me a soft smile and her eyes are watery. I stick my tongue out at her and she chuckles before turning around.

When the ceremony is over, the three of us get ready to take pictures in one of the photo booths. Stacy is all smiles and joyfulness while Nicole is trying to hold her tears back by comforting me. It's funny, I didn't peg her at the type to cry at something like this but here we are.

"We look so cute!" Stacy says, showing the strip of pictures. She's literally the only one who is ready for the picture while the both of us are just a mess.

"You look cute, my forehead looks like it wants to outshine the sun," Nicole says, frowning. "And Kenny looks like she just went to a funeral."

"True," I agree and she gasps.

"You think my forehead is big?!" She says, sounding hurt.

I roll my eyes. "I mean, Tyler didn't call us the big forehead twins for nothing in middle school, did he?"

She relaxes and nods her head a few times. "You right, you right."

Stacy laughs and finally takes off her crown, shaking her hair out. "I don't know how the both of you are going to survive without each other in college,"

*-8*-8*

We actually get to go to a Korean barbecue. My mom insists that Tyler and I still wear our graduation caps as we eat. At first I thought it was because she wanted to be proud of us or something like that but then a chef gave us extra meat when he saw us. So I guess we became her coupons.

"Kenny," Jackie tugs on my skirt a few times just as I'm about to eat. "Kennedy,"

"What's wrong?" I ask.

He looks around and then tells me to bend down like he's about to tell me a huge secret. Then, to my utter surprise, he opens up his palm and shows me one of his baby teeth. "It fell out,"

I blink a few times. "Oh... okay... Wow, um..."

"What are y'all whispering about over there?" My dad says. The two of us look up at him in sync. Jackie smiles and shows the gap in the bottom row of his teeth. Everyone gasps in surprise.

"Baby your teeth fell out?!" My mom says, reaching over the table. "Why didn't you say?"

"'Cuz everyone was crying because of Kenny and Tyler," He says, leaning against my arm. "I couldn't just steal all the attention,"

Of course, everyone starts fawning over him and the attention is stolen anyway. He starts grinning like he just solved one of life's biggest mysteries, especially when McKinley promises to buy him an action figure later. He really thinks he's sly.

I decide to take this moment to check my phone. My instagram's going off a little because I posted a graduation photo of my friends and I and I breeze through the notifications until I see that Dante's tagged me in something.

So I go to his page and there's a picture of me sitting on a bench and smiling. It's from a few weeks ago, when we were hanging out. I never realised he took a photo though but it's a nice one. It's captioned with something cute about me graduating and whatnot.

Things have been a little rocky since he punched Chad in the face. I'm not mad anymore and he's less annoyed but it's just... awkward. Like, I don't know if I should bring it up and talk about it or if I should just bury it and keep moving on. I've seen Chad around school a few times and he's always avoided me. He said they weren't a good set of punches but Chad's left me alone so... I'm not complaining.

I send a message quickly and then put my phone away when I notice that the tooth drama is dying down.

About an hour later, Tyler clears his throat as we finish our food. Then uses the big sharp knife to tap his glass cup. The whole table gets a little quiet as we wait for him to make his little announcement.

Of course, in the most Tyler way, he stands up and adjusts his tie. It's the most ridiculous thing, it's a tie with his face on it and he calls it his 'Ty' because he thinks it's cool. When he showed it to me last week and explained the whole situation, I almost threw a fit.

"Well, I'd like to thank you all for attending my graduation." I clear my throat and he rolls his eyes. "Kenny thanks you all too."

I raise and take a bow, mostly to piss him off. Every now and then Tyler does a big speech and he hates it when people interrupt him. He glares at me as the adults start applauding me and I sit back in my chair, waving slowly and trying to drag it out.

"Can I continue?" He asks me specifically.

"Nobody was stopping you," I say passively.

Once again, he rolls his eyes. "Anyway, as my beloved eighteenth birthday is in –"

"Could you hurry the fuck up, I want a cheesecake," McKinley says. Immediately, everyone sighs. "What?!"

"McKinley, you swear too much!" My mom complains. "What did I tell you about swearing in front of Jackie, I will-"

"Mom, relax," McKinley brushes off and I internally groan. Telling my mom to relax when she's already annoyed or angry is like the worst thing to do. It looks like nobody is getting cheesecake tonight.

"You do not tell me to relax! You better check yourself before I turn into your grandma and check you," She says.

"Tina..." My dad starts but starts drinking his wine when she cuts her eyes at him. Then she begins to lecture McKinley on how she should be a better role model for our brother and that even though animals don't care if she swears, she can't carry this attitude around. We've all heard this lecture before, McKinley will never change. I get worried when we have a conversation where she doesn't swear at me.

Once she's done, we all turn back to Tyler who decided to take off his 'Ty'. "Make your announcement sweetie," She says in the nicest voice she can muster.

I share a look with him and he shakes his head to continue. "... As I was saying, my beloved eighteenth birthday is in just over a week and a half and-" Jackie raises his hand. "What do you want, John?" Tyler uses his full name, sounding fed up.

"Isn't just over a week and a half just... two weeks?"

"You're six, how do you know that?" I ask him.

"I counted on my fingers." He says and winks

Tyler groans. "Okay! My beloved eighteenth birthday is coming up in two weeks and I've finally decided what I want to do and who I'm taking with me for the day."

I raise my hand to interrupt him but he shoots me this murderous glare so I put my hand back down and decide that I shouldn't try him anymore before he un-invites me. If even got invited in the first place.

"What are you doing, Ty?" David asks.

He grins as my phone vibrates in my back pocket a few times. "We're going to Disneyland!"

Jackie gasps loudly. "You're taking me to Disneyland?!"

Tyler snorts. "Not you, Jackie. Kenny you're in the group though,"

This seems to be the wrong thing to say because Jackie's eyes begin to water and then he bursts into tears and runs to sit in my mom's lap. David slaps Tyler in the back of the head when he sits down and then the whole table begins to coddle Jackie some more. I take this new opportunity to read my phone messages and no surprise, it's a message from Dante.

You're so corny ♥

YOU: 7:23PM

Well I do try ;)

But why am I corny what did I do

BIG HEAD♥♥♥: 8:34PM

Instagram? Really?

When did you even take that picture

Why didn't I notice

What was going on

YOU: 8:37PM

It's cute tho, right?

BIG HEAD♥♥♥: 8:37PM

That doesn't answer any of my questions

But yeah it was

YOU: 8:38PM

Yay

BIG HEAD♥♥♥: 8:39PM

I figure he's not going to say anything else so I decide to leave the conversation. By the time I look up again, McKinley's texting her boyfriend, Jackie's stopped crying and Tyler is making promises to buy him candy. I chuckle and look to my dad, who is pouring himself another glass of wine.

"What are we doing on Saturday, Ken?" He asks me when he sees I'm watching him.

I blink. "Well... I'm going to see Dante's baseball final..."

He swishes the wine around in his mouth. "Okay, sounds good. What time should we be there by?"

"We? Who is we?" I ask and he laughs like I'm making a joke.

"I have to meet this fellow, right? What better way to do that than watching him play my least favourite sport ever?" He says and puts his glass down. "Besides, your mom told me he's a sweetheart but I'll be the judge of that."

McKinley looks over to us and I know she's heard the conversation. "I'm coming too, Anaya invited me." She says smugly and I feel my eyebrow twitch.

"Great." My dad says before I can object to either of them. "Family trip!"

"This will be fun!" McKinley nudges my arm.

This will really not be fun.

a/n:

I'm still alive y'all