I had finally done it. After so many long years of all the suffering, hard work, drama, tears and everything that ever happened from kindergarten until now; I had finally made it past one of the hardest parts of any wolf's life. I finally graduated from High school.
All the High school drama was at an end. No more dealing with bullies at school, or having to worry about any classes. I was finally free from the hellish prison that is called school.
I had suffered so much in high school. So many things happened to me, a lot good but there was still a lot of terrible things that transpired during my high school years. And it didn't even start there, it started way back in middle school. Luckily, I was able to overcome most of those obstacles and keep myself moving forward. And in doing so, I did so many great things. I made great memories with even greater wolves. I made bonds with others that could not be broken. Even though I did leave, I knew that of I ever returned that they would welcome me back with open paws.
Even of it was really hard for me to move away from all of my friends, I think it was the best thing that I could have done. If I didn't then I wouldn't have met all these other amazing wolves.
Each and every one of them have given me some sort of help in their own unique ways, and I could be happier. My friends from Jasper and from Seattle will always have a special place in my heart. All of them have helped me get through hard times and I don't know where I would be without them. Probably dead I presume.
I had graduated as one of the top wolves in my class, finishing with a 3.9 average. My friends coming in close behind me, at least most of them.
The ceremony of the graduates had just gotten over. Everyone was now just trying to find friends and family, receiving their congratulations from them. I was looking for Cole and Marry at this point in time. I owed the two of them so much. They took me in their protection at my time of need. So many things could have gone wrong if I hadn't of decided to stay with them. They looked after me, they comforted me when I was having my little meltdowns. I never thought I would think of them as any more than just my friends parents. But now I considered them to be family.
I finally spotted the two of them and made my way over to the two of them. When they saw me, they smiled widely. I got over to them and flung my arms around them.
"We're so proud of you Humphrey. We may have only known you for a short amount of time but in that time we've seen you come so far from when you first knocked on our door. You are such a good kid." Cole explained to me.
"I'm just glad that you two put up with me for this long." I chuckled, making them do the same.
"Let's get out if here before traffic gets out of control. We need to hurry and get over to Reese's for the party." Marry said while ushering us to the car.
The three of us went to the car and started heading over to Reese's. I sat in in the back of the car, lost in my own thought. For quite some time I had something planned for what I was going to do after High school. I just don't know how the others would react. But I didn't want to worry about that right now. I had a party to go to and enjoy.
We pulled up to the house and made our way over to the front door. The door was already opened so we just walked right in. When we did we immediately heard the sounds of talking and laughing coming from another room. We walked into the kitchen and we're greeted by everyone else. All of my friends and there families were here.
"Finally, with the arrival of our last guests, we can start. But first I'd just like to say something to our graduates." Reese's dad started. "On behalf of all your parents, we would like to congratulate all of you on your accomplishments. High School is not an easy thing as all of you know, and to finish like you all did is a great thing. So the last thing I'd like to say before we go off and do our own things is that we all wish each and everyone of you good luck in wherever life may take you."
There was a small cheer from everyone there then the adults and the younger adults all went and did their separate things. We started off by just going out to the back yard and hanging out back there.
We all messed around, playing some games that we would play as pups. I guess it was the last time we could truly act like pups. The last time we could act like fools. At least without getting looked at like we were idiots. We were all technically adults now, we all held responsibility now.
It didn't take long for the sun to start and set on this magnificent day. We all gathered around a fire pit that was in the middle of the backyard. We all had settled down and were now just chilling and talking. It didn't take much time before the topic of our future plans came up.
"I'm planning on being a psychologist." Ammy spoke out.
Reese looked over at her with an amused smile. "You'd be really good at it." He complimented. "As for me, I think being a doctor will best suit me."
After that everyone went down telling what they planned to be. It was really cool being able to here all the things that my friends wanted to do. Some of them required going to a couple years of college, while the others really just had to find a way to do it and they would be able too. Eventually, it came full circle and ended on me. Everyone was staring at me, waiting to here what I wanted to do with my life. This was the perfect time to tell them of the news.
"I'm actually planning on doing a bit of traveling. You know, tour around the country." I told them. which in return got me a lot of skeptical looks.
"How are you going to pay for that?" Ammy asked me. "You need a job."
I held back a little smile. 'Oh, if only you knew.' i thought to myself.
"I'll do some side jobs. Get work where I can." I lied to them. In reality i had enough money to last me a life time without ever having to work a day in my life again.
"I guess that's pretty cool. When do you plan on leaving." Mooch asked.
"Tomorrow, at the crack of dawn." That's what I knew would freak them out.
"What? Tomorrow?" Reese nearly shouted. "Why are you leaving tomorrow?"
"Listen, I've been planning on doing this for some time now. I just feel like its something that I have to do. Going across the country, meeting knew people, seeing all sorts of cool things, that's what i want to do with my life for now. Maybe take some online college courses, I don't know about that yet. But i do plan on doing a lot of things." I explained to them. I could tell by the looks in there eyes that they were still skeptical about the idea.
"Well it's your life Humphrey, so I guess I have to respect your choices. I may not like them, but I'll respect them." Ammy said, showing her support. Once she said that the others all caved in to my idea for what I was going to do.
"Thanks you guys, your support really means a lot to me." I told them.
"No problem. You're our friend and we'll support you in most things that you do." Reese said to me.
I smiled, I had such great friends. How I got them was a miracle. I could have never even met these guys. I could have been lonely again throughout High School. I don't know if I would have made it through it with out these guys. Luckily, i did have the pleasure of getting to know them and of becoming their friend.
Just at that moment the voice of Marry called to me, telling me it was time to go. I got up and gave each of my friends one last good bye hug. It was hard on me and very emotional. Tears were welling up in my eyes. The last person I came to was Reese, my best friend from here.
"Well, I guess this is good bye for now." I said while breaking away from the hug.
"Yah, I guess so. Just promise me that you'll come back and find us. I don't want this to be the last time we see each other." He told me.
I chuckled, "Don't worry, I'll be back again sometime in the future." and with that, I left. It was the last I saw of them. I haven't been back yet. I hope to go back and visit sometime. Catch up with some old friends.
When I left, I met Cole and Marry in the car. They looked back at me and saw that I had been crying.
"Are you OK?" Cole asked.
I nodded my head. "Yah, I was just saying good bye to everyone."
"Then why are you crying? You'll see them again in probably a couple of days." Marry pointed out.
"I'm not so sure about that." That's when I took the time and explained to them what I was going to do. They seemed a little skeptical like the others, but in the end they told me that they were glad that I had found something that I wanted to do.
"It's your life Humphrey, you live it however you want to." Cole told me. I thanked the both of them.
In the time it took to talk about that, we had just pulled into the driveway of the house. When we did, we all noticed that the lights in the house were on. I smiled to myself, there would be only one person here. I saw Cole and Marry exchange a smile before rushing into the house, with me close behind them. I loved when he came by to visit.
By the time that i caught up with the two older wolves, they had made it to the TV room and were hugging none other than my best friend, McCabe. I smiled when I saw them all together. They were all so happy and I was glad that they all were. But then I was taken over by a feeling jealousy and longing. Yes, the two of them had treated me so kindly, but they were nothing like Earl. Seeing them all happy together reminded me about all the good times Earl and I had with each other. I decided I would leave them be and let them catch up. I left to my room and figured that I should start packing for tomorrow.
I was in there for about half an hour before before i heard a knock on the door. I was almost done packing up all my stuff that i had previously brought here, Which in all honesty wasn't that much. Mostly it was just a bunch of cloths. All my other belongings were back in Jasper at my house. I told the person who knocked on my door to come in and in walked my best friend ever, McCabe. We said nothing to each other and just brought ourselves into a big hug. After that he broke off and looked around the room.
"So I see that your leaving. Where you going?" He asked.
"Going to travel around the States, see where the road takes me." I told him.
He nodded. He didnt seem fazed at all that I was abandoning this place to go around the country all on my own. He actually seemed kind of amused by it.
"I thought you might do this eventually." He stated. I was taken back by this. There was no way he would ever have been able to know about this. I hadn't even made my final decision about it until last week.
"I mean, what else would a wolf with tons of money do after High School."
"How do you know about that." I asked quickly.
"Humphrey, I work deep in the government, I know a lot of things." he told me. I just brushed that off to the side. I wasn't going to get into his work, i didn't want anything to do with any of that stuff. I just wanted to enjoy the company of my friend that I rarely get to see anymore.
"The real reason I actually wanted to come here was to congratulate you on graduating. I snuck away from everyone just to be here."
He was such a crazy son of a bitch. Going out of his way to congratulate me, knowing that he was going to get in trouble. Of course, that's exactly why he's so awesome.
"So I'm guessing that you have to leave pretty soon?" I asked. In which he nodded his head. He stated that he was going to leave right after he congratulated me. I thanked him for stopping by, then giving him another hug. He gave me a little two finger salute, then he left me alone in my room. With him gone and my whole future ahead of me, there was only one thought on my mind. This was going to be one crazy adventure.
END OF FLASHBACK
Finally, after taking up most of the day with my really long story, I was coming to my closing statement. I had spoken this story so many times before in my life on the road. Yet, none of those times compared to the amount of emotion I felt when talking about it to all these wolves in my old school. I didn't know why this place made me feel the way I did. Maybe it was familiar location, or maybe it was all the familiar wolves here who I knew. It didn't matter the reason, this was probably the best put of all the times I had ever told it. Now it was time to get to the conclusion of the story.
"Obviously I did travel the US and met so many great wolves, and made some great memories. Over time I ran into all these wolves up here on this stage today and we made this group who go across the continent telling a lot of wolves about how they were miserable. Your probably wondering what any of this means, and why we are telling any of you this. The answer is this, there is a common theme among all these stories and that is friendship and overcoming your own demons. Everyone, no matter who you are, has problems weather you will admit to it or not. You may feel that you are able to overcome these problems all by yourself, that you are strong enough to defeat your own problems. But i have seen the strongest of wolves fall to so many bad things of this world. I was almost one of the lost ones; fortunately, I was saved. I was taken in by great wolves who gave me one of the greatest, most powerful things in this world, friendship. Without my friends I would most likely be long dead. If you are to take anything out from anything I, or anyone else has spoken about is that if you are going through a really tough time in your life, go to your friends and they will help you, and if they don't then you need to find a better friend. Just remember that only with the help of others will we be able to survive this game we call life."
With that I was finally done. And then one by one the students started to stand up and applaud and cheer. I still don't know if they do it because they actually liked what we told them, or if they do it for the hell of it. I guess it doesn't really matter. I scanned around the auditorium with a slight smile. That's until my eyes went to the back doors. There stood all of my friends, except for Jordan. I smiled brightly as they waved to me, and I waved back. This definitely was the best speech I had ever given.