The Kissing Booth: New Love

Chapter 28

As soon as prom was over, time seemed to fly by and before I knew it the school year was over and it was the day of Noah's graduation. I woke up that morning with a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach, like I was nervous or something. I knew it was silly for me to feel this way, I wasn't the one graduating.  I didn't even have to do anything that day but sit there and watch.  But I knew where it was coming from.  To me, Noah's graduation felt like the beginning of the end for us.  First Noah would be leaving high school, then leaving LA and leaving me.

I was laying in bed that morning, trying to talk myself into getting out of bed so I could get ready for the graduation ceremony when it really hit me that Noah isn't going to be around here much longer.  We had skated around this issue as long as we could. Instead focusing on everything else going on with us - getting ready for prom, finals, and my and Lee's birthday party.   And now we were out of distractions.  We had to talk about this.  Where does this leaves us?  Do we break up at the end of the summer?  I don't like that option.  Does Noah go to Harvard with a girlfriend in high school? The thoughts swirl around my head while I'm getting ready and continue as I'm riding to the school along with Matthew, June, and Lee.  Lee can tell something is going on with me and keeps trying to joke around or ask me questions, anything to get me out of my head.  I love him for trying but it doesn't help.  As much as I try to stop thinking about it, at this point, it's all I can focus on. 

As we finally take our seats in the chairs lined up on the school lawn, I'm scanning the crowd for Noah.  I finally smile to myself when I see him walk down the center aisle with his classmates to take their seats, his eyes meeting mine as he gives me a small salute.  I thought that watching Noah's graduation would make me cry, especially with everything running through my head that morning, but one look at him walking down the aisle like he owned the place and the biggest smirk on his face, only made me laugh. I was probably the only one here who knew how much this quarterback, who had everything figured out at this school, couldn't wait to get out of this place.

Sitting in between June and Lee, I'm vaguely aware of someone talking from the stage but I can't focus on any of it. I can see the back of Noah's head while he is waiting for his turn to walk across the stage for his diploma.  Luckily it's always easy to pick him out among a crowd.  All I can do is think back of all the times Noah has been around in my life.  The times when he antagonized me and Lee and made fun of us to all the times he's been there for me and more recently all the amazing times we've spent together.  Noah has always been in my life and I can't even imagine what it will be like when he's no longer here.  It seems so unfair that now when I actually want him around, when I want to spend every minute of my day with him and I miss him anytime we are apart, he won't be here for much longer.

Noah

The graduation ceremony has been long and boring.  As they introduce yet another speaker who I'm sure is going to give basically the same speech as the last one, I let my mind drift to Elle.  I knew it was time to talk about what would happen to us after graduation.  We had obviously both been thinking about it ever since I originally made my final decision to go to Harvard but we had both avoided the topic so far.  I'll talk to her in a few days, when all this graduation crap dies down and we still have the whole summer before us.  I start paying attention to what is happening on stage just as the row of my classmates sitting in front of me stand up to get there diplomas.  Thank God this thing is almost over.  I stand at the same time everyone else in my row does, ready to make our way to the stage to collect our diplomas, my last official high school act.  I can't help looking behind me to find Elle in the crowd.  When I find her face, we lock eyes.  She shoots me a smile and I catch myself smiling goofily back at her before changing it into a smirk and turning back to prepare to cross the stage.