Me, Myself, and I

Graduation

Wait, the phone call. I've almost forgotten to tell you about Alex.

We will get to Ben eventually, I promise. But we need to jump back a bit. Disaster didn't exactly strike with his hospitalization. There's dinner, a few fights, and burnt rugelach to talk about. Before that, you need to know what actually started the trickling waterfall filling the pool of our demise, a little something known as high school graduation.

Surviving the ceremony was futile. Delcoph high school sorted its graduates not only by last name, but by athletic achievement and GPA, putting me dead last on the spectrum. I had more than enough time to over-think who was and wasn't waiting in the crowd of well-wishers. Dad, of course, seated straight-spined towards the back. Both of his parents had flown in from Idaho for the occasion. My grandfather still tried his original tactics from twelve years ago to make me laugh, including bizarre facial expressions —over-involvement of the eyebrows— mid-ceremony. Strangers sat beside them.

The gym was being remodeled due to a very successful season across winter sports, so we held the whole thing out on the football stadium beneath a temperamental rain cloud. Faces were soon replaced with black umbrellas, making the whole thing look more like a funeral than a vast achievement of young adults. Squishing feet as we each marched up to receive our diploma. Julia White. Move a tassel. My mud-brown bangs itched my forehead. Left to right, right to left? I forget. The whole thing was wrapped up in about twenty minutes.

I met my family by the car afterwards. "Way to go, kiddo!" Hug the grandparents; then Dad. We'd meet at the house in a couple hours. Off to Stacks with Alex. (We had to go to Stacks. It was the only place with the all day breakfast and fully caffeinated beverages.)

Alex, my boyfriend: he'd been near the front of stadium, yet he still sported the Delcoph Community College pennant on his black Audi. Same one had been mailed to me, and now sat beneath a cluster of boxes and unread textbooks.

A silent drive there. He'd glance over at me, and I'd smile. "You okay?"

"I'm perfect."

"Me too. My folks ran out before Principle Nixon even got to the 'Z' names. Thought they'd left the oven on, turns out they forgot to turn it on at all. Hope you can do without Challah bread tomorrow." I smiled at him, fidgeting with one of the fake nails Valerie gave me. He rested his hand on mine. "They can't believe they haven't met you yet. Been working out dinner details for about three weeks."

I'm sure they'd love to meet me. I frowned at his backseat. Scattered decorations for his graduation party: photos winning the science fair in third grade, a first-place basketball trophy from conference sophomore year, and an acceptance letter to NYU sitting right next to his Delcoph Community College tuition statement.

After circling the Stacks lot and settling for street parking, we settled into the booth alongside our high school student cluster. Valerie patted the cushion next to her, and I cautiously separated her and Alex, unfolding the menu until it nearly touched both ends of the table. They both stared down at it, and my chest relaxed.

Across from us, Brooke pressed herself tightly into the corner, glaring at our class valedictorians beside her, Leah Parks and Joey Henderson. Sporting the same Yale college caps and t-shirts beneath their robes, they tossed pieces of monkey bread into each other's mouths, leaving a smudge of cinnamon sugar on Leah's glasses.

Alex called over a waiter, ordering me a black coffee and water for himself.

"Whatcha doing this summer?" Brooke asked them, scooting closer to the wall as Leah leaned into Joey.

Joey shrugged, brushing his dark fingers through Leah's pixie cut. "Summer lifts and work, probably. Not gonna have time once semester starts."

Leah kissed him, gulping down whatever she'd asked the waiter to fill her cup with. "I have a summer internship down in New Haven, so I'll probably see if I can move into our dorm a little early, start getting our crap in."