I'll See You Soon [COMPLETED]

A Hometown Graduation

Mia didn't bother trying to get her leg to stop twitching. She knew she won't have been able to even if she did.

She saw the look of annoyance her neighbor kept shooting her way but she didn't have the attention span available to acknowledge it. She would have only seen his eyes narrowing and his frown growing deeper when his eyes flicked down to her bouncy knee. It was a look she had seen almost every day during the endless hours stuck inside a lab room when she had grown bored.

It seemed the sound of her leg bouncing up and down was just as irritable to her peer as the sound of her tapping her pen incessantly against her notebook had been. She could hear when he looked straight again because he uttered a small huff of annoyance and Mia had never heard anyone else cause an exhalation of breath to hang heavy with so much frustration.

Her eyes had been alternating between the time ticking past on her phone screen and the platform set on the complete opposite side of the room since the minute she took her seat but sped up their rotation as time slipped by.

The speaker standing before the crowd insisted on continuing his droning speech while the sound system of the expansive arena sent his monotone voice all throughout the room. Mia hadn't caught on to who was to be giving the commencement speech and she was glad that she hadn't because now she had no name to blame for her bouncing knee and wringing hands.

At a pause in his speech, a brief moment of silence, Mia leaned forward as she felt the rest of the crowd seated on hard folding chairs all around her do. There was an audible groan from everyone in the arena when the speaker finished his sip of water and continued on.

With a glance up at the stands that ran up the walls, all the way to the roof stories above, Mia could see that the families in attendance looked just as bored as every single one of Mia's peers. But the orator caught everyone by surprise and gave them the blessed gift of relief when he suddenly ended his speech with a mumble of a few last words of vague encouragement for the graduation class and passed the microphone back to the master of ceremonies.

It was obvious the Dean was just as relieved that that particular part of ceremonies was now finished with as the rest of the auditorium was as she took her spot behind the podium. Her words were light and fast as she said a few final words but was quick to signal to the first row of students to stand and start for the stage.

Mia watched as row after row stood and filed out, only to then stand in the aisle as each name was called out through the speakers and cries sent back from the audience in response.

Her eyes were now glued to the passing of time shown on her phone and a hopelessness was descending fast upon her shoulders. There were only a small handful of rows behind where Mia sat, the unfortunate spelling of her last name sending her further back in the queue than was preferable.

Then suddenly, her grumpy lab partner was standing and so was the girl on Mia's other side, who hadn't stopped silently crying since she had taken her seat. Mia had applauded her stamina when she had even managed to shed a few tears during the painful commencement speech but Mia jumped to her feet and quickly hurried to catch up with the rest of the row before she could say anything audibly to her neighbor.

The Dean seemed to have figured something out, but most likely sensed the restlessness from both the students and their families, and soon started calling out names double time. Shorter than most of the females in her class, due to her lack of stilettos and fancy dress, Mia made up for her height difference as best she could while she waited for her name to be called by bouncing slightly, her worn out old converses having plenty of give to accommodate her endless supply of nerves.

"Mia Roberts."

Finally. Mia ran up the few steps and covered the distance that stood between her and freedom in under two seconds.