...And It's Blue

6

The last week of school had been worse than I had expected. Maddie had came back to school and the first thing she did was spread rumours about Ashton and I dating and a lot of people seemed to believe her. Because why else would he start talking to me?

The rumours got ridiculous every hour. I was blackmailing him or I was threatening him with something. I knew a secret of his or I was taking advantage of his kindness. There were all sorts of rumours and I knew it was best to ignore when no one believed neither Ashton or I when we denied the rumours.

We had become really good friends in the short amount of time we knew each other. We would hangout after school at the arcade and at times Aiden would join us. It was all good until Maddie came back.

To sum it all up, graduation week sucked. First, the rumours spread faster than a wildfire. Then this one girl went as far as throwing a stapler at me which unfortunately ended up hitting the teacher. Well the girl got off with detention. The day after that I had to change my outfit twice because of how many times people accidentally spilt juice on me.

And on the day before graduation they decided to fuck up my face. Luckily, Ashton had come at the right time and everyone left us alone. I guess that's what happens when you're liked by everyone. I was happy that he cared enough to stop them. If he just wanted to be friends with me cause of pity, he would not have helped me. That was a little reassurance.

And finally the day of graduation arrived and I was overjoyed. I was finally happy I would be leaving the school. I never have to come back again. I would never have to see Maddie or her lackeys ever again.

Ashton had arrived right on time to pick me up. I had worn a simple T-shirt and jeans underneath the graduation gown. I sat on the backseat of his car and greeted him and Aiden, who seemed to be joining us. The entire ride to school was loud and chaotic. They were bickering the entire time about things I did not understand because they did not make sense. It made me wonder if this is how siblings were. I was a little envious.

We arrived at school gates sooner than expected. We walked to the hall where the graduation was taking place. The parents were seated on one side of the hall and the students on the other. Everyone was loitering all over the campus.

"Want to take a look around one last time?" Ashton asked me and I shook my head. I did not have a single good memory in this school so there was no point.

"You should go. I'm sure you have a lot of people to talk to as well" I smiled at him and gave him a little push since he was not moving from his place.

"What about you?" he asked and I shrugged my shoulders.

"I can stay by myself for a little while-"

"I'll be with her until you come back so go do whatever that is you have to do" Aiden told as he came to stand beside me. Ashton nodded his head and left to meet his friends from the football team. "So any reason you don't want to look around?"

"I just don't like the place very much. I'm not sure I have any good memories of this place" I sat down on one of the seats and Aiden took the one beside mine.

He nodded his head in understanding. "Are your parents coming?" He asked and I shook my head.

"They are not. They passed away in an accident a few years ago" I had to tell this because I did not want him to bring up my parents again. I still could not speak about them without feeling like I was going to burst out in tears.

"I'm sorry to hear that"

Ashton came back and the ceremony was to begin in another 5 minutes so Aiden left to go to the other side.

"Hey"

"Hi. So how was the walk down the memory lane?" I chuckled.

"I don't think I'll miss the place to be honest. I might have enjoyed my time here but everyone here were jerks. I was too. For never helping you when you were going through shit. I'm sorry I just let that happen in front of me" he was fidgeting in his seat "I wanted to help but I wasn't sure how to. I saw how you always fought back and it was unfair how the teachers ignored everything. I'm sorry for never being there"

"Ashton. It's alright. You didn't have to help me. We were not even friends back then so it doesn't matter whether you helped me back then or not. What matters now is that you are my friend and I know you would be there for me if I was going through shit" I smiled at him and he returned the smile.

He was about to say something but the ceremony had already begun and the entire hall went quite.

***

The ceremony was a short one and we decided to get some food before going back home. Aiden drove to a restaurant near the school and the place was packed. There seemed to be a lot of people from the school here. They were either with their families or with their friends.

The three of us sat down in a vacant table and started talking. Their parents had gone back to work after the ceremony so they couldn't join us. We ordered whatever we wanted and went back to talking. We talked about what university we would go to, I got to know more about the two boys sitting in front of me.

I dashed into a person on my way out of the restroom. The older lady looked very familiar but I couldn't place a name on her face.

"Lacey dear?" she gasped when I turned around to look at her. "It is you, isn't it? Oh how much you've grown. I'm so sorry to hear about your parents. How are you doing? Is everything manageable?" She bombarded me with questions and I looked at her in confusion since I still couldn't figure out who she was. "It's me, Sophia. I was friends with your parents"

And then it clicked.

"Oh I'm so sorry I couldn't recognise you. I've been doing well. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine dear. Did you graduate today as well? My daughter did too. I think you went to the same school! Were you friends-"

"Mom let's leave. Dad's call-"she stopped mid sentence when she looked at me. "What are you doing here? Mom why are you talking to her?" she was one of Maddie's friends. Just my luck.

"What do you mean Cathy? I knew her parents" her mom smiled at me.

"Don't talk to her you're embarrassing me. Let's go come on" She started pulling at her mom's arms but failed.

"Why are you being so rude Cathy?" she looked at me apologetically. "Apologise to her right now"

"No not to her" she screamed at her mom and stomped away. 

I knew this would get us nowhere so I politely excused myself and returned to our table.

"Wow you took your own sweet time" Aiden said.

"I just ran into someone I knew"

We left the restaurant and they dropped me back at my place. I unlocked the door and went inside and was greeted by comfort. I could finally live a life in peace. I did not have to worry about getting bullied anymore. Things were finally going to get better, I hoped.