"Veronica Mars"
You had dreaded this moment, for a good two years. You saw it simply as a necessary evil. Walk across that stage, take that diploma, grin and bear it, and then run for your life, in whatever direction you can.
The closer the moment had gotten, the more you had realized that maybe -just maybe- you might miss it. Because as much as you hate the people around you with a passion, Neptune, California has been your home for nearly as long as you can remember. The town itself has seen her through tons of changes, and they run through her mind and she takes those unsure steps towards good old' Van Clemmons.
A bright eyed toddler, filled with wonder for the world around her. An awkward but cute nonetheless kindergartener, grinning at the sky and running hand in hand with an amusingly "mature" Lilly Kane. The twelve year old in the green soccer uniform, blonde hair spilling from the ponytail atop her head. The fourteen year old sitting on her best friend's bed smiling at the sheets underneath her. The fifteen year old, snuggled into her boyfriend's lap, soaking up the summer heat. The sixteen year old the first time she stood up for herself, the seventeen year old, cheering on her best friend's basketball game, and everything else, and they all run together as she realizes that she's happens to have some sort of cult following that she's collected over the years, and suddenly Meg's (poor Meg) voice is ringing in her ears
"You do have friends, Veronica"
You lost people here (LillyDuncanMegYourself), but you gained people too, and Hearst is beginning to sound more and more like a good idea. You might even miss the people that leave.
You snap out of your daze in time to hear Clemmons ask you if you expected some other response, and you honestly can't say you expected any response, but that you simply hadn't thought about it and ohmygoddiddickcasablancasjustclapforme? theworldhasended but maybe you weren't as hated as you thought you were, and maybe you didn't hate back as much as you thought you did.
"I don't know if my life is going to easier or more difficult without you around," he says and you think it will definitely be more difficult, as you get a slightly amusing thought of a bizarrely paranoid Clemmons, and you finish the conversation and continue on your way.
The weight of this moment has been finally lifted off your shoulders, and you smile as you think it couldn't have gone better.
AN- I don't think we actually saw Dick at the graduation ceremony, but I just like the idea that he would of and Veronica's horror at the thought.