The Next Chapter

Chapter 48

Emery's POV

I can't believe it.

Graduation day.

I can't believe that I actually made it. Like how? How did I do it? All the homework, all the stressful days and weekends, all the books, just everything. Every single thing led to this day. Finally.

"Emery!" I hear mom yell from downstairs. "Are you okay? Do you need help with anything?"

"I'm fine mom, thanks!" I yell back. I get up from my bed and look at the time. I have two hours to get ready before I have to be at school. I start by jumping in the shower. About 40 minutes later I'm done. This was a very long shower, but I need it. I shaved everything, top to toe, my hair smells amazing and my skin is softer than ever. In other words, I'm ready for graduation.

I get back to my room and get dressed. The only question now is how I'm supposed to do my make-up. Before I can think further I hear a knock on my door. "Come in."

"Hi." It's Oliver.

"Hi! I didn't know you were here." I say and get up and hug him.

"Auden wanted me to be here. It's not a problem is it?"

"Oh no! Of course not!" I sit down again. "Did you need help with anything?"

"Not really. Auden is with your dad downstairs and working on something so I didn't really have anything to do." He laughs and I join him.

"Oh, okay. Well, since you're here, I actually need help with something."

"What?"

"Make-up." I laugh. "I'm not really a make-up kind of girl, I usually just wear mascara."

"So, wear mascara. And maybe some eyeliner. Do you have that?"

"Yeah... I think so..." I say, opening some drawers and looking through them. "Ah! Here." I say and grab it.

I apply some mascara and take the eyeliner in my shaky hands. "I hate doing this. I always screw up." I laugh.  "I always manage to get one perfect and then screw up on the other one."

After some minutes and a few wipes later I'm done. I'm pretty happy with how it ended up. I grab my purse, phone, and all the other stuff I'll be needing and walk downstairs with Oliver.

"There she is!" Mom greets us and hugs me. "You look beautiful honey!" She starts to tear up.

"No. No tears. You promised." I say and she laughs.

I have some time to kill so I text Andrea and Ally in our group chat asking them if they're ready. Ally is but Andrea has some left. She usually does take a while to get ready. 

We spend some time at home talking about basically everything. What Auden and Oliver will be doing during the summer and how excited they are to be together for so long without school. Then we talk about what I'll be doing after all of this and my answer is again that I haven't figured it out yet. All I know is that I'm going to England sometime soon to meet grandma but other than that... No idea.

I also haven't talked to Jake after NYC. Just feels awkward and wrong in some way. What we did to Antonio and Martina was mean, they seemed like amazing people. What we did was wrong and maybe I just need a break from Jake. A long one. 

I honestly have no idea what to do but it's okay. You don't always need a plan.

* * *

A lot of students are coming now. Andrea, Ally, and I were among the first ones here. We're usually the first ones to everything. I like to be early. Better to be early than late.

"Hey-" Ally says and nudges my arm. "Isn't that Jake?" I look in the direction she's pointing and yepp, there he is. 

Looking at me.

With his beautiful eyes.

In his beautiful clothes.

And his mouth-

"Hello? Earth to Emery?" Ally waves her hand before my face and wakes me up from whatever that was.

"I'm here. I'm here. I just- Started thinking about stuff." 

"Jake stuff?" Andrea says.

"Maybe..."

They both give me a look.

"What? I am allowed to think about other people."

They look at each other and we go back to talking about graduation. But not for long though, the principal calls our class to come to our seats and the rest of it is kind of a blur. Everything went so much faster than I thought and before I know it I'm home thanking everyone for the gifts I've received.

"This is from Ally and Andrea." Mom says and hands me a gift. "They wish they could be here but they had parties of their own."

I open the gift and it's a framed picture of the three of us. I love this picture. We'd taken like 100 pictures and everyone was so done at this point so we just decided to look annoyed and angry. It was pretty funny.

"And this is from me." Someone says behind me. I turn around and break into a smile immediately. 

"Uncle Landon!" I scream and run into his arms. "It's been so long! I didn't even know you were coming!" 

"I wanted it to be a surprise. It looks like it worked." He smiles. "Now, I know that you haven't decided on what to do yet-"

"How do you know that?" I cut him off.

"Have you met your mother?" He laughs. I look at her and she gives me a 'Heh, sorry' smile.

"Anyway, I didn't really know what to get you but I assumed that this would be very much appreciated." He hands me the envelope.

I open it and smile the second I see it. "Money! You have no idea how much I love this." I laugh and hug him.

I actually feel pretty happy now. Everyone around me is happy and smiling. It feels like everything will just fall right into place. 

Right?

--- --- --- --- --- ---

Feels like an ending... but it's not.

Aaaaaaaand who would I be if I didn't put a big plot twist in the next chapter? Heh...

+ you'll HAVE TO BE patient with me now. I've started college and boy... It's not high school.