“Are nervous about tomorrow?” Farrah asked aloud to me and Grace as she shifted through an old magazine from my night stand.

Grace shrugged. “I don’t know that I’m so much nervous as I am sad.”

“Sad?” My eyes widened as I said it. “It’s graduation. We’ll be officially done with school. It will all be over. Hello, can someone say freedom?”

“Yeah, but I mean, it’s also the end of an era, you know? We won’t see each other as much anymore. Aren’t you afraid we’ll drift apart?”

Farrah looked up from the magazine with a look of disbelief on her face. “We won’t drift apart, Grace. That only happens if you let it happen and I’m not going to. And beside’s we still have the whole summer together. We’re not going anywhere.” Her eyes drifted to me next as if she’s just said something terrible and gave me an apologetic smile. “Well, actually Olivia is, but we’ll see her at the end of it. Plus we’ll keep in touch through the new school year and then there is holiday breaks from school to look forward to. We’ll be back home before we know it.”

I know she was just trying to be optimistic, but even I had my doubts sometimes. I loved my friends and hoped what she was saying was true. I hoped drifting apart wasn’t an inevitable part of life that couldn’t be avoided.

“I’m so jealous of you, Olivia,” Grace says with weak disgust. “You get to spend your summer at a beach house with your amazingly awesome aunt and boyfriend. It’s not fair.”

I cleared my throat and smirked at her. “If I recall correctly, I did invite you…two months ago, but you made it clear you wouldn’t leave Hunter for that long.” I turned at looked at Farrah next. “And the same goes for you with Brody.”

Farrah rolled her eyes. “Please, you only asked us because of the best friend code. We all knew you secretly wanted to go with Thomas. We’re not that stupid.”

I blushed. Well…maybe that was true. I did really want to go with him.

“You guys have been together for almost seven months. It’s only natural you’d invite him along. It wouldn’t have been right any other way.”

True. I’d feel like I was missing something the entire time I was gone. That wouldn’t have been much fun.

“Don’t worry, we forgive you,” Grace winked.

I had to laugh at them. This is why these two were my best friend’s. I could tell them anything and they understood me and stood by me no matter what. I couldn’t even imagine not being with them next year.

A wave of sadness silently creeped up on me and settled itself deep inside. I couldn’t stop think about what I’d be missing next year.

Mind reader Farrah studied my face and shook her head. “Stop worrying so much. Everything will be fine.”

“I don’t want to leave you guys this fall,” I said. Tears started to prickle into my eyes.

“Ugh, I’m gonna have to break this thing down for you guys again aren’t I?” She sighs and closes her magazine. “Grace, you will only be five hours from me and three from Olivia. We’ll still be close, almost in the same state. Stop freaking out. We’re just a drive away.”

But it’s not the same, I wanted to say. One look at Farrah told me I shouldn’t. I knew she wouldn’t hear of it. Her mind was made up and that was that. Nothing was going to change it.

“Fine. You’re right,” I said. “We’ll see each other all the time.”

That put an end to that for the rest of the night.

“Good,” Farrah smiled. “Now, let’s talk about the graduation party happening tomorrow night. What are you two gonna wear?”

The sleepover ended way too quickly and before I knew it, we were all up getting ready for the big day ahead of us. I was hard to believe it was finally here; Graduation day. Somehow when we weren’t looking, time slipped by us.

Isn’t that they way it always worked, though?

I grabbed my cap and gown draped over the empty chair in my room and stood in front of the mirror. Farrah and Grace soon joined me and then we were all staring back at ourselves with thick emotion. Our white dresses almost matched completely, with only very small differences between them. We wanted it that way. It made this day somehow more special.

We clasped hands and let a few stay tears fall.

Despite all the pep talk from Farrah, this couldn’t have been prevented. This day was emotional no matter what.

“You guys look amazing,” I said.

“We all do,” added Grace with a smile.

We nodded in agreement when the horn of a vehicle in my driveway rang loud from down below. It was time to go. The limo we rented was here and I was sure the guys and Sarah wasn’t far behind. That statement proved correct when my phone chimed with a text from Thomas.

Rapunzel, let down your golden hair, it read. I dried my lingering tears and laughed. This was an inside joke Thomas and I had. It was the way he announced himself to let it be known he was standing below my window. It started out as an annoying joke at first, but eventually it grew on me. It all came down to how strict my parents were when it concerned him…and maybe I because I liked to watch Tangled.

I ran to the window and poked my head out of the already open glass doors. Sure enough he was standing there in a pair of black dress pants and a white long sleeve shirt rolled up to the elbows. It was the required attire for today, as were our dresses. White was the official under color for our gowns.

He looked incredible hot.

I smiled brightly down to Thomas. “Hey.”

He grinned back. “Are you about ready? We’re going to be late?”

“Since when have you even cared when you were late for something?” I called back down to him.

He smirked. “Since I found out that after today I was done with high school.”

I laughed. He had me there. That did seem totally Thomas.

“Okay. I’ll be down on a sec.”

I pulled myself back inside and closed the window after me. Grace and Farrah were already getting dressed in their red gowns. I quickly followed.

“A picture before we go?” I offered.

They nodded and huddled into the screen of my phone before I snapped the shot. Perfect.

“I guess we should go,” Grace said.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Farrah agreed.

My dad’s voice wondered up the stairs to us. “Come on, girls. It’s time to go. Your ride is here.”

Of course I already knew that, but I just called back ‘we’re coming’ and we hugged once more before we made our way to the closing of one more chapter in our lives.

“Do you feel any different not that it’s all over?” Mom asked after the hour long photo shoot with my family and friends.

I thought about it. I don’t know. Did I? I mean, in theory I guess should…but really this all just feels so surreal.

“Not realy,” answered honestly.

“Don’t worry, it will hit you all at once and very hard,” dad said wrapping his arm around me and leading me to the waiting limo with the other waiting parents.

“Thanks, dad,” I said with a small smile.

“Just keeping it real,” he joked.

Mom ignored him and looked at me. “We’ll leave you here with your friends and meet you at O’Brian’s in half an hour to eat.”

I smiled. “Okay. See you then.”

All the parents and my friends agreed we’d eat at O’Brian’s tonight for our Graduation dinner. It was meant to be special, but I wasn’t nearly as excited for it as I should be. In fact, my thoughts were elsewhere; more specifically, California.

It seemed like I’d waited forever for this trip and I wanted it so bad it was hard to distract myself from it.

Relax, Olivia. You’ll be there soon enough. You leave tomorrow.

Right. I just need to relax, that’s all. Keep my mind on the now because it’s fading quickly, I said quoting my dad from a talk we had last night.

I kissed my parents and then climbed inside the car where my boyfriend already waited. He grinned a happy smile and pulled me into him for a deep, long kiss. In fact, it was so long a few of our friend’s cleared their throat’s awkwardly.

“Get a room,” Brody said with a laugh.

“Maybe we will,” Thomas grinned back. My face reddened. Well.

Thomas’s arm wrapped around me and I sighed. That’s when I realized this was exactly where I wanted to be; right here, right now with my best and closest friends. At least for tonight, I was going to enjoy the moment.

Dinner was good. We all laughed, had a good time and even got a cake. It was rich, sweet and delicious. Afterword we all shed our gowns and blasted music from the speakers of the car on our way to the last party of our high school lives.

After tonight it really would be all over. My emotions were at risk of getting the best of me again.

“What’s going on inside that head of yours, Liv?” Thomas asked into my ear to help block out some of the music.

The words Grace used last night came back to me. “It’s the end of an era,” I repeated.

“And the beginning of a new one,” he said.

“That’s also true.”

“I think we’ve handled it pretty well, don’t you?”

I laughed. “Especially you. You didn’t end up in Juvie before the end of the school year.”

He chuckled. “You may have had something to do with that.”

I nodded for effect. “Of course I did.”

Thomas tilted my face to his and ran his lips across mine. It was only a light kiss, but it made my toes tingle. Yep, still haven’t become immune to that yet.

As the car rolled to a stop everyone piled out of the vehicle except me and Thomas. I pretty sure he could hear my heart thumping as loudly as I did. I tried not to blush.

“We could ditch these guys if you don’t want to go.”

I shook my head. “I do want to go…for a little while anyway. Then we should probably go home and pack. Tomorrow is another big day.”

“Your mom still doesn’t know?”

I looked down. “No.”

I hated lying to her, telling her Thomas and I wanted to spend the summer together on the beach and it was our idea. While that was not a complete lie, it wasn’t the whole truth either. I did want to spend the summer with him, but it wasn’t my idea and that wasn’t the only reason we were going to California. I was going because I wanted to spend the summer with Aunt Anita too.

“Are you going to tell her when you get back?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

Thomas leaned his head into the crook of my neck and placed a kiss there, letting his mouth linger for an extra long time. It warmed me as his breath fanned over my skin. Against my skin he said, “Let’s put your mind at ease tonight. You can worry about what to do later. Tonight you’re mine and nothing else matters except us.”

I let a slow smile spread across my lips. Thomas leaned back and looked at me with a daring smirk and I felt my heart begin to hammer in my chest. He grabbed my hand and tugged on it. “Are you ready?”

Without any struggle on my part, I nodded my head. “Let’s go.”

That was all the words he needed to hear before he opened the door and pulled me from the car after him.

I was surprised that my parents weren’t waiting up for me when I came in at three A.M the next morning. It wasn’t like I’d been drinking or anything. In fact, we hadn’t even stayed at the party that long. We left at ten and half the senior class decided to go bowling then meet up at IHOP until we were so tired we couldn’t go on anymore. We ate and hung around until I realized that Thomas and I had a relatively early flight coming. Well, early for someone who had been up all night.

Eleven AM was going to hurt in the morning…this morning. I have to be up at nine to get showered and dressed and loaded up.

Thomas was a gentleman and dropped me off at the door. I was surprised when he didn’t ask to come up. He probably had stuff to do before tomorrow too. He kissed me goodnight and left me on my doorstep and rode away.

Inside the house I dumped my small silver bag, stilettos and gown at the door and dragged my feet up to my room. I was exhausted. The last time I was up this late was when I was reading a book and needed to know how it ended.

With a quick bush of my teeth I fell into bed face first, not even bothering to change clothes, take off my make up or comb my hair. I was too tired to care. I’d worry about it in the morning. For now I needed nothing more than a few hours of sleep.

My alarm woke me up at eight thirty. I always set it half an hour early so I could hit the snooze button a few times before forcing myself out of bed. It helped wake me up in a gradual way.

“Here,” Mom said popping into my room with a cheese Danish and a cup of coffee. “Breakfast.”

I took them from her and but not before giving her a look of surprise. “Not that I’m not appreciative of this,” I said holding up my breakfast, “but haven’t you scolded me before about consuming empty calories for breakfast, telling me it wasn’t a healthy way to start the day?”

She smiled. “Today I’m making an exception. You’ve got a lot to do. But I did sneak a protein bar into your carry on.”

I laughed and gave her a hug. “Thanks, Mom. I love you.”

“I love you, too, honey.”

Almost as soon as she let go of me Cody and Cynthia came bounding into my room. “I wish I could go to the beach with my boyfriends for the whole summer,” Cynthia whined.

“And you can…once you turn eighteen,” Mom told her.

“Bring me back a souvenir?” Cody asked. “I like anything. Maybe a shirt, and some sea shells, oh, and one of those key chains and a coffee mug!”

I laughed. “You don’t even have a car. Why would you need a key chain?”

He crossed his arms stubbornly. “I don’t drink coffee either, doesn’t mean I can’t use them for something else.”

I reached out and rubbed his head, messing up his perfectly combed hair. “Okay, okay. You win. I’ll bring you back of all of those things.” I glanced at Cynthia. “What would you like?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know, something pretty.”

I nodded. “Something pretty it is.”

Despite mine and my sister’s differences, I was going to miss her this summer and I could see in her eyes she was going to miss me too. I was shocked when she reached out and hugged me. It was just a quick one, but it told me everything I needed to know. My sister loved me.

“Okay, out all of you. I have to get ready or I’m going to be late. I’ll see you before I go.”

They all shuffled from my room pretty quickly except mom who examined my clothes that I still wore from last night but didn’t say anything. She had that displeased look about her and then disappeared, closing the door behind her.

Oh well. I’m eighteen now. Nothing much than can be done about it now. Not that it would stop her from speaking her mind anyway.

I was like a tornado hoping from one room to the other in a mad rush. My bags were mostly packed, but I still had last minute things to grab like my camera, tooth brush, a few cosmetics, and a phone charger, among some other things.

When I was finished with that, I dragged everything downstairs to the door for my dad to load up in the taxi Thomas had come over in. When I saw him I jumped up into his arms and planted an excited kiss on his lips. He grinned and returned it with a deeper one.

I was enough to make me blush and my dad grunt uncomfortably. Thomas chuckled and we separated. He helped my dad load up the rest of the car and after he was done, I had a sweet goodbye with my family and then we were off to the airport.

Traffic wasn’t bad, thank goodness or we probably would have missed our boarding call. By the time we were through all the procedures, we had our carryons and tickets, waiting to be called to onto the plane. It only took a few minutes.

“Have you flown much before?” Thomas asked settling into our seats.

I nodded. “Twice, and both times were to go visit my grandparents.”

“The same place we’re going to today,” he stated.

“It’s close by.”

Thomas pulled out his cell phone to check the time and turn it off just as the stewardess walked by and asked him to put it away. He gave her a flirty smile and said he’d do it soon when she blushed and shuffled off to help other passengers.

“Do you always do that?”

“What?” he asked innocently.

“Flirt to get your way.”

He grinned. “Maybe.”

I crossed my arms over my chest giving him my best glare. “Have ever used that on me?”

He turned off his phone placed his headphones on his head before the movie began. “Would I do that?”

I didn’t blink. “Yes.”

“So sue me.” He chuckled and leaned back into his seat, but I wasn’t giving up on this conversation. As soon as we landed we’d be discussing his power of persuasion. That’s the price of an irresistible boyfriend I suppose.

As take off began I reached over and grabbed Thomas by the hand and he squeezed mine in return. When he lifted it and kissed it I blushed and felt a little better. I never liked takeoffs.

“Relax, Liv. When we land we’ll be in the beautiful, sunny California with the beach all around us. It’ll be worth it.”

I knew it would. Of course it would. And Anita would be waiting for us at the airport when we got there. I had missed her so much since last year. I was excited to see her again. Plus, I was curious to know about this secret life of her’s that nobody ever talked about; about the boy and the baby.

I pulled the necklace from my shirt and opened the locket to look inside. I tried desperately to read the story on both of their faces, but there was nothing there to tell. I had no idea about anything or of what Anita was going to tell me when I got there. But I had a feeling, in the end, it would be worth it.

Letting the necklace fall back into place, I smiled at Thomas. “I think you’re right about that. It will be worth it.”

He reached over, barely touching me, and closed the locket.

“Thank you for coming with me,” I told him as he retracted his hand. “You didn’t have to and you did. That means something to me.”

He smirked. “I wasn’t about to let me girlfriend run off to another state for the entire summer by herself. I’d be worried someone else would mistake you for single and then you’d never come back.”

I laughed at him. “There is never any competition for you, and you know that. Besides, you know you wanted to come.”

“I did,” he agreed. “I’ll go anywhere with you, Liv. Always.”

My heart felt like it was expanding in my chest. “That was probably the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me, Thomas.”

“Don’t tell anyone. I don’t want it getting around I’m a softy.” He grinned.

“Never,” I smiled back. “After all, if we don’t have trust…”

He picked up my hand and kissed it again before letting it rest back on the seat. “Let’s make this a summer to remember.”

“I know it will be because you’ll be there.”