I'll Take Two

Chapter One

  "Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing." -Albert Schweitzer

     I walked beside Alex for the last time, in the white halls of Theodore High. "Sandy," she said, looking at me. "This is it! The final step of adulting." I smiled, but i was also nervous. We walked out into the large gym/basketball court, and saw the hundreds of parents and students and teachers, all watching us few 12th graders. Today we were supposed to graduate.

  A few weeks ago, I had been at MSU (Mississippi State University) registering, and it had dawned on me that I was about to be an adult, full on. No parents, no sister. Just me. My sister almost came with me, but I talked her into staying in high school another year, though she could have skipped it. Alice was always just a little smarter than me, but I'd never say it to her face. I could have probably gone to college earlier, but i didn't think it was worth it. Now, I would be eighteen, starting wit my own freedom.

  The flash from the cameras pulled me back into reality, as me, and about seventy-five other students walked out onto the make shift stage, that was put up for the occasion. I held onto Alex's hand, and we, smiling, walked out on 'stage'. I looked through the crowed, then waved to my dad and Alice, standing in the third row. Alice jumped up and down, screaming with excitement.  I felt like doing the same, but instead I went and lined up with the other students, as the  ceremony began.

  I'd always thought that I would be bored at this particular part of the ceremony, when everyone was waiting for their names to be called. But I wasn't. Every time a name was called i thought of  a memory I had with the person, and I realized I knew nearly everyone. There went Jesse Mooney, I kissed him when i was six in first grade. And then there was Erica Mean-Mouth as all the kids my third grade class called her, because she knew lots of bad words. And Thomas Rolland, but he is going to play football at MSU with me. Well, not wit me. I don't play football, and I barley know him. I remember two years ago, Alice had a huge crush on him, and everyone knew why. He was the perfect nice guy jock, tall, cute, blue-eyed, etc. Alice was barley fifteen, and Thomas was seventeen, but she obsessed over him for about two months, then was upset for twice as long when he started dating Monica. 

  Monica Ashe was nice, but in an insincere way. Like she'd be nice if you hadn't voted prom queen yet, but once you did you immediately meant nothing to her again. Very fake. Prom was a few weeks back, but it certainly wasn't all it was cracked out to be, and i left early after Alex did. Alex Mable, my best friend since i can remember. Sweet and petite, but never with out a spark. Sadly her parents wanted hr to go to Boston for school, so I wouldn't see her until next holiday break. That was the worst part about going to college, but we had sworn before we left we would both get drunk together for our first time, so w wouldn't do it it alone when we went to school.  I heard Alex's name on the speaker, and she left my side to receive her diploma. Wow, I though to myself. Look at us... 

     The time pasted, and more familiar faces came and went. Then it as my turn.  "Sandy Turner," the principle said, and i felt my heart race. "This is it... I'm ready to go into the world on my own."  And it felt like it. I cried and Alex cried, Alice and dad did too, then me, Alex, Mona (a girl from our class and a friend), and Roger, our gay best friend of course, went to the mill to get drunk.

  The mill as we called it, was an old mill that now was just a big silo, that was never used. We used to climb all the way to the top, and yelled echoing words into the empty container. Then Alex read "The Dressmaker," by Rosalie Ham. In the book the love interest dies by falling in and drowning in sorghum (spoiler alert). From then on she wouldn't let anyone up there, and no one really wanted to go.

  We had gotten beer from Mona's older brother, and Roger got a 14 ounce flask, which i didn't even know were around anymore, and filled it with whiskey from his dad's pantry. We had drank alcohol before, but never enough to get drunk, so before we all parted ways, that's what we had planned. As we drank and laughed the warm summer wind blew across the Tennessee fields, and the Appalachian mountains. And that was how we spent our summer. All together, all four of us. And when finally it came time to go off to our new lives, we couldn't stop crying. Alex to Boston, me to MSU, Roger off to California, and Mona to TSU (Tennessee State University).

  My dad, Jeff, and Alice, drove my to the college. A new day with endless possibilities. 

Thanks for read!

-Ana

xxx