I Won't Give Up (Teacher/Student)

EPILOGUE

Epilogue

I rummaged through my stuff looking for the necklace I was planning to wear. I knew it was somewhere here, I probably should have looked for it earlier. After looking through what seemed like the fifthieth drawer, I had finally found it. I was all set now and ready to go, I looked at myself in the mirror and gave myself a pat on the back.  You did it, somehow. 

I went down the stairs to find my Dad charging the camera and getting everything ready. I rolled my eyes but was amused at his excited behavior. He couldn't wait to see me walk across that stage. For a second, I thought I wasn't even going to. I thought that I would jus give up with my academics after the accident, but I had support from the people I needed it most from and it helped me get through a lot. There were times when I just wanted to give up on everything, and then either my Dad, Cas, Brax, and especially Caden were there to tell me to keep going. 

It was refreshing, but frustrating at the same time. Especially during the physical therapy. Caden decided he would go with me, and he would not let me stop. Sure he understood when my body really couldn't take it anymore but he also knew when it was just me giving up internally but I was still capable physically. He gave me a bit of tough love, and I pushed through the drills with the thought of inflicting pain on Caden afterword. I would feel bad after the therapy when I thought about hurting him, but he understood that when I lashed out, it wasn't necessarily meant for him even though it was directed at him.

When it came to school, he wouldn't let me be lazy about that either. I was just going to take a break and see if I could take all the needed classes over the summer and complete the missing work then, but Caden was sure that I could get back on track with three months, and graduate with the rest of my class. I remember all of the nights where I felt like throwing my textbooks at his face.

"Caden, I don't want to do anymore." I said already tired from the thousandth question we finished.

"Do one more and then we'll watch a movie or something." He said but I had no gas left in me so I stubbornly put my pencil down and then went to the living room and sat down on his couch. I grabbed the remote that was on the table and flicked through the channels until I found something  I wanted to watch."

"How about we just skip right to the movie?" I asked looking over to his disappointed face at the kitchen table. He was trying to make me feel bad and go back to the work. That face had worked so well on me during all of the other times, and I would always find myself going back to the table and finishing what he asked me to. 

Now looking back at it I was glad that he had pushed me as much as he had. Without him, without everyone that was there for me, I wouldn't be graduating today with the rest of my senior class. I was a bit nervous to graduate. Sure I was already eighteen and all, a "young adult" as many would put it, but graduating high school made it so much more real. I wasn't going to be depending on my father or anyone anymore, I was going to have to take care of myself, find a job, continue with school, and pay my own bills. What if I became a complete failure in life? What if everything that I worked for during the years of my adolescence were a complete waste. I didn't want to screw up and I didn't want to disappoint anyone.

There was a knock at the door bringing me from my thoughts and I went to go answer it. There stood Cassie and Braxton with big "we're finally done with high school" grins plastered on their faces. I rolled my eyes and let them inside. Clearly they weren't worried about the years after this as much as I was. I could tell both of them were going to be successful though.