Lola took deep, steep breaths. This was the moment she'd been waiting for. She was graduating high school in just half an hour. She and her high school besties were putting on their robes in an empty classroom due to an overflow in the normal dressing rooms and everything just felt...right.
"I wish Simpson had taken my suggestion for custom robes more seriously. We'd all be looking ten times better rocking our fave colors with accessories and all. I mean, I really think I could've done a great service to this school styling the clueless kids here. But instead, we're all stuck wearing the same ugly, shapeless..." She trailed off, turning to look into a mirror and frowning at the deep blue robe she was being forced to wear. "I mean, seriously? Blah, baggy blue? Who picked these? Where's the fashion sense?"
Frankie and Shay responded with a joined giggle. "Seriously, Lo?" Frankie responded, acting as if Lola's idea was the dumbest thing ever. Lola couldn't lie, she wouldn't miss being treated like a complete idiot by those around her just because she was a little ditsy sometimes. She'd grown and learned so much, developing into what she'd consider to be a pretty wise and mature person. Yet she was still treated like a dummy to this day. Like everything she said was just materialistic, uninformed babble.
She ignored the snickers of her so-called friends, though. Because after today, she wouldn't have to see anyone from high school again. Sure, she'd miss Frankie and Shay, but having a fresh start where nobody knew that she was a bit more than scatterbrained for a fraction of her life sounded like just what she needed to finally let go of that part of herself. She hadn't figured out college yet, and she'd decided not to even apply, but everyone else had, and nobody she had any deep connections to was sticking around. Frankie was heading to Hudson University, Shay was off to the University of Florida, Yael and Hunter were going to MIT... So on and so forth. Most of her close buds weren't even going to be in the country, let alone in Toronto.
So even if she ended up working at the cantina for a year or two, nobody from Degrassi who knew ditsy freshman Lola would ever grace her presence again. Wishful thinking. She'd become a new and improved Lola and find who she was supposed to be without the confines of high school.
"I think the blue works just fine. It's one of our school colors, after all. Would you rather be in Panther gold?" Shay asked in a teasing tone, knowing it would elicit the exact reaction Lola gave. A visceral feeling of repulsion. Panther gold was basically yellow. And nobody on earth could pull off a yellow potato sack robe.
"Listen. All I'm saying is that a dusty rose would totally suit my skin tone better. Ooh, or maybe a sparkly champagne!" She spoke, letting herself get excited and noticing her volume was raising. "And I could've coordinated my eyeshadow too. I mean, blue eyeshadow? No thanks. Not a chance. I had to pass up on that adorable idea." She paused. "And Shay, you'd look so much better in a ruby red. Franks, you're a total..." She was cut off by someone else entering the room. Miles.
"Frankie is a total chartreuse." Miles chimed in with a mocking tone. Mocking, but not mean. More playful, really.
Lola and Miles hadn't talked since Miles left for London. They'd had a short...encounter after Miles graduated and Lola learned he was single. He was vulnerable, and once again, came running to Lola Pacini. Typical Hollingsworth behavior. Running back to what was comfortable. What was it called when you continue a one night stand almost a year later with another night?
After the two had reignited their spark, Miles disappeared. Off to London without even an emoji letting Lola know how he felt. So messed up. And he knew he messed up, which is why he started the conversation with something that was sure to distract Lola from his sudden disappearance almost a year earlier.
"Are you kidding me? Frankie shouldn't be caught dead in anything but olive green. That's her color. The idea that anyone would look good in a chartreuse robe is a totally disgusting statement, anyway. It's a color that should be erased from our memories and color wheels for eternity."
Frankie and Shay both had widened eyes at the sight of Lola and Miles in the same room. Their glances were just darting back and forth. Frankie to Shay, Shay to Frankie, both girls to Lola, and then to Miles. Sometimes Lola wished she'd never told her two best friends about her sexy times with Miles. Their knowledge of the whole situation made it so much harder to be in the same room with Miles now. Everyone had expectations now. They were all watching with their stupid hawk eyes or whatever. Lola didn't even know how she felt, so the last thing she was in the mood for was having to make every single move into a performance to appease everyone else's curiosities.
"Hey there. I like the silver hair." Miles started, and Lola subconsciously reached for her hair, which now flowed just past her shoulders, and for this special occasion, had been straightened with her overgrown bangs pinned back. "It suits you. The more mature post-grad you, of course."
Miles knew the exact reason why Lola had chosen this hair color, because of course he did. She'd chosen a more muted color to reflect her transition into adulthood. Candy colored Lola was a girl of the past. But she didn't want her decisions to be so predictable and obvious, which apparently they were. At least to Miles they were.
She turned up her nose at Miles, trying to stick it to him in the only way she knew how. The silent treatment. The truth, however, was that as the memories of the heartbreak she'd felt because of Miles came rushing back, she knew that her voice was going to get shakier, and her breath would hitch. Crying in front of a boy was so not Lola's style, so silence was the way to go.
"Well, I gotta go grab seats for me and Vivian. There's a bunch of people here. The seats are going like hotcakes. You guys should be proud of making it through. All of you." He said, clearly eyeing Lola but pretending it was for all three girls. "See ya up on the stage. Don't trip."
He shut the door behind him and as soon as the 'slam' sounded, Frankie started apologizing immediately. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Lo, I'm so sorry. I swear, I didn't even know he was dating anyone until they got in late last night. We met him where the private jet landed and when he stepped off, they were hand in hand. He kept it from all of us. My mom was totally freaking out too. And you don't even want to hear what my dad had to say. I hadn't seen him this mad since before he went to anger management. I thought the vein in his forehead was gonna explode and I was gonna totally get blood all over me... And now I'm rambling. I'm sorry."
It took Lola a few seconds to even realize what was happening. She was so thrown off from Miles's unexpected appearance that she didn't even comprehend what he'd said before he left. He'd mentioned a girl. A girl named Vivian. He had completely moved on while he was in London, and every little glance Lola had thought she interpreted was completely in her head.
"A girlfriend?" Lola said. Suddenly, all of the stress and anxiety about walking at graduation had disappeared from her mind. She'd almost completely forgotten altogether that graduation was today. "Miles has a girlfriend." She stated the obvious. "Miles has a girlfriend." She repeated. It felt like her brain was broken all of a sudden. "I can't believe he has a girlfriend. Of course he has a girlfriend. He's Miles. He's..." She stopped herself before she revealed how much she truly cared about the Hollingsworth boy. As far as Frankie and Shay knew, Lola and Miles had slept together twice, and he was nothing but another name on Lola's list. But the truth was, he was the name on her list. Nobody measured up to him, and nobody took his place. He was still the only guy Lola had slept with after over a year of pining.
The less people who knew about Lola's pathetic crush, the better. Lola couldn't exactly paint herself as the cool girl when she was totally in love with a guy who didn't love her back.