Chapter 37: Summer
Finals are over and the rest of the year, though it is less than a week, inches by slowly. The days are long and involve six periods of movie-watching. Luckily for those in glee club, seventh period is finally a time when the kids are practicing for their show, which is scheduled for that Tuesday, the last day of school. They need some time up on their feet, actually doing something.
The members run through their songs, and everyone gets sufficient time up on their feet, singing and dancing their hearts out. Mr. Everdeen always has a new piece of advice to give them after each run-through of the show. It's very important that they give a great show for anyone who may be considering joining the club next year. Marvel and Tanner are capable of handling the club, of course, but neither feels confident enough just yet. Neither of the boys is singing a solo song this year, though they are singing a duet together.
Each of the senior singers has a feature of their very own: Nate is singing Radioactive, Elijah is singing All You Need is Love, Arrow is singing his acoustic version of Without You, Daphne is singing Hate on Me, and Athena is singing Arms by Christina Perri. After much pestering from everyone in the club, Santana agreed to sing Let it Go, as well. The show also includes a duet between Rue and Skeeter, and an Irish duet for the O'Callaghan brothers. The freshmen sing a number together. After some pestering (but not nearly as much as Santana went through) Skeeter agreed to sing Everybody Hurts. The pit gets a short number of their own as a feature, and then the club will finish by singing We Got the Beat. They all figure that it was the first song they'd ever sung as a group, it should also be the last.
Finally, after days of movie-watching and final reviewing, just when all the kids at Panem High feel like they're going to die, the day comes.
The morning seems to take forever for the excited glee club kids. Athena and Clove, who are with the other seniors at their graduation rehearsal, are excited because tonight, both of them will be graduating high school! Elijah and Nate exchange faces from across the room. Elijah makes suggestive faces at Linus, who sits on the stage because he was chosen to speak. Linus always laughs and tries to look away. Nate and Daphne exchange bored looks as the teachers seem to talk forever. But, they all savor the time they have together while it lasts. Soon, they'll all be separated, in college.
Linus still isn't sure how he's going to get there, honestly. He turned in applications and has been accepted into multiple schools, but it's a major problem with money. He can see a lot of student loans in the future that he'll never be able to repay. William chose to go to community college but will still have the same problem when he graduates. Linus can sense that he'll go down that path.
Daphne isn't sound, either, though better. After all, she has some savings from her parents' wills. She's got enough to get through a couple years without borrowing too much. Arrow's getting some help from the Crowly family, who he's moved in with. Athena is really the only one of the seniors that is financially sound and doesn't have to worry about funding. Clove is right with her.
The last day of school also includes a bunch of yearbook signing for every grade. Phone numbers are exchanged, everybody's yearbooks are soon filled with happy messages and H.A.G.S!'s. Everybody's yearbooks are cycled around seventh period and filled with music notes and phone numbers and excited messages about summer. Mr. Everdeen lets them have this study hall, knowing that as soon as that bell rings, they'll have only an hour or so of free time before they come back to school to get ready for the show.
Yearbooks, after being filled out by the other students, are then sent up to Mr. Everdeen to sign. He takes the rest of the period filling them out and the students talk excitedly. Butterflies start to enter the stomachs of the freshmen and flutter around, causing all three of them to become giggly and talk faster than usual. After all of the yearbooks are distributed, the bell rings and the glee club says their goodbyes: for now. Then, Rue and Skeeter go out to lunch together, and the seniors have a picnic in the park. The others go home to eat.
Soon, though, it's time to get back to the high school.
The seniors show up first, with the pit, to warm up and tune. The others come soon after. Katniss buzzes around backstage with Mr. Everdeen and Prim, saying hello and hugging friends and giggling with Rue when she tells stories of the year. Then the group gathers around Mr. Everdeen's piano to warm up their voices with scales. Katniss watches, smiling, and hums along softly. She really has a pretty voice, though she never admits that she does.
They just finish their first set of scales when the back door opens again and a very familiar figure appears that is soon tackled by everyone in the club.
"Mr. K!" the club squeals, "You made it back!"
Platinum smiles and hugs everybody and says lots of happy hellos. Katniss looks over, having only heard of him, and is soon introduced by the others. Mario walks in soon after with Dutch in a baby backpack on his back. He's showered in hugs, as well, by the squealing students. Dutch waves his arms and legs happily at the students, who all have their turns cooing at him.
Mario takes Platinum's hand after the excitement dies down ad soon, it's time for the club's pep talk. Capitol Academy's concert was the day prior, and Arrow had attended and said it was really very good (which was no huge surprise). The students make a huddle and Mr. Everdeen speaks up first.
"I have all the faith in the world in all of you. You're going to be amazing, I can feel it. I have a feeling the club will grow for next year, after the advertising you've all been doing. And I have no doubt that we already have two very worthy leaders for next year." He smiles at Marvel and Tanner, who both look very awkward.
Then he continues. "We have the most amazing seniors with us this year. Athena, who's been here since her sophomore year. She's been a leader, provided advice and guidance, and helped everyone to grow. Daphne, who joined us this year. She's added a lot to the club: made us more genuine, shown us how to be brave, and shown us that we are mighty. Nate, our percussion man. He's added energy and watching his confidence grow has been something really amazing to watch. And, of course, Elijah. He's added youth and sweetness to the group. Santana, our feisty little piccolo player. Watching you gain your confidence and mature was surely something special. And, last but not least, Arrow. It's been a pleasure to work with you this year, and to see you grow and mature into yourself. We all commend your leadership and tenacity, which has added more than you'd think for the others. Thank you, seniors. You've helped our club evolve and grow, and we'll miss you all."
Athena remembers the speech last year, for Theo and Nathalia, and sniffles, about to cry. She's truly going to miss all of this: these people, this family that she's been in for three years of her life. The music, which she loves but isn't going to major in. Glee club will be the thing Athena misses the most.
Rue hugs Athena and soon the other seniors are tackled in hugs from everyone. Then the huddle forms again and Mr. K gives a small speech.
"You guys have changed me. Really, you have. And I'll remember it forever. Go out there and don't you dare hold back. You're all stars, whether you know it or not. I wasn't sure if I made the right choice, going to college for music… But you guys gave me confidence, and now I've got a job teaching music at the elementary school that's right by here. And he's got a job teaching chorus at a private school."
Mario holds Dutch and smiles embarrassedly. The students, hyped up on nerves and butterflies and exhaustion, giggle and cheer and clap again, enjoying themselves. Suddenly Mr. Everdeen checks his watch and says, "It's one o'clock, you guys! You're on!"
"Good luck!" Platinum and Mario whisper to them. Marvel and Tanner exchange a smile and a nod before walking out on the stage together.
The auditorium is full. Cor showed up with his family to watch Arrow. The Campbell twins, along with their friend Mason, who were all seniors last year, sit together and excitedly wait. Locke, Daphne, and Jason's friends from Liberty sit together, pointing out Locke and Jason when they spot the two friends in the pit, and cheering loudly for Daphne. Artelind, a mousy but oddly warrior-like girl that is mute, can't help the smile that appears on her face when Edward and Kelley sing their song. She is then punched playfully by all of her friends. Clove sits with Cato and cheers a lot of awkward-sounding statements every time she sees Athena on stage. Athena does everything she can to not break character.
Soon, it's time for the final number. Everyone exchanges an excited look, the nerves having long gone. "It's time to kick some ass," Athena whispers, as they hear the crowd applauding for the pit. The kids from Liberty whistle and bark like dogs, causing Locke to just chuckle a little and Jason to become immediately embarrassed and bury his face in his music.
Then the singers all nod and run on the stage together.
After the final note, it becomes time for the final curtain call. The pit all stands and bows together, and then those who both played instruments in the pit and sang bow next. After that, Athena gets the stage all to herself to bow, trying to ignore Clove's shouts. Then Marvel and Tanner go out together and bow. The four sophomores bow next: Rue, Skeeter, Prim, and Edward. Finally, the three freshmen bow last. Then everyone bows together one last time, and the curtains close. Athena feels very bittersweet.
After that, everyone goes straight to Nate's house, Liberty friends and Cor included, for a last day of school pool party. Nate plugs his iPod to a speaker and energetic music blasts from the speakers. He and Daphne spend the entire time together. Elijah and Linus end up making out for most of the time. The group eats hotdogs and watermelon at a picnic table together, chattering excitedly about their summer plans.
All of the kids are going to take their PE classes in the summer this year, which will start that following Monday. That's how Rue met Tanner last year. In fact, that's when they met Elijah and Nate, too. The sophomore, now junior boys met Nate and Elijah last year during summer gym in the locker rooms. Skeeter and Ben were about to fight when Jason suddenly tackled Ben to the ground and threatened him with a knife. It had started a real hatred between Jason and Ben, though Ben hasn't taunted Jason since summer gym ended. The two boys never saw each other at all over the year, and Ben was much too scared of Jason's knife to taunt him again. That's when Skeeter was absolutely positive that he liked having Jason and Locke around. Anyways, Jason had been weary around Elijah and Nate for a long while after that, and now it turns out that they're friends. Band camp certainly helped with that.
Tanner especially hopes that Jason and Ben are separate this year in terms of summer gym classes. He doesn't want his friend threatening his crush with a knife again. And Locke isn't exactly on good terms with Ben, either: after all, it was Ben that stole Locke's pocket watch during the storm. That just added to Jason's rage against Ben, and Tanner and Skeeter are both positive that this year, Jason won't hesitate to use that knife if Ben becomes obnoxious.
But, that's not to worry about now. Today is all about having fun. As soon as the students are done eating, Nate is the first to run and jump into the pool. Soon, the others get in after him. Santana keeps looking over at Jason. She knows that this is the last time she'll get to be with him, and therefore the last chance she'll have to tell him how she feels. But, she'll never be able to do it here. She's convinced she'll get rejected again, anyways. Nate, Daphne, Santana, Arrow and Cor have a conversation about colleges with Faorin and Indigo, two about-to-graduate seniors from Liberty, which Elijah and Linus listen to but don't add much, considering they're consumed with each other. Caeda and Finnian, two now-juniors, chatter with Rue and Skeeter about everything that happened the past year.
Both groups intentionally leave Artelind and Edward together the whole time. Nothing more happens between them than short conversations and lots of cute smiling. Soon, Nate reunites the whole group for big pool games like Marco Polo, Sharks and Minnows, and the color game.
Soon, though, too soon for the about-to-graduate seniors, the time comes for everyone to dry off and go back home, and for the seniors to go back to graduation. Rue and Skeeter go back to her house, and Kelley and Bonnie go to the Hawthorne house with Posy. Everyone else goes back home.
The seniors meet up at the stadium, where they'll be graduating, that evening. Elijah and Linus make faces at each other until the commencement band plays the theme to start graduation.
The principal and assistant principals talk for what seems like forever. Then, the students: first the president of the senior class, and then the Valedictorian, and finally, the two selected speakers. Linus is the last to speak, and he takes deep breaths, stepping on the stage. Elijah beams and gives him a reassuring nod. Linus clears his throat and begins to speak.
"When I first stepped foot in elementary school, I was someone very different than I am today. Through our lives, we've changed immensely from who we used to be. As we grew up, we learned more and more. Some of this learning was in academics, but it was also in our relationships with people. Our friends, and our family. We've learned that friendship can be power. We've been through relationships that have been broken, and some that have grown stronger. It's how we've matured through our high school lives, especially. We've all learned some things that we didn't want to know. We've all made realizations that have hurt us before. We've all grown in every way that it's possible to grow. And that's what brought all of us here today. Discovering who we are, no matter how much pain that involves. Finding our passions. And now, we'll be going to college, as full-grown adults. We are Panem High. And this is our graduating class." He nods to signify the end of his speech, with a quiet, "Thank you." Before the crowd bursts into applause, Elijah whistling. Then, each of the senior's names are called, and they all step up to receive their diplomas.
Then there are one or two more speeches from the guest speakers.
Then, their principal says, "And now, will our senior class join Miss Jesse Adams in singing our Alma Mater?"
And that's when Athena finally cries.
A/N: *sniffles* Aw, I'm going to miss this group of seniors! Just to let you know, I will be writing over the summer. I won't promise religious updates, but expect once a month or so. I still have some plot twists I haven't written yet! Also, I'll probably not add as many OCs this year as I did last, and stick to some of the real HG characters that got no story-time this year next year (Prim and Rory, Vick, Madge, etc.) Thanks for keeping up so far, but this won't be the last HGHS: TNC chapter!