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Damian's POV

"Are you dressed as...?"

"Shrek? You bet," Theo pulled the mask over his face and grinned.

"And I'm guessing you're Fiona, right?" Mariam gestured to Denise, who wore a tight forest green medieval gown and a gold crown atop her braided fiery hair.

"I guess," Denise shrugged. "But I originally wanted to be Merida from Brave, until this guy suggested we should dress as a couple." She pointed to Theo, who was exclaiming in a really bad Scottish accent to anyone who passed, "Ogres have layers!"

"Where's donkey?" Yasmine asked.

"Well, I was going to get Damian to be donkey, but..." Theo glanced at me, and I arched an eyebrow.

"I told you, that ain't ever happening, mate," I said dryly. Instead, I was dressed as something I never thought I'd be. A Muslim. Except with a comedic twist. I had ordered an 'Arab Sheik' Costume on eBay, which consisted of a long white tunic, a checked red cloth for my head fastened with a black headband and a black moustache and goatee. I even wore sunglasses, and when everyone saw me I had seen the shock on their faces.

"You look awesome, man!" Theo had slapped me on the back, laughing. "I see you've finally grown some facial hair."

I stroked my beard with a grin. "Yes, it just grew over the weekend. Quite miraculous, really."

"I can't believe you dressed as an Arab Sheik!" Yasmine and Mariam were in fits of giggles when they first saw me. They looked kind of like female characters from the Arabian Nights, except Yasmine had altered the costumes to make it more modest, and they looked pretty good. Mariam wore a blue version of the costume while Yasmine was in pink, and they even had the makeup to go with it, framing their eyes in dark kohl eyeliner.

"Believe it, princesses," I raised my arms, doing a little spin on the spot to show off my glorious outfit.

"Princesses?" Mariam repeated, and I nodded.

"That's what you guys are, right? Arabian princesses?" I smirked.

"That's right, we're royalty," Yasmine said with a smug smile.

"You three go well together, though," Denise remarked.

"It was completely unintentional," Mariam said.

"Great minds think alike," I slid my sunglasses down my nose and winked at her.

"Well, I wouldn't say yours was great," she muttered.

"Yeah, because it's genius," I joked. Whenever I was a bit cocky, I always tried to make it as a joke so they wouldn't actually think I was like that. Good thing my friends never took me seriously.

"Looking great, man," Aidan came over to us with Felix, who was dressed in – no surprise – a purple skinsuit, something he had vowed to do when he was in year twelve for Muck-up day. Toby beside him was dressed as some kind of gangster, with baggy clothes, a snap-back and a gold chain around his neck, carrying a mini boom box on his shoulder that blasted hip-hop music.

"You too, dude. How ironic," Theo said as we all took in his surfer dude getup. He even carried a surfboard, which was his, since he was a surfer in reality.

"We've got some water guns and water balloons," Felix announced, and for the first time I noticed the duffel bag he was carrying filled with the weapons of comedic destruction. "We're going to totally prank this school today."

I rubbed my hands in anticipation. "Can't wait."

Felix glanced at me for the first time and his eyes popped out of his sockets. "Shit, man. Didn't even recognise you."

I laughed. "That's the plan. This way, I won't get expelled for doing all these pranks because no one will even know who I am."

"We're not going to get expelled," Aidan assured me as he clicked a water gun into place. "We're keeping it clean."

"And by clean we mean ice cold water in everybody's faces!" Felix whooped.

"Awesome," I grinned.

The girls were just rolling their eyes. "As long as you don't spray us. We worked really hard on our outfits," Yasmine said.

"Oh, no, you girls are the first to get sprayed," Felix said mischievously, pointing a gun to them threateningly, and they squealed, running away from us.

"Shall we get started, lads?" Aidan handed Theo and I a gun each, and holding it brought back so many memories of spraying my mates at pool parties, and filling it with dye so that everyone would turn blue, but unfortunately, we couldn't go that far today. Not if we wanted to graduate.

"Certainly," Theo replied. "I was born for this day."

"Let's go," Aidan lead us into the battlegrounds, a.k.a., the hallways. All the senior students were gathered outside the building on the ground floor, but all the fun was inside, with all the younger unsuspecting kids.

While Toby blasted his music through the speakers, we ran down the hallways, squirting all the kids at the lockers and probably scaring half of them. All the year twelves in the past had done the exact same thing to me, so now it was time to leave these kids with a dress up day they will never forget.

***

"Did you see the look on Mr Bacon's face when we burst in? Classic!" Felix laughed along with the rest of us as we sat in the canteen after spending the first couple of periods terrorising all the classes. It was all in good fun, and this was the last day of freedom before our exams started, the last day before the stress began.

"I especially loved when you started dancing on the table. I swear I had never seen Mr Bacon's face go that red," I chuckled.

"The kids love us, though. We made their Monday more interesting, didn't we, boys?" Toby exclaimed, and we all whooped in agreement.

"Can't wait for the ceremony," I said. "That's where the real fun's at."

"You bet," Theo agreed. "Plus, I'm not complete without my other half, Fiona. It's a shame you didn't dress up as donkey, then we'd really be complete."

"Hell to the no," I wrinkled my nose. No way would I ever be seen dressed up as an ass!

"Where are the girls? We should go find them," Aidan suggested.

"Yeah, we should," I murmured, being the first to stand. As we walked through the quadrangle we bumped into George who was on a scooter, and after taking turns riding on it for a bit and feeling even cooler than before, we went in search for the females.

They were all in the back garden of the school, playing music and dancing and just chilling on the benches under the trees.

"Ladies," I joined them swiftly, scaring them a little since we came from behind.

"You're not going to squirt us, are you?" Mariam held up her hands, backing away, and I laughed.

"Not now," I replied cheekily.

"I guess I'll just have to live the rest of the day in dread, then," Mariam sighed.

"Aw, you don't have to, I'll protect you," I vowed valiantly.

"Really?" Mariam asked.

"Nah," I chuckled as she narrowed her eyes at me.

"Group photo!" Theo called, and sure enough, the school photographer came and took a few photos of us gathered in the garden with the sunlight filtering through the trees and lighting up our faces.

"Ugh, I hate photos," Denise groaned after the photographer was gone.

"That's ironic coming from a photographer," I commented.

"I just don't like being in them," Denise explained.

"Why? You look gorgeous today," Theo slung an arm around her, his Shrek mask sitting on top of his hair.

"Of course I do next to you, since you're an ogre," Denise teased.

"You got a point there, Fiona," Theo answered in a Scottish accent.

"You sound like my grandfather," Denise giggled.

"Wow, that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me," Theo placed a hand on his heart and cracked a fake sob.

I scanned the rest of the year twelves gathered here, and noticed Sam for the first time dressed as Tinkerbell, with her boyfriend Lachlan as Peter Pan. Toby broke up with Carrie, so Carrie was now a free bird, dressed as some adult version of Red Riding Hood, which went well with Jason's wolf suit. Everyone had planned their outfits to match up with someone else's, which left me with Mariam and Yasmine.

"We're the middle eastern trio," I told them.

"Agreed," Mariam and Yasmine nodded.

***

Mariam's POV

All eyes on us.

I never thought I would enjoy it this much, but I did. We were the kings and queens of the school, just for today, and we paraded past the younger year levels in all our dressed up glory to the beat of Team by Iggy Azalea, as Yasmine had informed me since I was wondering what this hideous song was.

"It's not hideous, it's boss!" Yasmine exclaimed.

We passed the Year Tens, and I made sure to wave at Zeinab, who was cheering loudly with her friends; my own little fan club. Damian, who walked with us, was high-fiving all the kids he passed, thinking he was so cool because of his beard, and someone even asked him if they could touch it. Crazy kids.

Toby ran around with his boom box and tossed fake money at the kids, who screamed and scrambled to collect the bills, while Carrie threw lollies for all the kids from her basket. Aidan and Felix used the surfboard to carry kids around, which was a hilarious sight to see, until one of the boys they carried fell off the board, but at least he was okay.

"Now we will be judging the best couples, so could all the pairs come out and show us what you got!" the school captain, who was dressed as a pirate, announced through the microphone.

"That's us!" I said to Yasmine, so together we linked arms and went out with Theo and Denise.

"Aw, I feel so lonely now," Damian pouted.

"Just come with us! We're basically a couple anyway," Yasmine beckoned him.

"I'm pretty sure a couple has two people, not three," Damian said wryly.

"Doesn't matter, let's go! We'll be a polygamous couple," Yasmine joked.

"No way," I shook my head as the song Marvin Gaye started to play.

"What's that?" Damian looked confused.

"You don't wanna know," I replied over my shoulder while dragging Yasmine by the arm so we could join the flow of couples.

Theo had his Shrek mask over his face and he scooped Denise in his arms, walking the whole ceremony like that while she squealed for him to put her down. Since Sam was dressed as Tinkerbell, she sprinkled pixie dust on all the kids so that their hair sparkled in the gym lights, while her partner, Peter Pan a.k.a. Lachlan, did a few flips in the air. It was a great atmosphere, and the whole way round Yasmine and I were laughing because we were the only couple made up of two girls.

The next calling was for the trios, and this time Damian joined us happily, walking between us and bobbing his head to the beat of Adventure Of A Lifetime by Coldplay.

"I must be the luckiest guy here," Damian said to us as we strutted our stuff.

"And why is that?" I inquired.

"Because I've got two beautiful ladies by my side," Damian replied flirtatiously.

"Yeah, mate, you sure are lucky," Yasmine smirked, nudging me. I shot a look at her.

After all the categories were called, including fairy-tale, superhero, and home-made costumes, it was time for the judges, which consisted of Mr Newton, Ms Harvey and Miss Finch, to decide the winners.

"For the couple category, the winners are..."

I hated suspense, and it was clear that Mr Newton was enjoying this.

"Shrek and Fiona!"

"Woo! Go Theo and Denise!" We all clapped loudly for our friends, who walked up to collect their tiny little trophy from Mr Newton. I noticed Sam and Lachlan looking pissed, since they probably wanted to win best couple, but I was happy for my friends.

"And for the best trio..." Mr Newton smiled as he declared the winners. "The two Arabian Nights girls and the sheik!"

Yasmine and I exchanged a look of utmost joy at hearing this, and we almost forgot we had to collect a trophy too from how excited we were.

"You look lovely, girls," Mr Newton complimented us as he handed us our trophies.

"Thanks, sir," I beamed.

"I'll just add this to my trophy collection, then," Damian said as we walked back to our seats.

"You have a collection?" I asked.

"Yeah, I won loads of footy awards back in the day," Damian reminisced. "I was a pro."

"Of course you were," Yasmine rolled her eyes.

"The fairy-tale category goes to Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf!"

Of course not everyone won an award, but as the category winners were called, I couldn't stop staring at my trophy and how shiny it was. The first trophy I won and it's when I was dressed as someone other than myself. My parents would be so proud.

"Happy birthday," I held out the trophy to Zeinab later that night, and she stared at in confusion.

"My birthday was last week," she stated bluntly.

"So you don't want it? Okay, that's fine by me." I wasn't actually going to give it to her. That'd be stupid. I earned this trophy.

"I totally didn't expect Damian to dress up like that!" Zeinab giggled. "Did he get it off eBay?"

"Yep, he's crazy like that," I replied casually, tossing the trophy between my hands. It was so tiny, and it was just a gold cup with two handles on the sides on top of a wooden stand, but I liked it.

"Are you ready for your exams?" Zeinab asked me.

"Honestly, not yet," I admitted, sitting on the foot of her bed. "But my first one isn't for another week, so..."

"So what are you doing? Go study!" Zeinab shooed me away, and I sighed, getting up.

"Now you sound like Immi," I muttered, obeying her order.

The fun of today was over. Now it was time to get serious again. And I was good at being serious.

***

It was finally over.

All those nights, sacrificing sleep and swallowing textbooks, all those days spent revising and practising and forgetting to eat and drink because we were so caught up in our studies, forgetting what time or day it was because all we could think of was the time we would be sitting the exam – over.

Thirteen years of my life – from prep to Year 12 – 200 days a year, six hours a day...I wasn't going to even bother calculating that. Anyway, all those years spent had come down to this. This moment right now.

"Mariam Barakat."

I took a deep breath and rose from my seat, approaching the stage and ascending the steps. I had been on this exact stage many times before to accept awards for excellence in various subjects over the years, but this time was different. This time, I was graduating.

I shook the principal's hand as the crowd applauded. I was one of the first to graduate from my class, and I held my certificate of education with pride while searching the dark audience for my family. It didn't take me long to spot them beyond the bright spotlights that almost blinded me, and I smiled the hardest I had probably ever smiled as Baba snapped a photo of me on his iPhone. I made sure to turn the tassel of my hat from right to left to show that I had graduated, something I had watched the year twelves in the past do after they got their diploma.

I heard extra loud cheers from Yasmine, Theo, Denise and Damian, but even more so from Nasr and Theo's brother Alex, who were standing in their seats clapping and hooting like maniacs. I saw Zeinab sitting with all her Year Ten friends in the top right wing and waved at her, blowing her a kiss as I made my way down the stage.

"Damian Brewer."

If I thought my cheers were loud, his were deafening. Of course, Damian had a lot of fans in the crowd, and I glanced over my shoulder, pausing on the steps to see him in his long black gown and mortar cap, a big grin on his face as he shook the principal's hand. And then, to everyone's surprise – except mine, since I learned to expect Damian's spontaneity – he pulled out his phone and took a selfie with the principal, who complied good-naturedly, and the crowd went wild.

"Typical Damian," I chuckled.

I waited in the shadows of the stairs for him to descend the stairs, and when he laid eyes on me his smile widened. "We did it!" he whooped, jumping down from the stairs as the audience applauded for the next graduate.

"We sure did," I couldn't contain the excitement from seeping into my voice, reflecting his grin. "Alhamdulillah."

"Couldn't agree more," Damian said, examining his certificate in the dim light. "This will look great on my wall. Right next to the giant poster of my face."

I snorted with laughter, rolling my eyes. "I wouldn't be surprised if that was true."

Damian chuckled. "Nah, even I'm not that vain."

"Are you sure about that?" I cocked an eyebrow.

"You need to return to your seats," Florence hissed to us as she descended the stage steps with her diploma, so we followed her back, slipping back into our assigned seats just in time for Yasmine's name to get called.

I erupted into applause, whooping and cheering more than I had ever done in my life as Yasmine stepped up, shooting us an excited grin as she approached the stairs. While she looked at us, she managed a Jennifer Lawrence, tripping slightly on her gown, but she quickly regained composure and laughed it off, grabbing her diploma like it was a trophy and waving it around proudly on stage.

"Go Yaz!" Denise hooted, clapping even harder than me, while Theo wolf-whistled with his fingers in his mouth. I wished I could do that but I always just ended up spitting everywhere.

There were around a hundred and fifty of us Year Twelves this year, so it took a while to get through all of us. With every name that was called, memories of talking to that person for a project or sharing a class with them at some point in the last six years flashed across my mind, and I was sad to say that there were some people I had never even spoken to in my year level, and maybe I would never see them again after this.

I admitted I would miss some of these people, like Felix and Toby and their mischief, though they had been extremely annoying, as well as Russell, and his geekiness. But there were people I wouldn't miss, and that was alright. Everything was in the past. There was only the future now. In Sha Allah.

"And that is your Class of 2016, everyone! Give another round of applause for our graduates – we will surely miss them all!" the principal announced in the microphone, and as the crowd clapped one last time for all of us, I felt like crying.

"This is the best day of my life!" Theo exclaimed at the end of the ceremony, tossing his hat in the air. A lot of other people from our class began throwing their hats too, even though it would be hard to find them again and most would probably get trampled.

The parents were finding their kids in the crowd and going backstage to get photographs taken in the makeshift studio, so I broke away from my friends to find my own, but it seemed they found me first.