Ashley
Okay. Make the posters. They'll vote for me, of course they will. Class president of grade eight. Call Jimmy, go over his house, maybe kiss when his parents leave, if they're there at all. They're hardly ever there.
Toby
I, I won the computer thing. The programming thing, I kicked ass. But no one cares. Looking around at the kids, you know, they look bored. I guess it's boring. Then they announce the wrestling thing that Sean won and they're all clapping, animation coming back into their faces. I guess that got their attention.
Emma
So Mr. Simpson was over the house a lot. A lot. I saw the looks between him and my mom. And Manny danced with Craig at the dance and that proved one thing…he liked her and not me. So I was left out. My mom had Mr. Simpson and Manny had Craig and who did I have? No one, that's who.
Jimmy
I looked around the kitchen, at all the shiny appliances and all the expensive things. Everything was expensive. Maybe this would impress Ashley, but really, why would it? It wasn't me, it was my parents. They were the rich ones. And they were the ones who were never home. That's why I liked to hang out at Ash's place, sometimes.
Craig
My dad had come by the school and it just threw me, you know? I hadn't seen him in months. Then he just shows up. I sat on the edge of a desk in homeroom and listened to Ashley talk about how people could change, and talk about her and Paige having this fight but now they were giving each other a second chance. It wasn't the same. This situation with me and my dad, it wasn't the same at all.
Ashley
Europe. Again. I'd been to Europe before, I'd been to England. When I went then I was fleeing from Craig. I had to get away. Now I was going with him. It was all different. I guess maybe we'd both matured enough so that we could be together. Sometimes I thought the relationship was just a little too mature for us. We had to grow into it.
Toby
College awaited me, it was looming. I had my cap and gown rumpled on my dresser. So I graduated, finally. It was just one door closing so another could open. And here I was at J.T.'s grave, just to say goodbye. Goodbye, J.T. I wish you could have been here.
Emma
Why did I think graduating high school would bring with it some sort of wisdom? I was sharing this dorm room with this super hot guy and falling all over myself so that he could notice me, which he wasn't. Making a fool of myself for some hot guy, a guy who I didn't even know yet, that wasn't wisdom. Not by a long shot.
Jimmy
It's funny, when you're a kid you think your parents can do no wrong. Like they're the epitome of moral values and doing what's right. Yeah, right. My dad, cheating on my mother with that secretary? That is just beyond unbelievable.
Craig
Europe was cool. I liked being so far away. There was less to hold me down, in a way. Like, Joey was great and everything. I love him, him and Ang, and they were there for me and everything and I appreciate that. I really do. But I moved in with Joey when I was 14, I wasn't exactly a little kid. I was kind of on my own since then. My parents were both dead. So that kind of frees you, in a way. That family I had when I was a kid, my mom and dad, that family is just gone. There's nothing to go back to.