Chapter Five

“Fenella Burgess,” the principal said, trying to sound enthusiastic into the microphone. Maybe he actually was since the school year was over and he was just doing a s**t job of showing it.

Fay strode past the students sitting in the chairs lined up in front of the stage wearing the same blue robes and graduation caps as she was. There wasn’t a robe that fit perfectly, so Fay tripped a few times on the billowy dollar-store fabric that she was forced to wear. Fortunately, the thing was too amorphous for anyone to notice. She thought she looked like a blob of blue moving to the front. Looking on either side of her, she could see everyone she tolerated sitting in the audience clapping emptily. Her Ed wasn’t there. He had already walked off the stage a while ago and she was anxious to check her phone for his text. Her parents weren’t there. If her dad being fired a few weeks ago wasn’t enough to put them in a dour mood, the latest debt notice had come in the mail just that moment. Still, Fay’s mother insisted that her daughter was happy on her graduation day. Edward’s parents weren’t there either. His father was in the hospital after one particularly bad coughing fit and his mother was staying in a hotel somewhere because of the latest fight she picked with the family. There was no way to tell how he felt about that until she saw him, but that couldn’t happen until she crossed that damn stage.

She made her way up the steps of the platform at the front and wiped the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve. She was starting to regret wearing her jacket underneath. Even with the breeze, it was a scorching hot day outside and her body was coated in sticky dried sweat. When she came up to the principal and the two other teachers standing at the front, she was shot a dirty look�"most likely because of her decision to disregard the rules and leave her nose piercings in during graduation. It wasn’t like her blue hair streaks and black lipstick went with the graduation clothes either. It was impossible for them to punish her at that point anyway.

Fay took the principal’s hand as gingerly as she possibly could, and he handed her a diploma with a look that said, I finally don’t have to deal with your bullshit anymore. She gave him a little smile and walked off the other side of the platform while the students in the audience unenthusiastically clapped for her.

Once she was off, she tore off her graduation cap and pulled her phone out. She had to draw her arm inside the sleeve of the robe, which she made sure no one saw. She had gotten a text from Edward. I’m at the park, it said.

As fast as she could so that no one could see her, she ran past the line of students waiting to receive their diplomas and behind the school so that she was out of sight from any authority figures.

The school park was a large open field of yellow, dying grass. A ring of trees around it provided a bit of shade, which was the only redeeming quality it really had. Bleachers were set up over a fenced baseball diamond and a hockey rink that would be iced over when it was cold enough. Almost out of breath, Fay ran until she was next to the bleachers, her eyes darting around looking for Edward. Before she had time to turn and see, his arms wrapped around her as he jumped out from under the railings and almost crumpled her diploma. She jumped in surprise, and a tiny gasp got caught in her throat. He was wearing a blue flannel t-shirt and jeans with his graduation gown on the ground next to him, but the tasseled cap was still on his head.

“Congratulations, babe,” he grinned, panting from effort and planting tiny kisses on her cheek while she was trying to get her heart rate back to normal. “We finally did it.”

She turned around and gave him a quick kiss on the lips before he let go. He held up her diploma�"FENELLA BURGESS scrawled across it in big, curly letters�"and sighed, “I told them a million times not to write my real name.”

“They kind of had to. They’ll ask to see it on college applications and stuff.” Edward said.

Fay just scoffed. “Screw the colleges here. They don’t even offer law school programs.”

“Well you do hate law school, which you’ve still never said a reason for�""

Fay handed Edward her diploma. He took it so that she could rip off her gown to reveal her black leather jacket and spiked black jeans. “I don’t need a reason to hate things. I just do.”

“That doesn’t seem�"”

“Don’t make this the first thing we talk about after we’ve graduated.” She put her hands on his shoulders and leaned in, just tasting his lips at first. His hands found their way to her waist and she obliged, inching towards him to give his nose a kiss. After a few moments, she leaned back just to stare at him with a wide, lopsided smile. He seemed to not be able to guess why, but she didn’t care. His hair sticking out from under the graduation cap was usually a bland dark brown, but the colour turned into a rainbow of different shades when the sun shone through it. That, and when the light was shining right in his face, she could make out tiny freckles dotting across the bridge of his nose and disappearing into his cheeks. That was something not a lot of other people knew. She treated it like a certificate of loving him.

“So what do we do now?” Fay asked. “Because I guarantee that without school to wake me up in the morning, I’m gonna go outside like once a year.”

Edward sighed, still smiling, “Well, they don’t teach law in Hillborough but they do in Morny. Right after I walked off the stage, Mr. Stephens came up to�"”

“Ew, don’t say his name.”

He laughed. “Well, he just let me know that my grades are probably good enough to get into law at U of M and he sent them for me already.”

“Umm, you’re not leaving me.” She glared at him, giving Edward a peck on the lips and another on his chin. “I’d go insane. I’d probably start talking to dolls and hearing voices and s**t.”

“I know. It’s just that my father really wants me to be a lawyer.”

“Hey,”

Edward grinned at her. “I’m kidding. I’d never leave you. Honestly, I really don’t know what I want to be doing with my life right now.”

“Uh, you’re going to marry me and we’re going to win the lottery and buy a house in Japan and have a pair of twins named Cleo and Colton.” Fay smiled, resting her head on Edward’s shoulder with a deep sigh. His breath was colder than the air, so keeping close to him cooled her down just the tiniest bit. “Do you love me?”

“I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone,” Edward said, adjusting himself so that he was cradling Fay in his arms, letting her listen to his heart beat. He rested his chin on her head and wrapped his arms around her in a way that he could keep up for the rest of his life. “I know that we have a future together. I can see it. Forever, no matter what, I love you.”

In the distance, the crowd of graduates erupted into applause and overjoyed screaming as Ed and Fay pictured the blue graduation caps being thrown into the air and raining back down onto the crowd.  

Fay brought her hand up from behind and grabbed the corner of Edward’s cap. With a flick of her wrist, she tossed it off and it spun in the air, landing a few feet away on the grass. Edward laughed and took a moment to just stare at her and appreciate the moment. She was beautiful. The second Fay looked back from the hat to him, he crashed his lips onto hers. She ran her fingers through his hair from behind, trying her hardest to ruin the combing and gel. She let go of Edward and brought her arms back behind her to rip his leather jacket off and throw it on the grass next to the graduation cap. He laughed at that. He was sweaty enough that his skin was almost sticky, but the smell of the cologne that she had put on him that morning was bleeding into the hot air, drowning it out.