May 2013

Noah and Nicole sat together amongst their peers for what would be the greatest day of their teen years - their high school graduation. Both of them were set to go to the University of Toronto together, with studying Astronomy and Nicole studying Art. They were both excited and nervous to be going off to school together.

Nicole and Noah were amongst the next row to walk across the stage, and as their row got up, they began to walk in front of each other and up to the front of the stage. As they departed their seats, they could see their very large family - their parents, of course, as well as all seven of their siblings - the twins, Nathan and Joshua; the quints, Bryson, Blair, Valerie, Gerard, and Gavin; their sister-in-law, Bethany, who is married to Joshua; their niece and nephew, Spencer and Hannah; and finally, their Aunt Amelia.

Nicole tapped Noah on the shoulder as she pointed them out to him. Their mother was openly crying, and their aunt had already spotted them walking up on the stage, and waved her hands in the air to get them to look at her on her camera. Once they reached the stage, everyone waited in line until someone was individually called by name. There were a few people in front of them until their names were reached.

"Nicole Asper." Nicole stepped up to the podium as he held out his hand for her to shake. The two posed for a photo, and he handed her a diploma. Nicole could hear her family cheering loudly and embarrassingly for her, which made her run back to her seat.

"Noah Asper." Noah stepped up to shake the principal's hand, posed for the photo, took the diploma, and sat down next to Nicole quickly as he waited for his family to stop the embarrassingly loud cheering for him. As Noah sat down, the two looked relieved while the ceremony continued.

"Thank God for A last names, right?" Noah said. Nicole nodded. "We did it. That's it! We graduated high school."

"Now we just have to get through university." Nicole wrapped her arms around Noah's neck and gave him a hug.

"University will be different." Nicole told him. "It'll be where we'll find ourselves. I just know it."

Noah and Nicole waited for the rest of the students to walk, and after what felt like an eternity, the ceremony was coming to a close. The principal came up to the podium and gestured for everyone to rise.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present to you, Somerset High's class of 2013! You may now move your tassels from the right to the left." The audience cheered and Nicole and Noah looked towards each other as they excitedly turned their tassels from the right to the left, then threw their caps up in the air with the rest of their classmates.

At the conclusion of the graduation, Nicole and Noah met back up with their family. They made the rounds to everyone wishing them congratulations, then faced their parents. Both had dried tears on their eyes. One thing Nicole and Noah learned about their parents is that they never hide their emotions, no matter how embarrassing they look. Many kids their age could say they've never seen an adult cry, but their parents wanted them to grow up knowing adults had negative emotions, too, and were entitled to them.

"Mom, don't cry. It's just high school graduation." Nicole said.

"Yeah, save the tears for when I'm winning my first Sobey award." Noah exclaimed. Their mom chuckled as she wiped her tears with a pocket tissue.

"I can't help it." She said to them as she pulled the twins in for a hug. "We'll only have the summer with you two, then that's it. Your dad and I will be empty-nesters."

"Maybe you and dad could finally go on the vacation cruise of your dreams." Nicole said to her. The twins gave their mother another hug and then looked over to their dad.

"I'm so proud of you both." Their dad said. "You're going to be off to bigger and better things." Nicole and Noah smiled as their siblings began facing them.

"Where did the time go?" Bryson exclaimed. It was rare when all nine of them got to be together in one room, but the last of the siblings graduating high school was a special occasion nobody wanted to miss.

"Congratulations." Their brother Nathan told them. "This is a really special time for you two."

"Make sure that when you're invited to your first college party, you don't set the building on fire." Blair told them. Valerie playfully smacked his arm.

"They have more common sense than you do, so that won't happen." She told him.

"I also don't do parties." Noah added. Blair laughed, but their mother didn't seem pleased, as this was advice that came from real-life events. She went back up to them, cupping Noah's face.

"You two are going to do amazing things in life. This is just the beginning for you."

May 2013, but for real

Nicole looked over to her brother as their alarm woke up for the day ahead of them. Unlike her dream, Nicole wasn't going to university in the fall, and neither was Noah. The two of them were taking a gap year, for separate reasons. Nicole hoped she could take the year to find a temporary part-time job while she figured out where she wanted to go for school, and Noah was just trying to delay his future as much as he could. Nicole was sure a part of him hoped he would get to continue doing more Total Drama somehow, but as Noah hated to admit it, hsi time on Total Drama was over. The ship had sailed, literally.

"Why are you getting up so early?" Noah asked. He was still waking up for the day, and was buried in his covers.

"I have to be there early. The band is performing at the beginning of the ceremony."

"Oh, right." He turned around to the other side of his bed.

"I had the strangest dream." She said to him. He was still listening but didn't stir.

"You always have strange dreams." He said to her.

"It was like an alternate timeline. We were graduating, mom and dad never died. It was weird." There was a pause between the two, and Nicole believed he would stay silent, not knowing what to say, but he began to speak up before she could change the subject.

"Too bad that's not happening tonight." Noah said as he covered himself under the covers.

Nicole frowned as she looked at the matching graduation gowns hanging up on their closet door. She wished more than anything she could have been graduating with her parents in the audience, but unlike her brother, she was able to cope with this. She knew through the last few years of therapy that it would never happen, and there was no sense living in the past. She only wished Noah could learn how to cope with that, too.

A/N: I did it! I worked through all the high school chapters! There will be one more in a flashback era, so if you are all wondering why Nicole's best friend Abigail isn't around, her time will come soon!

I just wanted to come in here & clarify some timeline & age stuff - The New Noah began in 2015, making Nicole and Noah 19, Joshua and Nathan 37, and the quints 33. Their niece and nephew were 7 and 9. Nicole started school in 2014, which was also the same month Noah left to film Ridonculous Race, and which also means Nicole was going into her second year of school starting at the top of The New Noah. I hope this makes things a little better going forward. Originally I didn't really account for Ridonculous Race post-production needing to take a bit of time, so I had to re-do the timeline a bit.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you are enjoying the Nicole series! I have a LOT planned, so please stay tuned! :)

~Sami