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Chapter 3: To Fake a Smile
Tsubaki smiled to herself in her mirror as she adjusted her dark blue graduation gown and cap.
'Today's finally the big day! I can't believe by the end of today, Maka and I will be able to say we're high school graduates!'
Tsubaki walked over to her dresser and pulled out a blue heart shaped necklace that would match perfectly with her gown.
Just as Tsubaki was about to close her dresser, she suddenly noticed an old photo on her desk.
Tsubaki picked up the photo and upon closer inspection, realized it was a photo of her and Mifune taken about 2 years ago.
Tsubaki frowned as she felt a familiar tightness grow in her chest. 'Has it really already been 2 years now? If only we hadn't gone out that day, you could still be here with me attending my graduation…'
Tsubaki felt her eyes start to water and immediately wiped her tears away when she heard a knock at her door.
"Tsubaki, are you almost ready? We have to be at the assembly hall by 9:30!" Maka called out from behind the door.
Tsubaki quickly set the frame down and opened her door to greet Maka.
"Sorry I took so long. I'm ready now!" Tsubaki said with a smile.
Maka noticed the smile Tsubaki was giving her didn't seem to reach her eyes and frowned.
"Are you alright Tsubaki?" Maka inquired in concern.
"Yes, I'm just a feeling a bit of anxiety and nervousness for graduating that's all." Tsubaki lied.
Maka didn't seem to believe her, but eventually smiled and nodded her head in agreement.
"Don't worry; I'm a bit on edge too, but we're both in this together!" Maka piped up cheerfully.
Tsubaki nodded her head and with that, the two of them headed out the doors.
At the assembly hall, Maka and Tsubaki met up with all of their friends and happily took a few pictures together with them before they were told to line up.
"What are you guys planning to do after the ceremony?" Ox Ford whispered to Maka and Tsubaki from behind them.
"We're going to Kid's graduation party at his house of course." Maka replied back easily.
"Oh, we're going to head over there also! Maybe we'll see you there then." Jacqueline said excitedly from behind them.
A couple of minutes later, the procession started for the students to walk into the stadium. The whole center was packed with spectators for each person graduating, flashes of cameras and cheers echoing throughout the area.
"I didn't expect to see the area be this packed. Especially since we were only allowed 5 guests per person." Maka mumbled under her breathe, as she took her seat, trying to tune out her father's yelling in the distance.
Maka sighed as she looked down her row. Even though both she and Tsubaki were honor students, they still had to be in alphabetical order and that meant she was stuck sitting next to Kid and Ox Ford.
"Hey Maka, don't trip when you finally get on stage!" Ox Ford teasingly stated next to her.
Maka scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You should be more concerned about yourself than me."
Maka took a quick glance towards her left and saw Kid gazing at the stage in slight apprehension.
"Are you alright Kid? You look a little bit tense." Maka whispered to him.
Kid turned towards her and managed to give her a weak smile. "I'm alright. I'm just ready to get my speech over with. I've never spoken to an audience this big after all."
Maka gave him a warm smile and nodded her head. "I'm sure you'll be fine. I did proofread it for you after all."
Kid nodded his head and smiled a bit more confidently now. "True, you did do that for me. Thanks for that, it's been such a hectic week for me finishing up finals, making this valedictorian speech, and planning for the party."
Maka blushed slightly and internally grinned at how easy it was beginning to get again for her to talk to Kid.
'And best of all, Liz is sitting too far away from us to cause any interruptions.' Maka added as an afterthought with a smirk.
~X~
"Hey Man; get up! We're going to be late if you sleep any longer!" Black Star yelled out, as he banged on Soul's door.
Soul growled and rubbed his red eyes drowsily. "What the hell is he talking about?" Soul muttered under his breathe, as he glanced at his nearby alarm clock.
The alarm clock was currently flashing the time as 11:00 am.
Soul glanced at it for a second before realizing to his shock that they needed to meet at the assembly hall at 11:30 before the ceremony started at 12.
Soul quickly hopped out of bed and grabbed his maroon graduation gown and cap and rapidly headed into his bathroom to brush his teeth and apply some body spray to mask any foul odors.
"Damn it Black Star! Why didn't you wake me up earlier!?" Soul snapped out, once they were both finally out of the apartment and driving towards their school.
Black Star shrugged his shoulders and let out a yawn as he turned at a stoplight. "I tried banging on your door like 3 times. It's not my fault you were pretty much knocked out and didn't hear me."
Soul sighed and took a brief glance at his watch. "Well it's a good thing we don't live that far away from the school."
Black Star let out a laugh and leaned back into the driver's seat. "Since when have you ever cared about being early to any place?"
"I wouldn't care so much if it weren't for the fact that being 5 to 10 minutes late could cause us to not get our diplomas." Soul grumbled, as he thought back to what Principal Azusa had told him the other day.
Black Star eventually got to their school by about 11:25 and pulled into a parking space. As they both stepped out of the car, Black Star stretched his arms out as he snapped his fingers, remembering something he needed to tell Soul.
"Oh yeah before I forget, some guys are throwing a grad party at the park after the ceremony ends. Did you want to stop by?"
Soul shrugged as he adjusted the cap on his head. "Do we know any of them?"
Black Star thought it over for a minute before nodding his head. "We should see some familiar faces. Plus, it's an opportunity to get some free food."
Soul chuckled a bit and shook his head. "I guess it's cool with me. It's not like we have anything better to do."
Getting lined up for the assembly seemed to be an impossible task to accomplish. Many of the students were not paying attention and were mainly just goofing around with their friends until Azusa's voice broke through the crowds.
"Alright everyone, settle down and line up! You have already heard the rules regarding what you can and can't do, so let's make this graduation go smoothly!" Azusa stated firmly.
Everyone quieted down and properly lined up and a few minutes later were properly seated.
Soul sighed as he took a sweeping glance around at who was sitting next to him. At least he didn't have to deal with Blair being by him.
Unfortunately though, Soul could sense somewhere in the crowds the eyes of his brother and parents watching him as the ceremony began to start.
~X~
"And now we present to you: Death City High's graduation class of 2014! Congratulations!" Principal Death shouted out as the class threw their graduation caps in the air.
Maka cheered and gave a quick hug and pat on the back to the people sitting next to her before following her row out of the stadium and back outside to where most of their family and guests were waiting for them.
"Maka, Papa is so happy you crossed this big milestone today!" Spirit cried out cheerfully as he approached Maka from the crowds.
Maka sighed and rolled her eyes as she reluctantly gave into the hug Spirit wanted to give her just as Tsubaki came up to them as well.
"Tsubaki, I'm proud of you to! You two both worked so hard to get where you are today!" Spirit stated, as he also gave Tsubaki a hug.
Tsubaki smiled and happily accepted the hug as she took in the lively atmosphere surrounding them.
"So what are your plans for today? Did you guys still want to have dinner later on?" Spirit asked.
Maka shrugged and was tempted to say that they had new plans when suddenly Tsubaki spoke up for her.
"We can still go. The only plans we had was to attend a small party at Kid's house for lunch and then relax a bit at home." Tsubaki related.
Maka frowned and gave Tsubaki a side glance that silently asked her why she had told him all of that.
"You're going to Kid's house? Well tell him I said hello!" Spirit said cheerfully.
"Also, what time did you guys want to meet by the way? I can make reservations at that fancy new Italian restaurant." Spirit added in.
"6 pm is fine." Maka grumbled in a bored manner as her father nodded his head in agreement and walked off to talk to the other faculty.
"Why did you tell him we were going to Kid's house? Now he's going to try and ask me questions about my love life!" Maka questioned with a pout.
Tsubaki shrugged as she watched Maka's father disappear further from their view. "It's not that big of a deal really. Besides, we're just going to Kid's house for a friendly gathering, right?"
Maka's cheeks reddened as she nodded her head. "Let's go home and get changed then. It's already almost noon now."
After Maka and Tsubaki changed into some casual wear, they both headed towards Kid's mansion and were greeted by Principal Death at the door.
"Hi Maka and Tsubaki! I assume you're here for Kid's party, right? It's in the backyard, just head straight down." He explained happily.
They both smiled and followed his directions straight down the hall into the backyard where the music was blasting.
Maka's eyes widened as she took in the huge groups of students hanging around the area. The whole backyard was decorated with the schools colors of Death City High which was blue and white. Blue and white streamers were tied to each of the chairs and even the desserts on the food table had a graduation theme to them.
"Did some of these students go to Death City High?" Maka whispered to Tsubaki, as she grabbed a water bottle from a nearby cooler.
Tsubaki shrugged and shook her head. "I don't think so, but it is possible we just never really saw them or that they are friends of Kid's that went to a different school."
At the mention of Kid, Maka's heart sped up as she looked around the crowds for him. 'That's right. Kid said he did have something important he wanted to tell me. I wonder where he is…'
Tsubaki watched Maka search around for Kid before letting out a sigh. "You can go look for Kid if you really want to find him."
Maka turned her attention back towards Tsubaki and shook her head. "I don't want to just leave you alone."
Tsubaki pointed towards where Kim and the others were. "I'll just hang out with them for a bit. But don't forget what I told you about not getting your hopes up."
Maka frowned and let out a pout before nodding her head and walking off in the opposite direction to try and find Kid.
~X~
"Soul, could you at least please try to smile in one of these pictures? I took off work for this you know." Soul's father grunted out as he browsed through the group photos they had just taken.
'Nobody forced you to come here though.' Soul thought with a growl, as he forced himself to crack a smile for the sake of not having to hear his father complain any longer.
"Finally, at least this one of these photos came out decent. By the way Soul, how come you didn't graduate honors? If I remember correctly, when Wes was in high school he graduated in the Top 10% of his class." Soul's mother asked.
Soul shrugged and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "That would have taken too much effort I guess."
Soul's father narrowed his eyes at that statement. "Don't get smart with your mother now! Maybe if you actually tried like your brother Wes does, we wouldn't be so hard on you. It's a surprise that you even graduated at all with the grades and attitude that you have."
Soul uttered a curse under his breathe and turned away from his parents. "I'm going to go find Black Star now."
Wes sighed as he watched his brother leave without another word while their parents shook their heads in dismay.
"I'll go after him." Wes stated, as he trailed after his brother into the swarm of students.
Black Star had been taking some silly photos with his friends and Sid when he noticed Soul come up to him.
"Hey man, I thought you were still taking some pictures with your family." Black Star asked, as he greeted Soul with their usual high-five and handshake.
Soul shrugged and shook his head. "I'm tired of hearing their complaining. Let's head over to that party at the park you were talking about earlier."
Black Star frowned and looked behind Soul. "It seems like your bro still wants to talk to you though."
Soul sighed and turned around to face his brother. Wes said nothing as he looked Soul up and down with a smile.
"Congrats on graduating. You've crossed a big milestone today." Wes said with a grin.
"Yeah, thanks I guess." Soul muttered tiredly, he didn't honestly need compliments from his brother to feel better.
"Don't let what Mom and Dad said get to you. You know they only just want the best for you." Wes continued on.
Soul frowned and took off his cap to wipe away the sweat that was beginning to form from just standing still in the sun.
"They don't want what's best for me. They want what's best for you." Soul hissed out.
"You don't really believe that, do you?" Wes asked, quirking an eyebrow at his tone.
Soul only nodded his head and turned away from his brother. "I'm going to get going now. There's a grad party at the park that's already starting to begin."
As Soul started to walk away though, Wes reached his hand out and touched Soul's shoulder in order to get him to stop.
"Okay, this isn't just about our parents is it? This is also about what happened between me and Blair, right?"
Soul flinched for a second, but said nothing as he remained facing backwards towards his brother.
Wes sighed when Soul chose not to respond. "How many times do I have to tell you that it was Blair who came onto me? You just came in at the wrong time and assumed the worse."
Soul felt his hands tighten into fists as he brushed Wes's hand off of him. "True, maybe you didn't do anything to provoke that situation. But the fact still stands that once Blair came onto you, you didn't do anything to stop her."
As Soul finished his statement, he started to walk away again back towards Black Star's car without looking back to see Wes's facial expression.
'I really need to hurry up and find a place to go to this summer. There's no way in hell I'll be able to tolerate spending a whole summer around my family if today is anything to go by…'
X~
Maka had been endlessly wandering the halls of Kid's mansion when she finally got a glimpse of him further down the hall.
Maka's eyes lit up in excitement as she began to walk up to him before she realized he was currently talking to Liz and backed away from out of their view.
'Oh no, this is just like a few months ago when Kid revealed he had feelings for Liz…'
"Liz, I wanted to give you this as a graduation present." Kid stated, as he handed Liz a small gift wrapped present.
Liz smiled and shook her head. "You didn't have to do that Kid! You've already done so much for Patty and I. We should be the ones giving you a gift."
Kid shook his head. "And you've done so much for me also. Having this graduation party in general was a huge turning point for me, especially since everything isn't as symmetrical as I would like it to be."
Liz grinned and sighed as Kid forced the gift into her hands. Liz carefully opened it up and revealed a matching pair of sky blue earrings.
"Oh, this is beautiful Kid! I can't accept these!" Liz cried out.
Kid smiled and laughed lightly. "It's fine Liz. Consider it a thank you present for helping me out with my OCD issues and being understanding and patient with me."
Liz blushed and pulled Kid into a hug. "Thank you so much Kid! Ah, um I'm going to go check on Patty and make sure she's not causing any trouble." Liz explained hastily as she headed back downstairs to the party.
Maka watched as Liz left and felt her stomach churn uncomfortably. 'I shouldn't be here. All of I've been doing is constantly eavesdropping on their conversations and foolishly believing that maybe the feelings they have for each other weren't real. Tsubaki was right…'
As Maka tried to quietly slip back into the hallway, Kid suddenly directed his golden eyes towards hers.
Maka's eyes widened in shock as their eyes met until Kid eventually gave her a warm smile.
"I'm sorry Kid; I was just wondering where you were! I didn't mean to listen in on your conversation." Maka related to him nervously and quickly.
Kid shook his head and held his hand out towards Maka.
Maka glanced at it for a second before sighing and allowing Kid to guide her to a nearby bench.
"How long were you standing there?" Kid asked quietly, after a few seconds had passed.
"Ah not very long, maybe for just a minute or two." Maka muttered, still feeling ashamed over being caught.
Kid sighed and nodded his head. "Do you remember how I said there were still things we needed to talk about and settle?
Maka nodded her head. "If it's about how I've been acting around Liz and Patty then I can-"
"You and I both know that's not what we have to talk about." Kid stated, cutting Maka off.
Maka sighed and took a deep breath in and out as she tried to calm her racing heart and thoughts.
"Kid, I still have feelings for you and I never stopped having them even after we broke up." Maka said shakily.
Kid smiled a bit. "I know Maka."
Maka frowned and looked away with a sigh. "But you love Liz now, right?"
Kid rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well love is a strong word, but I do have very deep feelings for her."
Maka nodded her head in understanding and was about to stand up to leave when Kid gently grabbed her hand.
"Maka, what are your plans for the summer?" Kid suddenly asked.
Maka looked confused for a moment before speaking up. "Tsubaki and I wanted to possibly go on a summer long trip to Europe, why do you ask?"
"I was curious about your summer plans, but that sounds like a nice idea. Can you promise me that you'll do something for me while you're on your trip?" Kid asked.
Maka squirmed a bit at the thought of what Kid wanted her to do until he spoke up again.
"Maka I want you to be happy. I know it might sound cliché, but I want you to find happiness not only with yourself, but with someone else maybe. I loved the times I spent with you Maka and I'll always treasure you as my first love, but we've drifted apart and if we got back together, our busy lives would only drive us even further away from each other."
Maka bit her lip as she felt tears begin to slip down her cheeks. "I've only felt my happiest when I was with you Kid."
Kid shook his head and gently wiped Maka's tears away. "That's not true Maka. I know you have a hard time trusting and believing in guys, but I'm sure I'm not the only guy out there that can make you happy."
Maka sniffed, but eventually gave Kid her usual determined look that she was known for. "It won't be easy, but I'll try."
Kid nodded his head and gave Maka a gentle kiss on the forehead. "Well, I should get going back to the party, don't forget what I said."
Maka nodded her wistfully as she watched Kid leave and head down the stairs.
'That really was our final goodbye to each other.' Maka thought to herself, as she searched the crowds again for Tsubaki.
It only took a few minutes for Maka to find Tsubaki looking uncomfortable as a random guy tried to flirt with her.
Maka came up to the two of them and tapped Tsubaki on the shoulder. "Are you ready to go?"
Tsubaki turned around and looked surprised to see Maka. Tsubaki quickly noticed how fatigued Maka looked, the faint remnants of tear stains still on her cheeks.
Tsubaki smiled supportively and lightly patted her on shoulder. "Yeah, let's get out of here."
~X~
Soul groaned as another girl tried to come onto him that he had to end up shoving away.
"Everyone at this damn park is drunk!" Soul growled out as, he took a glance at his watch.
The graduation ceremony had ended at around 2 pm and now it was already close to 4.
Soul frowned as he searched around for Black Star and eventually found him in the middle of an arm wrestling match that he ended up winning.
Black Star turned towards Soul and grinned wickedly. "Hey, I just earned myself a quick 50 bucks challenging all these fools who thought they could beat me!"
Soul shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention back towards the exit.
"I'm going to head home now." Soul stated with a yawn.
Black Star looked annoyed and shook his head. "Dude, why do you always want to leave parties early? That's not 'cool' as you would say."
Soul frowned and looked over to Black Star's side at the people who could barely stand or were vomiting into trash cans.
"Yeah, because this party is so great, right?" Soul asked sarcastically.
"Anyways, I want to go home to actually research some place to go for the summer." Soul continued on.
"Oh, did you actually come up with a good idea?" Black Star asked curiously.
Soul nodded his head. "It's has to be some place far away from here. I was thinking Europe…"
"Sounds fine with me; how are we going to pay for it? Are you going to 'borrow' some of your dad's credit cards?" Black Star asked with a smirk, as they got back into his car.
Soul grinned at the thought of doing that, but shook his head. "It would be too suspicious if I used his. I have enough money saved up in the bank and I can use my own credit cards that they gave me."
Once Black Star and Soul were back in their apartment, Soul took out his laptop and began looking up places.
"There are a lot of countries in Europe. We need to pick one as our main destination where we will stay at most of the time." Soul explained, as he browsed a travel website.
Soul gazed over a map of Europe before coming up with an idea. "How about Spain? They have some really nice beaches and plenty of stuff to do there."
Black Star shrugged his shoulders. "I like the idea of that. I've never really tried authentic Spanish cuisine either."
"Alright then. I'm going to start looking up hotels and villas in the Barcelona area then." Soul replied back.
~X~
Maka sighed as she struggled through dinner with her Dad. After leaving Kid's party, Maka and Tsubaki had taken a short nap at home before having to get back up again to meet with her dad. While Tsubaki was rather good at hiding any negative emotions she felt, Maka still had trouble not letting her anger or sadness show on her face, which didn't go unnoticed by her dad.
"Are you alright Maka? You haven't eaten much of the spaghetti that you ordered." Spirit asked worriedly, as he watched Maka pick at her food.
Maka sighed and nodded her head. "I'm fine Papa; I'm just a little tired from everything that happened today is all."
Spirit breathed a small sigh of relief as he realized he hadn't done anything wrong to upset her again.
"Um, do you two have any summer plans? This is your final summer before you guys head off to college after all." Spirit stated, hoping to try and bring up a happier topic.
Tsubaki nodded her head. "Maka and I wanted to plan a summer long trip to someplace in Europe."
Spirit perked his head in interest at this. "What country were you guys thinking of going to?"
"We don't know yet. I'm still checking out what each country has to offer." Maka said simply.
"Have you guys thought about Spain possibly? I know an old colleague of mine named Stein who lives over there with his wife in Barcelona." Spirit related.
"Is this the same Professor Stein you've told me about that you went to school with that liked to dissect and experiment on wild animals?" Maka asked.
Spirit grimaced a bit at the memory before nodding his head. "I'm sure he and his wife wouldn't mind taking you around and showing you to some of the sites at least. They're both pretty fluent in Spanish also, which I'm sure would come in handy."
Maka leaned over to Tsubaki to whisper her suggestion. "What do you think Tsubaki? I think Spain does have a lot pretty architecture and attractions."
Tsubaki nodded her and quietly whispered back. "And I bet they have plenty of cute single Spanish guys too!"
Maka blushed slightly and giggled at Tsubaki's joking.
"What are you two laughing about?" Spirit asked curiously, trying to listen in on their conversation.
Maka only shook her head and turned her attention back towards her dad. "We were just thinking about your suggestion and we like it. Tonight we'll start looking up some hotels or villas nearby Barcelona!"
~x~
This ends Chapter 3! Let me know what you think with a review and as always thanks for reading!
