Sneaking Out

Epilogue: 2 Years Later

**Ashley's POV**

"Babe," Luke said calmly, "It's okay. Just breath. Okay? Everything will be alright."

"B-but, you know I'm not good in front of people. Do I have to do this?" I said back to him. We were both currently standing in the far corner in one of the theaters in our high school. And, it was graduation. We were finally ready to leave this hellhole. My sophomore, junior, and senior years were slightly boring, excluding the senior trip where all of my class spent a week in Disney. 

But, here I was. Hyperventilating like crazy. Being one of the top graduates, I was instructed to preform a speech. Trust me, I read it through and through until it was permanently in my head. The only problem that seemed to be plaguing my ability to actually set foot on the large stage, was my horrible fear of messing up, tripping over myself, or any other incidents that would cause me world wide humiliation. Luke kept on telling me that I was scaring myself and would only make it worse, but I couldn't concentrate on one thing at a time. My mind was going crazy.

"And here is Ashley Tanner! One of our outstanding top graduates that received tremendous grades and an excellent GPA. She will now come onto this stage and wish all of our graduating seniors of the class of 2016." said a man that looked to be the superintendent.

"Breathe babe, you'll do fine." Luke said quickly before he left a small kiss on my cheek and pushed me onto the stage. My hand instantly went over my eyes as the blinding stage lights attacked my face. 

"Hello Class of 2016. I would all like to congratulate you on finally making it out of this place." I said before the crowd went wild. I heard and saw a few guys 'whooping' and pumping their fists in the air, also earning many glares from the staff and facility. "Anyway, I would also like to thank everyone, including the teachers, for making these four years of our lives miserable!" I said, quickly saying that I was joking. Many teachers got the joke and laughed with everyone else.

Exactly ten minutes later, I was walking off the stage towards Luke. The crowd went wild at all my dry jokes and it actually felt quite amazing. Being able to make all those people happy, made me ten times happier.

"You did good." Luke whispered into my ear. I then took his hand and on we went listening and watching everyone graduate. It was like a dream come true, I couldn't stop smiling at the fact that we were finally free. Luke and I were finally 18 and could do anything our young hearts desired. During the summer, Luke got a steady job working at a restaurant as a waiter. I was completely ecstatic at the fact that Luke could finally have something to do, and so was he.

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 ~2 weeks later~

"Hey, James? Did you call Cynthia? She was supposed to be here an hour ago. Our flight leaves in two hours!" I shouted to him from the kitchen. Luke and him were currently playing a video game in James' apartment. Also, James and Cynthia were dating. They've been dating ever since the beginning of Cynthia's junior year. I thought it was absolutely adorable, but Luke thought it was weird. It was true that James was a bit older than Cynthia. 

"Hey girl." Skylar said as she strutted into the small kitchen. James' apartment was a decent size and could just about hold the six of us, Luke, Skylar, Blake, James, Cynthia, and I. We were currently doing some last minute packing to our trip to Barbados. It took a lot of time and money to finally plan out this trip, but combining all the expenses, it was a lot easier then we thought.

"Hey, are you guys all packed?" I asked her.

"Yeah, our bags are already in the car." She said, Blake trailing behind her. Blake usually was a quiet guy, but he seemed to be super comfortable with the group now, and even more comfortable with Skylar. After she responded to me, her and Blake went to making out on the kitchen counter.