2.36: College Graduation
Friday, May 4th, 2012

Abigail arrived at Salem University and grabbed a commencement program on her way to meet up with the other graduates. It was her graduation day, and she couldn't believe she had finally made it through undergrad. Arriving to the room where all the others were waiting and getting in order, Abigail found her place and looked through the program. She looked through the names to see who was graduating with her and was surprised when she saw Josh's name on the list.

Abigail quickly raised her head and looked the room over. She questioned the possibility that Josh could be in the room with her at that very moment. "Josh finished his courses here after he moved?" she asked herself mentally. Finding someone she knew, she caught their attention. "Hey Stacey. Have you seen Josh at all? His name is in the program."

"I haven't," Stacey shared. "I don't think I've seen him all semester really."

Abigail forced a small smile and decided to head back to her spot. She kept studying the room until everyone was led to the auditorium for graduation. She really hoped Josh would be there.

After the ceremony was over and Josh never showed up, Abigail found her family and Chelsea waiting for her outside. They immediately gave her a group hug led by Jack. "I can't believe it! I'm a college graduate!"

"I am so proud of you," Jack said placing his hand on Abigail's shoulder.

Jen agreed and gave Abigail another hug. "We all screamed with excitement when they called your name."

"Could you hear us?" JJ asked in anticipation.

Abigail nodded her head and smiled at her brother. "Yeah. It made my walking across that much better." Turning to look the crowd over one last time for Josh, she spotted Ezra walking over. Bending her knees slightly she yelled, "Ezra! We did it!"

Ezra smiled and gave Abigail a hug. "I can't believe we are moving on to grad school!" After giving Abigail a hug, he made sure to say hi to the others.

Adjusting her cap, Abigail tried to play off her disappointment in not seeing Josh by putting on a smile. "Let's enjoy this time before we get back to school. Have any plans?"

Ezra nodded and announced, "I'm traveling for most of the summer actually. It was a graduation gift."

Wanting to get in on the conversation, Jack stepped in. "Where are you going?"

"I'm traveling around Europe," Ezra answered while keeping his gaze on Abigail. "It will be nice to get away for a bit, but we'll definitely have to keep in touch, Deveraux."

Jennifer wondered if there was more going on between Ezra and Abigail and stepped in as well. "Do you have plans to celebrate your big accomplishment, Ezra?"

Taking off his cap, Ezra turned to Jen and shared, "Yeah. I think my mom and I are going out to eat actually. Apparently, she's surprised I made it this far – something about my decisions being questionable before." Ezra made sure to laugh to let everyone know he was joking. Scratching the top of his head, he excused himself, "I'll let you guys do what you need to. Catch you later, Deveraux."

Abigail gave Ezra another hug and tried to not make a big deal about it after he left. Turning to everyone else, she ignored the looks on their faces knowing they wanted more details on Ezra. She decided, "Let's go to that surprise party I'm not supposed to know about now."

Jen covered her mouth in disappointment. "How did you know? I thought we had that covered."

Chelsea stepped forward giving them a guilty look. "She made me talk!" she playfully exclaimed in a defensive tone.

"Sorry," Abigail said with a smile feeling a pull to look for Josh one more time. After one last glance over the crowd she knew Josh was never coming back to Salem. She missed him so much.