Thank you for the review Susana =] Hopefully this explains it.

Btw, i hope you can pronounce the names... here's a guide if not.
Cariad ; Carrie-add
Seren; seh-ren
Ieuan; Yigh-an


That night everyone slept soundly, although Chloe made sure to leave her door slightly open should Hannah need her.

Carrie opened her eyes and flapped her hand across to turn her alarm off for the sixth time that morning. It was 7:30am. As she rolled over to turn away from the clock she came face to face with two blue eyes staring into her brown eyes.

'Get up.' Hannah said matter of factly. She was glad that there hadn't been another repeat of the previous night and was happy that everything had gone back to normal. A little too normal however with Carrie sleeping in late. 'Even Chloe is awake and she's not graduating.'

Both Carrie and Hannah were graduating in the 10 o'clock ceremony. Despite taking different subjects, Hannah with biomedical science, and Carrie with nutrition, their classes were similar enough to share the occasion. They needed to pick their gowns up from the marquee at 9 so they and their guests would have to leave the house before then. Chloe was exceptionally excited about the prospect of a British graduation and they had managed to find 2 extra tickets so both she and Beca could attend.

'Urgh...' Carrie eventually sat up. She calculated that she probably had about an hour until her Mam arrived with her younger brothers.

She busied herself getting ready, doing her nails and putting on the dress (a green lacy one which she had chosen over a skype conversation with her Mam the night before). As she was just beginning to put her make up on the doorbell rang.

'Blast! I'm not ready!' She yelled. She saw Beca flicker past her door towards the front door.

'Don't worry it's my family.' She called as she spotted the outline of her older brother, cousin and aunt waiting on the doorstep. She opened the door with a smile.

'Oh Hannah! You look beautiful.' Her Aunt cried as she took in the sight of Hannah in her dress with her dark blonde hair falling naturally over her shoulders. She was barefoot still but her toenails were painted electric blue and matched the dress perfectly.

Hannah blushed and ushered them into the living room, saying hello to her cousin, Kathryn, and finally her brother, Ben. They wouldn't be spending long at the house so Hannah didn't worry about offering them drinks. She was glad that both her and Carries families were very laid back and so she wasn't worried about leaving Chloe and Beca with them during the ceremony.

She had just started making small talk when the doorbell rang again. Carrie shot past the lounge doorway and threw open the door.

'Hi Mam,' she called as she rushed back into her bedroom to finish her make up.

'Are you not ready yet!' Called a lilting welsh tone. A spitting image of Carrie only older poked her head into the living room. 'Hello Hannah, you look amazing.' She dragged a young boy into the room and introduced him as Morgan, Carrie's 7 year old brother. Behind him was an older teenage boy dressed in an oversized suit who introduced himself when prompted by a sharp dig in the ribs by his mothers elbow as Ieuan. Hannahs family introduced themselves and soon there was easy conversation flowing. It wasn't until Kathryn pointed it out that Hannah realised she wasn't quite ready, namely the lack of footwear. She excused herself and quickly made her way to her room to completely finish getting ready and make sure that Chloe and Beca were also ready to leave.

Not long after, Beca walked into Hannahs room and sat down on the bed. She was wearing smart trousers and a dark blue top. Hannah looked at her jealously, she'd much rather wear trousers than a dress.

'So what's the deal with you guys graduating now?' Beca enquired. She still hadn't quite got her head around the fact that Carrie and Hannah hadn't yet graduated and it was September.

'Well we have to wait for our results which is in July, then if there's any resits they're in August and then everyone who passed graduates now. Although different universities graduate at different times... some in July, some later.' Chloe had heard the end of their conversation and joined them.

'What about when you left high school, was that in September too?' Chloe asked the Brit, who was struggling to do up the buckle on her shoes.

Hannah stopped and looked at her with confusion across her face. 'What do you mean?'

'Your high school graduation... was it in September?' Chloe asked as she took over and fixed the stubborn strap on the silver shoes.

'Ohh, we didn't have a graduation when we left school.' Chloe and Beca looked up in shock.

'So when did you get your qualifications?'

'On results day in august. We just turned up, picked them up and went home... I got my certificates a while later though.'

'but what about celebrating and stuff!'

'When I left secondary school we had a leavers day where we dressed up in fancy dress and a t-shirt signing day. And there was a year 13 ball in sixth form just after exams, but that was it. We had no idea whether we'd passed or failed our A-levels or what University we'd got into until mid august.' Hannah shrugged her shoulders. She glanced into the mirror quickly to check that she looked presentable before leading Chloe and Beca out of her room to where her family were waiting.

They all head into town, walking in twos or threes and making chat about anything from the weather to holidays. Everyone was getting along brilliantly and the conversation flowed with ease. The group came to a set of traffic lights. Beca was talking to Hannah and her cousin nearer the front and barely noticed when they kept walking straight across the road.

Chloe however saw that the light for pedestrians was red and even though the road was clear she hesitated. She glanced to her side and saw a policeman walking towards them. She panicked and stood stock still. Everyone else continued to cross and she was left on the other side of the normally busy road.

Carrie looked back to see where the redhead who she was talking to had disappeared to. She frowned when she saw her waiting on the kerb next to the lights. Despite her beckoning she only crossed when the lights were red for the traffic.

'What was that all about?' Carrie enquired.

'Did you not see the policeman? You were all jaywalking right infront of him!' Chloe said with her eyes wide. Carrie stared at Chloe for a second or two until she clicked what jaywalking meant.

Then she burst out laughing. Rushing ahead to make up the lost ground to Hannah she yelled; 'Chloe thought she was going to be arrested for jaywalking.'

Everyone turned around with various degrees of amusement on their faces except for Carries youngest brother who wore an expression of confusion. Chloe's face turned as red as her hair.

'The policeman was right there.' She gestured to her left vaguely. She looked to Beca for some assistance but saw she too was smirking.

'Remember what I told you about the different laws over here...' Beca trailed off as Chloe cottoned on to where Beca was going with this. Before they left America they had researched the laws which are different from the UK to America. There were the obvious ones like lower drinking age and strong limits on guns but there were also those which meant that Beca had fished Chloes mace out of her handbag to be left in the USA.

'Oh yeah...' She said, then seeing an opportunity to distract the attention away from herself pointed at the sight which had just materialised as they rounded the corner. There on the Hoe overlooking the ocean was a beautiful white marquee surrounded by people milling about in suits and robes and smart dresses. 'Wow' She said. Everyone stopped and took in the view too. The sun was shining bright over the ripples of the waves and the grass seemed even brighter green than normal, contrasting perfectly with the brilliant blue sky. The red and white of the Smeatons tower lighthouse just finished off the scene beautifully.

As soon as they entered the marquee Hannah was dragged off by Carrie to get 'gowned up' as she put it. Despite her reservations throughout the day Hannah was actually looking forward to the occasion. She pulled on the heavy black robes before a lady put the blue and orange hood around her neck. Unlike American graduation robes, they were not fastened leaving their dresses still visible. On the other side of the room she could see Carrie going through the same thing with a wide smile plastered over her face. It was infectious and a smile creeped onto Becas face too as she waited for the hood to be secured to her shoulders and the front of her dress. The point of the hood rested on her chest and the v carried over her shoulders and trailed down her back. Finally she was handed her mortar board hat which fitted snugly. She quickly stole a glance in the mirror and barely recognised herself. It was a very different look from her usual jeans and hoodie.

She waited for Carrie to finish her final touches before they returned to their families. As they walked towards them there were gasps and smiles and the click of cameras greeting them. Chloe was positively bouncing up and down in excitement. After they had all posed for photographs with each other, Ben gently steered Hannah away from the group.

'We're all really proud of you.' Ben looked at his sister. While they had spent many years apart since he had left at 18, they remained very close.

'I know.' Hannah replied. She smiled up at him. He had been the constant throughout her life and she knew if it weren't for him, her aunt and her cousin she wouldn't have made it through the 3 years of undergraduate studies. They stood awkwardly for a little bit before Ben laughed and pulled her into a quick hug. As they pulled apart they saw a few people beginning to move into the graduation hall.

'Let's do this.' He said with a smile guiding her back to their group. Carrie and Hannah each took their tickets from their family members and Chloe gave them both a quick hug before they parted and sat in their designated seats.

Carrie looked down at her ticket and turned it over to the instructions for what to do. She turned to her course mate and pointed to the middle one; -hold your hands as in prayer.

'what does that mean?' She asked.

'I have no idea... I'm just going to watch and find out.' She replied. They both laughed before quickly quietening down as the music started up.

The ceremonial mace was carried in followed by all the lecturers and professors in the bright multicoloured gowns, each indicating their location and level of degree. There were purple and blue, gold and red and orange and blue. They took their seats on the stage and there were several speeches by members of staff from each of their heads of school. Then the student names were begun to be read out one by one. Carrie spotted Hannah stood near to side of the stage edging forward with each student passing.

'Hannah Louise Richardson'

She walked forwards, held her hands together as the chancellor surrounded them with his own. He spoke a few words which were lost over the sound of applause, before she made her way to the other side of the stage, collected her certificate from her head of course and carefully made her way down the steps. As she came back around to take her seat a few rows infront of Carrie, she gave a big smile and mouthed the words 'I didn't fall over!'.

Soon it was Carries turn and she was ushered up towards the side of the stage.

'Cariad Seren Evans'

Like Hannah had before her, she crossed the stage, was congratulated by the chancellor, picked up her certificate and made her way back to the seat.

She looked down at the certificate which showed BSc(hons) after her name and smiled and she gently traced her finger over the name. This was what the 3 years had all been for, and she was so glad she was continuing in academia, this was a feeling she didn't want to lose.

Once everyone had collected their degree the students filled out between their lecturers and professors who were clapping and congratulating them.

The graduate reception gave everyone a chance to catch up with old friends and discuss their future options over champagne.

As everyone began to leave Beca managed to find both Hannah and Carrie and drag them off towards the lighthouse.

'Come on, one last photo.' She said. 'Right throw your hats up on three.'

Carrie and Hannah looked at each other and shared the same joyous grin.

'Three!' Chloe called and they both threw their hats sky high.


Okay, so I know the end is rubbish. Feeling pretty rubbish at the moment so for me to even get the motivation to write this chapter was something. Please review, it makes all the world of difference, it properly puts a smile on my face, something I've not had a lot of recently. =]