As soon as the graduation caps were airborne, they felt this amazing sensation. Accomplishment and pride to name a few. But another thing was their excitement. They all had the same plan: to make it big and get famous. But for these young-adults, their journey to the top would be a hard one.

The caps were beginning their descent back to the ground as three girls in the middle of the crowd got swarmed by followers. Alicia Rivera was the leader. Her long raven black hair had glamorous curls, voluminous and bouncy. The other two girls, Dylan Marvil and Olivia Ryan, had similar dos. Dylan's had beach-y waves, and Olivia had Goldie-locks curls and actually resembled Goldie-locks herself. They all wore the same dark graduation robes and had diplomas rolled like scrolls in their hands, neatly tied with a bow. "This is it girls!" Alicia exclaimed, beaming.

They squeezed together into a group hug, holding back tears. Alicia was right; this really was it. A few seconds later though, a boy rushed up behind them and poked Alicia. Turning, she ran into her boyfriend, Joshua Hotz.

"Hey Joshie!" she stood up on her tip toes and pecked him on the lips. She leaned back but kept her arms swinging around his neck "Are we still on for tonight?"

He bit his lip. "About our date, sorry Leesh but there's this massive graduation party tonight that-"

"We decided not to go to," she interrupted him and shot a malicious glare. "Josh, you aren't ditching me for your friends again, are you?"

"This is really important!" he protested, stomping his foot like a little kid.

"Yeah, yeah. It's always important. Look, Josh, I don't want to be in this relationship if we don't even spend time together anymore."

"What?" his eyes widened. She snapped her fingers, telling her friends to follow her.

"Bye Josh," she said before disappearing into the crowd of riled up teena-no, young adults. Dylan and Olivia did as they were commanded and kept up a brisk pace right after her. Josh frowned. This graduation turned bad in an instant.

In England, it was hours after Massie Block threw her own cap into the air. She was in her room with friends, preparing for the party going on at James's house. "Massie!" one girl, Carly squealed. "You look ah-mazing! Definitely 10!"

She wasn't lying. Massie wore a Alice + Olivia strapless dress with purple and black bands that hugged her body and Jimmy Choo black wedge booties. Her Prada bag matched perfectly, a radiant violet in color. She had a gold charm bracelet that she got the first day of Freshman year. She wore it all the time even four years later, but it was imperative she wore it that night. After all, it was the exact age as her high school years, almost like a token from them. It was a simple yet elegant outfit, also very fit for the party they were attending.

Massie smiled warmly at Carly. She had blonde hair that went to her butt when straightened, but that night it was in loose waves. It was still super long but it was shortened slightly. Green eyes sparkling, she posed, signaling Massie to give her a rating. She wore a teal DKNY asymmetrical dress that went well with her skin tone. Her Fendi bag was dark leather, a well pairing to the dress and silver Tiffany necklace. Her Miu Miu heels were the same dark shade as her bag, not yet black but still not definable in color. "Congrats, you are a 9.8! Now onto Riley."

Riley smiled shyly and faced towards the girls, striking her best model pose. Her brown hair was in a perfectly messy bun and she drew attention to her bright hazel eyes with dramatic eye shadow that appeared professional. She wore a red Ralph Lauren dress and a black shrug was draped over her shoulders. A Gucci bag swung from her wrist and vintage red kitten heels completed the look. "Congrats, you are a 9.75!" Massie declared.

Heels clicking, the girls walked out of the house with their arms linked. "Let's go blow their minds before we all go disappear from each others lives forever," Massie muttered. The girls, still gleeful but partially saddened, nodded.

Shit! Kristen thought as she smacked her head. She was the valedictorian of BOCD and had her big speech earlier. But...well...it stunk.

Even her parents were snoring. Kristen took this as a sign that she was doomed when college came around. If she couldn't handle something as simple as a graduation speech, what would happen later on? When she has to go out for job interviews? What about dates? All of they guys will think she's a complete loser! She was over before she even got started.

Luckily, or maybe it was unlucky, Dune caught her. He lightened up the mood once he joined her on stage. The principal had desperately pushed him up there, in fact, which made his arrival quite humorous. It made her appreciate him, but resent him at the same time. How was he so perfect at everything?! He even managed to sweet-talk his way into Yale! She got Harvard, which was a prestigious school as well, but she honestly would have preferred Yale. Harvard was for her parents. Ugh, he's so lucky!

Eyes watering, Claire watched as time passed by. Fondly, she squeezed Cam's hand. The grinned at each other, glad to be out of this place.

But darkness loomed over their relationship. He was going off to some fantastic school in Massachusetts and she was going back to Florida for Barry University. To make matters worse, she was leaving early. She was accepted to a curricular program that required her spending the summer at the University. She was leaving the next Wednesday and it was only Saturday. Just barely five days.

"Cammie, you can go on ahead. Talk to your friends. I think I'll go hang out with Layne." she said, forcing a weak smile. His eyes lit up before they drooped and he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Are you sure?"

"Totally!" she lied. "We're supposed to be having fun! I don't want it to be my fault if we don't enjoy our graduation."

Cam smiled for real and, with a nod, ran off to his soccer friends. Layne immediately ran up to her and yanked on her arm. "Come on Claire, we need to finish the senior prank now!"

Claire gave her a once over. Layne was jumping with hyper-ness, obviously ecstatic to be finally doing it. They had been planing for months, after all. Quickly and quietly, they wove through the crowd until they discovered Heather and Meena at the meeting spot. Just in front of an old pickup truck that hasn't moved an inch in over a year. It was a mystery that no one put much thought into.

In hushed whispers, they giggled about the plan. In a few seconds, the principal was going to approach the podium to make one last announcement to the senior class and-BAM! He would be assaulted with Balloons. Not just any balloons though, these suckers have colored smoke filling them. So when he popped one-oops, he would get colored powder on his face. Either that, or they would fly around in the air and contaminate everyone which is just as satisfactory.

They spotted his round figure climbing the stairs onto the stage. Immediately, they jumped into action. Heather muttered something into a walkie-talkie, probably to prep the guys who were manning the giant balloon gun, a five foot metal contraption Layne put together in a good 10 hours. Meena stood guard around the corner and Layne kept her hand steady on the lever which sent an electrical signal to the gun, which was stationed closer to the stage, through wires they managed to run through the ground. Claire surveyed the scene. In front of them, the seniors nonchalantly walked around with friends, enjoying as much of it as they could. Most of them were aware of what would happen though. The principal finally reached the stage and was about to speak when Layne pulled the lever. At the exact moment, the girls took off, shrinking back into the crowd. 5..4..3..2..boom! the stage is flooded with technicolor balloons. Some flew through the air, violently jerking and spewing out colorful powder. The principal, being the cool guy he is, simply chuckled and caught one. His face turned a bright purple all of a sudden, and Claire feared that he was angry, but quickly realized it was the powder. She didn't care how lame and childish it seemed- to her, it couldn't have been better.

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my new story 'Welcome to the Real World'!

Sorry but the idea came to me and I just couldn't let it go! This will probably take the space of 'There You Are' in my schedule(sorry to those readers!) because I'm kind of losing my inspiration for that one..idk. I'll keep working on it since I still have a bunch of ideas for it, but for now that's probably going to be on a slight Hiatus. (again, sorry!)

Review:)

xoxo,

Natalie:D