Hola! Me again! If you haven't read 21, you may want to so you
will understand this.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I'm on Paul's good side, so I'll see what I can do.
But for the time being, I own nothing.

Summary: Takes place right after 21. Suze's is graduating, but unlike
most graduates, she got something else to look forward to in the summer.
A murder trial.

I LOVE YOU GUYS!
-Autumn-


And so we talked all night about the rest of our lives
Where we're gonna be when we turn 25
I keep thinking times will never change
Keep on thinking things will always be the same

"Sometimes, I wonder if any of us ever thought that this day would come. I mean, I certainly didn't think so." I gave a little laugh at that, trying to fight back my tears as I leaned closer to the microphone. "I ask myself if I'm actually ready for this. I mean, I've only been here at the Mission for three years, but it just seemed like I've been here longer."

I looked over at Father Dom and said, "And if you ask Father Dom why it seemed longer, I'm sure he could give you a few reasons why." I actually got a few laughs at that. Mainly people who knew that I was always in his office. Father D beamed at me, his eyes were glistening with unshed tears.

"It just seemed like this was the right school for me. Not that I haven't been through tough times here. I have, but when I went through those times, even when I felt like I couldn't even turn to my own family, I always had people to lean on here. I've made some of the best friends here, that I think I'll ever make."

I paused for a moment as I looked out into the sea of gold and yellow that was before me. Paul winked up at me and I smiled as I continued, "I guess everyone here will agree though. I mean, I know I will. It's about time."

But when we leave this year we won't be coming back
No more hanging out cause we're on a different track
And if you got something that you need to say
You better say it right now cause you don't have another day

"I keep thinking that this isn't real. Part of me thinks that I'm going to be walking through those doors next August. I think all of us were like that. Some of us probably accepted that fact that we aren't, but some like me still don't think this is real. We don't have really any more time here, and we won't be coming back here in August. Because by then, we're going to be spread out across the country, possibly even the world." I paused again, blinking away my tears. I looked out into the audience to see Jesse beaming at me from beside my parents.

Cause we're moving on and we can't slow down
These memories are playing like a film without sound
And I keep thinking of that night in June
I didn't know much of love
But it came too soon

"So, for this one day, let's just make time stand still. Let's not think that this is the end, but the beginning. And just hope that in 10 years, we'll still remember all the memories that happened inside this school."

My tears were coming, I knew it. I took another deep breath as I said, trying to keep my strong voice, "Don't forget to save your time and to cherish every moment, count not the months but the moments. I can sum up this whole concept with one word: remember. Remember the times of your life spent in this building, the times with you friends. Remembering that if you fail out there in the real world, you can always come back home."

I looked up into the audience, finding that this was a lot easier to keep from crying if I kept eye contact. "Remember who you are right now, remember who you want to become, remember your friends and your family, remember where you came from, remember the good times and the bad times and that without both you cannot not grow into the person you want to be. "

I sighed as I scanned the paper in front of me. I looked up, and was blinded as my mom snapped another picture of me.

And there was me and you
And then we got real blue
Stay at home talking on the telephone
We would get so excited and we'd get so scared
Laughing at ourselves thinking life's not fair

"High school seems like just a bump in the road compared to the mountain we're going to have to climb. But I know we can do it." I glanced back down and noticed that I only had a few more sentences left," ' We know what we are, but know not what we may be.' So, when you get out there to what us is known as 'the real world' and you fall, and you may fail, and you just feel like you'll never recover, just think about that quote. You can't become the person you want to become, if you don't believe you can. Because I know that we all can become that person we've pictured since we first walked into these doors. All be have to do is believe."

I bit my lip, still in a battle with my tears, as I said the final words, "Congratulations Class of 2007. We did it."
As I said that, two things happened at once. The seniors started cheering, and I started crying.

With the help of Father Dom, I found my way back to my seat. Paul, who was sitting beside me, hugged me and said, "Good job, Simon." I smiled and hugged him back as Father Dom made his way back on the stage.

"Ok, children. Calm down. You're not done yet." When we finally calmed down, he began calling out our names. It seemed like it took forever, before he finally got down to Josephina.

"Josephine Marisol de Silva." I hugged Josie as new tears formed in my eyes. She gracefully walked across the stage and accepted her diploma from Father Dom.

And this is how it feels...

I sighed, knowing who was next. Please, God. Don't let me fall and kill myself on stage. Paul gave my hand a squeeze as Father Dom said, "Susannah Elizabeth Simon." More tears flowed down my cheeks when my family started cheering. Instead of just getting my diploma and shaking his hand, I hugged him and whispered, "Thank you."

He laughed and hugged me too.

I made my way back down the stairs as Father Dom said, "Paul Daniel Slater." Paul shot a smirk in my direction as he walked across the stairs.

And it all ended up with, "Cee Nicole Webb." After Cee had accepted her letter and came back down the stairs to where the rest of us were standing, Father Dom beamed as he said, "Congratulations Juniperra Serra Class of 2007!"

As we go on
We remember
All the times we
Had together
And as our lives change
Come Whatever
We will still be
Friends Forever

I couldn't hear anything after that, because at that moment all of us started screaming like crazy as we tossed our caps into the air. Paul picked me up and spun me around and he yelled, "We did it!"

I laughed when he pulled back, and I leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Don't you ever change, Spawn of Satan."
He laughed and said, "Never will be able too, Susie-Q."

Cee came up a minute later and hugged me as her tears fell down on my shoulder. "Oh, gosh, Suze!" She said with a smile as tears still rolled down her cheek. Paul took her hand and kissed her cheek.

Yes, as cute as it is! The two of them have been together since prom. Josie came over with Jesse following closely behind her. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. "Congratulation, querida. I love you."

I smiled and said, "I love you too."
"Ok, ok. Come on." Paul said. Jesse shot him an irritated look, knowing what we were about to do.
"No, Slater."

"Come on, Jesse."

"No."

"Come on!

" I said, NO!"

"COME ON AND DO IT!"

"Jesse, just do it." I said to him in a pleading voice. Jesse gaped at me, but then relaxed and said, "Whatever."
Paul smiled as he put his hand in, "Fearless Five in five..."

"1."

"2."

"3"

"4."

Paul looked over at Jesse. We were waiting on him. He rolled his eyes and put his hand in and said in a grumpy voice, "5."
We all raised our hands up and yelled, "FEARLESS FIVE!"

"Oh, gosh. That is so stupid." Jesse mumbled under his breath. I laughed and took his hand, kissing his cheek.
"Ok, kids. Look over here!" My mom's voice came from behind me. I groaned and said, "Mom, please no-"

"Ok. Say, 'Class of 2007'!" My mom said, raising the camera up. Yeah...no one said it.
We all smiled, mine was fake, as she snapped her picture. When she was done, she walked up to me and put me in a death grip, "Oh, baby! That was wonderful! I'm so proud of you!"I smiled as I wiped away one of her tears and said, "Thank you."
"Hey, Suze!" Paul's voice came. I looked to see all of them standing on the Mission's steps. She kissed me and said, "Go on."

I walked away, but ran back to her and hugged her, "I love you, Mom."
She laughed and said, "I love you too, Susie."

I smiled and ran off with the others. Paul sat down on the railing, looking up into the sky. At first I thought he was staring at the sun, but you know, that would be stupid...but then again this was Paul. He smiled and said, "I can't believe it."
Jesse smirked and mumbled, "Neither can I." Ignoring Paul's glare, he pulled me to him and wrapped his arms around me.

I sighed and looked out at the ocean. Then I looked back at the Mission. Then Paul said, ignoring Jesse for like the tenth time today,
"It's going to be weird not coming back here next year."
I smiled at Paul and said, "I'm sure Father Dom won't miss us that much."

Jesse laughed and said, "For once in three years the Mission will actually be in one piece." I rolled my eyes, but smiled as I looked out at the ocean. I was excited for next year, but also not because I knew I had to get through summer. And getting through summer meant the trial. Jesse must have read that in my face since he sighed and said, "Come on."

He took my hand and led me to the grave yard. That's not that weird, guys, gosh.
"Querida, what's wrong?" He asked that well aware of what was wrong with me. He just wanted to hear me say it. That's how Jesse worked. It's annoying, but it's Jesse.

"I'm just scared is all." I said, sitting down on the bench that faced the Mission. For a grave yard, it was actually very pretty. I mean, with all of the non-depressing flowers and stuff. You really couldn't tell it was a grave yard...you know, if you got past all of the graves.

He sat down beside me as he undid his tie like it had been bothering him. "I mean, I though Ricardo died...I wasn't worried until I woke up."
He laughed and said, "What are you saying? You shouldn't have woken up?" His smile was wiped off his face when I shot a glare at him. "I'm sorry, Susannah."
"Yeah, I'm sure you are." Getting over it, I laid my head on his shoulder. "I can't do this. I thought I could do this, but I can't. I mean, what if my secret gets out? When they ask me all those questions, what am I supposed to say?"
Jesse didn't answer to let me know that that is exactly what he had been thinking. "Like they'd believe me. They'd ship me off to the LoonyBin before you could say Maria de Silva."
"Susannah, I highly doubt that they'd send you to the LoonyBin." I raised up so I could look him in the eye. "Well, ok. You have a point, but they're just going to ask you about your grandmother, I'm sure. You don't have to tell them anything you don't want to."

"That's lying."

"It's not lying if you don't say anything. You just chose not to tell them." Oo, little Mr. Cowboy has a point.
"I'm rubbing off on you, Jess." I said, kissing his cheek.
"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of." But he smiled as he said that. "Don't worry about it, ok? You're supposed to be happy today."
I put on a huge, obviously fake smile. "See? Happy!" I said, in a fake cheery voice.

Yeah, Jess. I'm not happy. Not happy at all.

♥♥♥♥♥

I walked over to my window seat and sat down, closing my eyes. I reluctantly opened them, secretly wishing that Jesse would materialize beside me. He hasn't done that in about two years now. That's almost weird to think about. How fast those two years went by, I mean.

I looked back over at the rest of my bedroom to see it was in a mess from my packing. But something was still on my bed.
I walked over to it and looked down at it. The maroon book was still locked with that heart shaped lock. I sighed, because I had been trying to open it since I found it in my grandma's apartment.

"Why won't you open?" I asked it. Yeah, Suze. I'm sure it will talk back to you. I stared at it, like we were engaged in some sort of staring contest. I sighed and said, "Please open?"

It just sat on my bed.

"Damn it!" I said, frustrated as it just sat there...locked...
I laid back on my bed and stared at the ceiling...well, since I had a pink, princessy canopy bed...I was staring at the ruffling canopy thingy. I reached up and took down the picture of me and Jesse that was hanging on the wall. It was from the Winter Formal. I smiled to myself as I took of the old, dried up orchid that was attached to it.

I hung it back on the wall, next to pictures of me and Cee, and some of Paul. Then the old one of Cee, me and...Adam. I hadn't really talked to him since he broke up with Cee. I didn't want to be mad at him, but he supposedly 'cheated' on Cee. I don't know if he did or not, but according to the "Best Friend Code" that no one apparently listens to anymore, I couldn't still be friends with my best friend's ex-boyfriend who cheated on her. And yes, that does make sense if you read it slowly.

I rolled over at put the pillow over my face. No, I wasn't trying to commit suicide. I was just trying to...you know what? I don't even know what I was trying to do.

My room was so quiet, that it scared me when my mom yelled up the stairs a minute later,"Susie? Jesse's here!"

I'll tell ya, I sprung off that bed so fast that I hit my head on my nightstand. "OW!" I moaned as the pain shot through my head. "Damn it!" And you know what happened when I raised back up? Yep. Got hit on the other side too. A double whammy.

"Suze?" Mom asked me as she opened the door, with Jesse closely behind me. "Sweetie-"
"I'm fine." I said, muffled against the floor which was starting to hurt my head that I'm sure was now, or going to be soon, bruised. "Can you just get me some aspirin or something?" I asked her as I rolled over on to my back and tried to smile at them.

Mom and Jesse exchanged worried glances before she said, "Sure, honey." I saw her look at the pillow that was clutched tightly in my hand. She looked back up at me with an expressionless face. I smiled and said, "I was taking a nap. I fell of the bed. Aside from my head, I'm fine."

She looked at Jesse, who just shook his head and shrugged. I smiled sweetly up at her as she left the room. "What the hell did you do?" He asked me when she was gone. He lifted me up off the ground and said, "You're Susannah. There's no telling what you did."

I smiled and said, "Come on, Jess. You lived with me for a year you should- "I broke off and stared at the image before me.
"OH MY GOSH! I LOOK LIKE A FREAKIN' NINJA TURTLE!" I gapped at my greenish bruise in the mirror.
Jesse walked up behind me and said, "You can hardly see it, Raphael."
I turned around and punched him in the arm as I hissed, "Some boyfriend you turned out to be."

"Susannah...querida. Seriously, stop. Would you stop poking it?"
He pulled my hand away from it. "That's not going to make it look any better."
"JESSE!" I said, frantically. "Look at it! LOOK!"
"I'm looking!" He said, pulling my other hand away from it. I had this weird poking addiction...like if I poked it enough, it would vanish. "Susannah, it really doesn't look that bad."

I sat down on my bed. Jesse was watching me carefully as if he thought I was about to spaz out or something.
"Can you just hand me my makeup bag over there, please?" He reluctantly took his gaze off of me as he went over to my window seat and took the hot pink bag off of it. He walked back over to me and handed it to me slowly.

"I'm not going to bite your hand off you know." I said, grumpily as I took it from him. "Oh, gross. It's making me want to puke."
"What? Looking at it?" Jesse asked me, unaware of what he just said. Gosh...wasn't he supposed to be the smart one?

When I looked up at him, hurt, he said, "Not that you can see it. You look gorgeous, querida. Bruise and all."
He said in that voice he knew made me go all squishy. The voice that , even when I wanted to kill him, made me forget I was mad at him.
"Nice try, Cadaver Breath. That ain't going to work this time." I said, slyly.
"Oh, but I can try and make it work." He said in that same silky voice as he leaned in to kiss me.

But of course my mom chose that time to walk in with the aspirin and ice pack.

"Baby, what did you do?" She asked me, pushing back my bangs and looking at it. Gosh, talk about making a girl self-conscious.
First my boyfriend, now my mom. I pushed her hand away and said, "Does it look bad?"
My mom looked behind me to let me know that Jesse was probably mouthing something to her. She smiled and said in that fake voice she always uses when my teachers or someone from like the Mission was calling, "No, hun. Of course not."

I groaned and fell back on the bed all dramatically. My pillow that read 'Drama Queen' was right beside me. With another dramatic sigh, I tossed the pillow across the room. "Sweetheart, do you need something else? Like your-" She lowered her voice down to a whisper as she said this, "-monthly medicine?"

"Oh. My. Gosh." I said, slowly. "Oh. My. Gosh. You did not just ask me that." I said, on the verge of tears.
Wow. Maybe I was in need of some serious Midol.

I looked over at Jesse who was biting his lip to keep from laughing. That just P'ed me of more.
"Hector!"
"Suze!"
"Mom!"
"Susannah Elizabeth!" Ah, the full name. I looked up at her and said, "What?"

She sighed and said, "Sweetie, you can't see it." I could see Jesse mouth something out of the corner of my eye, but when I looked over at him, he stopped suddenly and smiled.
I groaned and walked over to my makeup table and started covering up my freakish mutation that was on my forehead. I glared at the smiling Jesse through my mirror as my mom left the room.
Great, now I've got a mountain on my head...five minutes before I'm going to the graduation party down at the beach.

This is just swell.

♥♥♥♥♥

"Congratulations Class of 2007!" Came the DJ's voice. That was all accompanied by loud screams. Of course, I wasn't screaming because I was too damn busy being worried about my mutation.

"Suze, you can't see it." Josie said as she walked up with her brother. I knew Jesse told her to say that.
"What? Are you blind? Of course you can I mean...you look gorgeous." Cee stuffed a piece of cake in her mouth as Paul gapped at her like she had just stuffed a live squid in her mouth. I don't know if he was gapping at her because she just stuffed a piece of cake in her mouth, which I knew was to keep from saying anything else that was brutally honest, or the fact that she just was brutally honest.

That was the thing about Cee. She was always the honest one while Josie told you exactly what you wanted to hear.
I guess both of those qualities were good in their own ways and times.

I sighed and said, "Thanks." I darted the sarcastic remark at Cee who was smiling at me. Paul was still staring at her with this weird look on his face. She noticed that and said, "What? WHAT!? What did I do?"

Paul just shook his head. Now it was Cee's turn to stare at him.

I sighed again and looked at my reflection in the water. The ripples and waves only made it look bigger. "Oh, gosh!" I said, on the verge of tears again...I'm starting to think that I should have taken the Midol right about now.

Another minute passed as I looked at my reflection. Jesse's arm went around my waist as he whispered, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Which only meant one thing...he was going to break up with me.
When I mentioned that all he did was smile, and then I said, "Does this have to do with the bruise? 'Cause if it does, that's really stupid because I'm sure that the bruise'll be gone in like a week. I can't believe you would do something like this I mean it's dumb and-"

I was interrupted my his lip. Jesse usually does that to shut me up when I'm on a babbling spree. My arms somehow found their way around Jesse's neck...but true to himself, he took them and put them back down at my sides. This surprised me because he didn't stop kissing me. He only started playing with my finger...I thought he was giving it a massage or something, but you know, that would have been a little weird.

I gasped when I pulled back. 1) Because he had leaned against my head, causing my bruise to throb and 2) because I realized what he had just done. He smiled and said, "I know you're young but, you know, I just thought now was the right time to ask."

I was still gapping at him.

"Of course we'd wait a few years until you're older."

Still gapping.

"Susannah, say something."

What?
WHAT?
What's going on again? Oh, dog. I think that I've got short-term memory loss. How hard did I hit my head?
"Ok, Susannah. Please, for me, say something." He had a really weird look on his face.
I looked down and saw a gorgeous diamond on my hand. Oh, how pretty. Jesse got me a graduation present. Hey, it's on my left hand.

Hey. HEY!
Wait a minute, what's going on here? Did he just...I am...Are we...

OH.

MY.

DOG.

At that moment, all the thoughts of the trial...and me graduating and everything just seemed to drift out of my head...not that there was anything in my head to begin with as you already saw.

"Jesse." Whose voice is that...oh, duh. "I-" He waited for an answer. But he didn't get one...

"Susannah? Querida? Can you hear me?"

"Is that you Johnny?"

I heard a laugh when I asked that. I opened my eyes to see that I was in a very familiar place. The back of an ambulance. I groaned as I tried to sit up, but Jesse and the paramedic gently pushed me back down. "Oh, dog." I said, under my breath. "What just happened?"

"You just totally died!" Paul said in an amused voice. Cee smacked his arm and said, "Hun, are you ok?" I nodded and said, "Yeah..."
No, no I wasn't.

How long have I been out? OH MY GOSH! I could be like that girl in that Lifetime movie where she was in a coma for like 15 years or something...OH MY GOSH! I could be like...old!

When that heart rate thing started beeping, the paramedic said, "Miss, you're going to have to calm down."

Yeah, dude. That's not gonna happen anytime soon! I mean, I can't calm down when I could have been out for like 20 years and my boyfriend just asked me to marry him and...

My boyfriend? Just asked me to marry him?

Oh, yeah...
I looked up at Jesse who looked pretty shocked and worried. I smiled and said, "About your question..." He looked up at me when I said that. He unfolded his arms and walked closer to me as I said, "I have an answer."

He smiled, though he still looked worried, and asked, "And that answer would be?"

"Yes."


Not really a cliffie...but I thought it was a cute little ending.
Suze needs happiness before the murder trial starts up.
Read and Review!
Love ya'll!
XOXO
-SASTMJ-

And that song is Graduation (Friends Forever) from that chick Vitamin C that kind of faded out when the
NSync craze ended. But it kinda sorta fit.