By Tracy (biancaheart@yahoo.com)
Rating: PG
Category: Maria POV
Summary: Maria thinks about High School graduation,
and what will come afterwards.
Spoilers: "Baby It's You"
Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell, and I don't own the
song Pomp and Circumstance. I definetly don't own any
tv stations, just a TV.
Author's Note: My little own way of dealing with the
WB's crapola, and the feelings caused by seeing my
friend graduate at my old high school tonight. Just
dealing, really.
Dedicated to Hannah, and the DHS class of 2001…(even
though the class of 99 was better)
I stand up as the song begins to play.
My days at West Roswell High are over. My high school
days are gone. My days in Roswell itself will soon be
over.
I should be happy, like everybody else, bouncing up
and down at the fact that school is done, always and
forever.
I've just reached another turning point in my life,
and I'm not sure where to go.
I know about change. It's been a constant in my life.
My Dad left, that's a change. I found out that
aliens really existed in Roswell. I've been hunted by
the FBI. I've taken off for days, leaving my Mom
behind, just calling her on a cell phone to keep in
touch. I've been in love. I've had my heart broken.
I've buried one of my best friends. And I've seen my
best friends get on a spaceship and leave this Earth.
I know about change.
I'm all grown up now, but I still feel like a little
girl.
There were years that I missed, years that I didn't
really get to live. I didn't get to be your normal
teenage girl. I've had to face life and death, love
and loss, at an accelerated speed. My whole Senior
year has been spent recovering from the wounds that
Junior and Sophomore years left behind.
I'm walking following Gracie Cohen, who has decided to
overdose on the perfume today, apparently just for my
benefit.
But yet, I should be happy. This is a major
achievement, finishing High School. Now I can go on,
discover what I want to do, and who I want to be.
My blue graduation robe itches me on my arms. The
polyester is cheap, and it still smells of dry
cleaning.
The principal speaks, and then introduces Liz as the
Valedictorian. After Max left, she really didn't have
any competition.
Liz is talking about the stars, and how we should aim
for the stars as we travel on.
I stare up at the constellation we found so many years
ago. The Radish constellation. And I wonder, if they
can feel it on a planet far, far, away. If they know
that they should be up here, awaiting their diplomas,
just like me. That they should just be normal
teenagers, not rulers of a distant land.
Kyle, as Senior Class President, gets up and makes a
speech. He talks about the Class of 2002, about what
we've been through, what goals we have achieved. And
he urges us not to forget each other. He mentions
Alex, and I feel the pain creeping up in my chest.
Alex should walk tonight too. He talks about friends
that have recently moved away, and again, I see a wide
eyed shy alien, a prissy Ice Princess with a heart of
gold, and a smirky spaceboy who won my heart.
And then the names are called.
"Maria De Luca."
I have done it. I accept the folder with shaking
hands.
And in a flash, it is all over.
We throw our hats up into the air, and I throw mine so
that I can touch the stars with it.
Liz and Kyle run over and hug me, while the Parkers,
Mom, and Jim rush towards us.
Pictures are taken, freezing this moment in time.
It's the last time we will be all together.
Liz is following her dream and going to Harvard.
She's excited about the change, and can't wait to
experience life in Boston. I don't know how I'll get
by without her. Email and phones will help, but it
just won't be the same.
Kyle is going off to school as well. He's got a full
scholarship to the University of North Carolina,
because of his football and Baseball excellence. It
will be weird not to have good old Chia Head around
anymore, especially since I've gotten used to him,
well after our parents married, we kinda had to get
used to each other, or face dying in some horrible
swirlie accident.
Me?
I'm headed off to a small liberal arts college in
Alabama. I'm going to study music, and hope that my
talent can get me somewhere. Huntington College, here
I come.
Come August our lives will change.
We will all go to the airport, sniffling, with bags
and bags of crap, and kiss our parents goodbye.
And we will fly away on a ship, each taking us to fill
our destiny.
I will be brave.
I will carry on. I don't know how to do anything else
but.
It will be ok. In the end, it will all work out. I
have confidence in myself, something that's pretty
hard to find. At least for me- recently.
I look up at the stars and smile.
Yes, I miss them. I miss Max. I miss Isabel. And I
really, really, really, really miss Michael. I even
miss Tess.
But I'm going to take a cue from them.
I will leave this place in search of something more.
My destiny. The reality made for me. And when I find
it, I won't let it go.
Yet I'll enjoy this summer, enjoy spending the last
halcyon days I can with my best friends.
And then I'll grow up.
I laugh as Kyle picks both me and Liz up and twirls us
around.
And as the band strikes up Pomp and Circumstance
again, I smile.
This is not an end, but a beginning.