If I Fall (GirlXGirl)

Chp. 42

It's not that I wasn't excited to be graduated because I really was, but graduating in New York was an all-day thing. I was ready to get a move on, celebrate with my friends and head to Philadelphia where my new home awaited me. There were so many things I needed to do and I was aching to start.

Graduation itself was over but the amount of people made it impossible to find anyone, and my height didn't help.

I took of my cap, holding it under my arm as I pulled out my phone, dialing Maria first. She answered on the first ring, "Where are you? I can't find anyone."

I looked around, finding something that showed my location, "Uh, I'm by that huge purple banner, by the entrance."

"Oh okay, I see you... I'm coming!" She laughed through the phone.

I hung up, glancing around even when my mind wasn't here with me. I couldn't stop thinking about leaving and starting over somewhere that I actually wanted to be. Not only was I happy about that but my favorite people had agreed to come with me.

Maria was coming that had been solidified whenever I first mentioned it to her. Her parents were also more than happy to help her move out considering she had been living with them for twenty-two years. Demarcus was tagging along too after discussing it with Maria. They decided to get an apartment together not far from where I would be staying. He claimed Maria was too naive to live alone, and this resulted in Maria punching his arm while agreeing with him.

I also convinced Jeremy to come along after going round and round with him for what seemed like forever. He doubted himself and his ability to teach but I knew a good teacher when I saw one. He would bring something to the table that neither Maria nor I could. Plus I knew the kids would adore him, so he would move in with his cousin that lived near the studio to help us run the place.

And then there was Drew, who hadn't renewed her lease on her apartment and started packing as soon as we got back from Philly last weekend. We talked the subject over immensely throughout the past week and decided it was only right for her to move in. I may be moving back to my hometown but without Drew it wouldn't feel like home. She was my home, and as much as that scared me I could no longer deny it. The pain of our breakup was healing, just like she promised she would try to do, and we were growing into new people. Neither of us were the same, but it was a good thing. Now I believed everything that happened had happened for a reason.

I felt hands on me then, pulling me out of my thoughts. Maria was smiling like an idiot, "I can't believe we're finished."

"You have no idea how relieved I am," I joked, falling into a hug as she pulled me into her.

She released and smiled, "So, my family found yours and they're all over there." I watched her point in a specific direction as I nodded, more than ready to see my family and Drew.

She pulled me through the crowd, me trying my best not to run into anyone while I trailed behind her. Then the crowd opened, Mike and Jada coming into view first, and then my parents. A wide smile spread onto my face when my eyes fell upon Drew who was standing there, eyes already locked on me.

My heart quivered against my chest at the sight, her smile burning its way into my memory. I couldn't get over the fact that she was so different now, within the few weeks after the whole Evan incident. I figured after everything she had been through would only make her harder to be with but it hadn't. Instead she opened up, like the cage she had been trapped inside released her and she could finally breathe. Her smile was genuine, those eyes glowing with a life I hadn't seen in her until recently. The new look made her even more loveable, if that was even possible.