I sat with my legs crossed on the vibrant grass as I felt it prickle my legs through my skirt, I was surprised at the turn out; hippies, stoners, the punks and the populars with their jocks. Not all the seniors showed but at least a plethora of representatives from each clique had made an appearance. I sighed resting on the palms of my hands, looking up through silhouetted leaves at the purple and orange sky that resembled a pastel water painting.
Unlike the other attendees, I was there alone, my friends had decided to go clubbing after graduation and no doubt get wasted. But that wasn't for me. I wanted to see my last sunset as a high school student, I wanted to see my last sunset in my hometown before I moved away in the morning.
"Hey Mia." One of the punks waved to me as he walked by to return to his clique with some beers. I smiled back.
Then a sad realization hit me, in my small town I wasn't a popular kid, but everyone was friendly to me and knew my name, and when we moved to this big city-like place I may never hear someone say "Hey Mia" with absentminded kindness for a long time, not forever, I knew that, but a long time. This was my home and they were ripping me from it, not out of cruelty but for my own good and the good of my grandmother. I didn't believe them when they said high school flew by, freshmen year seemed like entering a long cave with no light to be seen at the end and now I was at the end and found the light of adulthood blinding and scary as hell.
I listened to the swell of boom box music drift in the air in a strange mash-up of Blondie, Michael Jackson and Foreigner. But my ears trained themselves to focus on one song in the distance; the words rang true for the scene of the setting sun unfolding before me, Beauty did have her way.
I slid my yearbook from my side and put it behind my head as a make shift pillow, I allowed my mess of chestnut hair to fan out on the grass, spilling over my yearbook edges. As I looked up into the sky I slipped away into unconsciousness.
