Chapter 43: Grand Finale

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    “3! 2! 1!”
    Jisung thanked the girl as she gave him his phone back. “Have a great summer!” She replied with the same words, waving to the group as she walked away. Jisung turned back to his friends to show them the pictures. “Graduation is tonight. Are you guys gonna be there?” Chan asked.
    “We wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Jeongin said, placing a hand on his boyfriend’s shoulder. The other’s agreed, happy that their friend was finally making it out of this hell-hole that they call school. “We still have to make plans for the summer!” Hyunjin exclaimed, a huge smile on his face. Minho met eyes with Jisung.
    “Do we though?”
    “What do you mean?” Hyunjin asked, the rest of the group just as confused. “A wise person once told me that we don’t need a plan to have a good time.” Jisung nodded, satisfied by being called wise. “I think we should just go with the flow. If we need to make plans, we will!”
    It took a second for the others to react but their reactions were positive nonetheless. “So no plans unless we need them, sounds interesting! But we have to make plans for tonight,” Felix said, nods of agreement going around the group. “I vote we all get ready at Minho’s house and carpool from there!”

    “Bang Chan,” The woman called. Chan took a deep breath, willed himself not to cry, and started up the stairs to the stage. He could hear his loved ones screaming for him and making holding back tears so much more difficult. After receiving his diploma and taking a picture with whoever gave it to him, he didn’t recognize her, he walked off the stage.
    With tears in his eyes, he smiled.
    He’d made it.
    Once everything was over, he rushed to find his family and friends, tears already falling. Making his way through graduate after graduate, family after family, Chan couldn’t seem to find a single face he wanted to. Just as he was about to sit tight and hug a tree, he heard it.
    “Chan!” Whipping around, Chan saw his friends and family waving and shouting his name. Running over, the first people he hugged were his parents. “You did it! I’m so proud of you!” Mrs. Bang whispered. This caused Chan’s tears to fall heavier and faster as his parents squeezed the life out of him.
    When he turned to his friends he found that most of them were crying too. “You made it!” Jisung yelled as he hugged Chan. “I did!” It was a mess of tears and “Congratulations” but it was so beautiful. The moment. The night sky as they drove home. The feeling of having finally completed high school.

    Just like that, the first day of summer arrived. The group all met up and spent the day together like so many more days to come. It was a fresh start for Chan and, in the coming years, for the others too.
    And it was beautiful.

Carry them over your shoulders, you fear
The absence, the void you'll cause
When you choose to leave them all here
There’s no turning back, it’s time that you steer

The wide open stairs back alone at the cusp
The self that you thought you lost, the shine that burned well into rust
You can’t hear my voice ‘cause I’m not loud enough

Believe me, when I say
It’s a long way back from here

Goodbye for now
Hang on, it’s clear that the road’s about to get rough
Oh, can you hear the ringing it’s left in my ear?
Over and over, the light hits the dusk
It’s a choice that I made but for us I choose to give it all up
You want me here? Well, then ask me to stay

The glistening wet concrete, the heat off the road
The lamoring hands and the bus you call home
This is it, believe what you want, in this space, I don’t fit

The same day repeats with the things that you see
Dirty dressing room carpets and broken TVs
Is this it? In this water I’ll tread ‘til the day that I’m dead

Hang on, it’s clear that the road’s about to get rough
Oh, can you hear the ringing it’s left in my ear?
Over and over, the light hits the dusk
It’s a choice that I made but for us I choose to give it all up
You want me here? Well, then ask me to stay

Goodbye for now, echo, echoes
Mile marker, minutes, hours

If this is it and there is no more
And you believe that’s true it’s a long way back from here
There’s no going home

Hang on, it’s clear that the road’s about to get rough
Oh, can you hear the ringing it’s left in my ear?
Over and over, the light hits the dusk
It’s a choice that I made but for us I choose to give it all up
You want me here? Well, then ask me to stay

Well, the ask me to stay
(Goodbye for now, echo, echoes)
Well, the ask me to stay
(Goodbye for now, echo, echoes)
Well, the ask me to stay
(Goodbye for now, echo, echoes)
Well, the ask me to stay

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