By: CNJ
PG-13
16: Countdown To Graduation, Part 6
Mona:
It felt odd, yet elating
to be in school, yet have no more classes for the year. We didn't have
to be there until ten and we'd leave by one. The lower grades were giving
us a farewell assembly, then tonight we'd have our commencement rehearsal.
"Tomorrow night, can you believe it?" Kristy asked.
"No." I shook my head.
"Me either," Mary Anne added.
We were in our homerooms and all around kids were talking excitedly, hugging
and exchanging addresses, phone numbers and e-mails. Some had their yearbooks
and were passing them around for signatures.
"Sign mine?" Susan Perry
stopped in front of us. "Yeah..." All three of us signed, then we pulled
out each of ours and had her sign.
"You're going to Berher
U. in Maine, right?" I asked.
"Yeah." Susan nodded.
"Good luck there," we told
her.
"Good luck in the Big Apple!"
she told us and we all laughed, then hugged before she went on to the next
person. The class got a little quieter as Ms. Fedders came in with a small
note.
"Oh, class..." she said
softly. All us then sat and quieted down, sensing that she had something
to tell us in the note, which was actually a card.
"Isn't this sweet?" she
asked. "It's from Ms. Silverbein wishing me a prosperous new career. She
adds that even though we'll be physically far away, our hearts will stay
close." That was sweet of her. "I think Ms. Silverbein's feeling better
over this. Thank you all of you for being easy on her these past couple
of weeks. They were hard on her." By then, it was time for us to head to
the auditorium for our Farewell, Seniors assembly. The seniors always
sit in the front, but this felt different. Some of the freshman put on
a skit; some of the sophomores put together a music "video" of us that
made us all laugh; and the juniors put on slides and a lot of the slides
had posters and paraphernalia of all that we'd done these past four years.
I remembered us doing that for last year's seniors; now it was our turn.
Then it was Ms. Silverbein's turn to wish us good luck. She did seem to
be in better spirits than she had in weeks. I suspect she'd come to an
acceptance of Ms. Fedders' decision. It was a little later when things
mushed up quite a bit. Some other teachers gave speeches that moved a lot
of us to tears, including Mary Anne.
"Made it to mid-morning,"
Mary Anne quipped shakily, wiping her eyes as we got ready to head into
the anteroom to say our final goodbyes and do one last yearbook exchange
and to get instructions for our commencement ceremony, which would be on
the front lawn of SHS. Once we got into the anteroom, a lot of kids, I
think most of them started crying and hugging. One by one, all of us in
the BSC started crying as we hugged other kids and wished them good luck.
There was a lot of trying to talk and sign between sobs and most of us
struggled not to drip tears and snot over our yearbooks. Caitlin exchanged
hers with ours and she held a tissue over her face as she signed ours.
Mary Anne gave her nose a good blow before she started each of her signatures,
but had to keep wiping her eyes. I had to sign quickly before a fresh gush
of tears started flowing from me each time.
"G-go, get...em, Cait..."
Kristy managed to get out before fresh sobs overcame her and she hugged
Caitlin.
"Bye..." Caitlin sobbed,
hugging each of us, then heading toward the next person.
"I...can't see too w-well,
c-can you tell me wh-when some...one comes?" Mary Anne struggled to catch
her breath. She wiped at her eyes with a mound of tissue, but I could see
that her tears were blocking her vision almost completely.
"S-sure..." I still could
see, though it was blurry. We found seats and the sobbing slowed.
"Oh, God..." Ms. Silverbein
smiled shakily at us as she stood by the podium. "I'm on the verge of tears
myself here, so excuse me if I sound a bit shaky." We managed weak chuckles
ourselves. She then proceeded with the ceremony and where we'd line up
and all. Each of our homeroom teachers wished us a special farewell and
good luck and that got several kids started again, including Stacey, Kristy,
Mary Anne and me. God, we'd been through so much in four years! Mary Anne
and Stacey sat behind me and clutched hands.
"Ohhh, God..." Abby whimpered
and starting crying again. Dawn held her hand. Anna reached over and held
onto both of their hands. All around, I could see several groups of friends
clasping hands, crying.
"We've been through so m-much
together," Kristy whispered.
"S-so much and so many ch-changes,"
Mary Anne whimpered. "But it's g-g-good that our friendship...s-s-s-te..."
"Stayed constant..." Dawn
finished, her own eyes damp with fresh tears as she held Mary Anne's other
hand. By the time the teachers were done, we the BSC looked almost like
a Twister game in our seats with arms intermingled, clasping hands. As
kids began to leave, I managed a shaky laugh.
"We look like a Twister
game," I said, remembering our monthly sleepovers when sometimes we'd played
Twister and wind up in a knotted heap on the floor. That got a shaky laugh
out of my friends.
"Come on, let's get out
of here and get ready for the big night," Kristy told us and we headed
out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jessi:
It was soo great that Mallory
and I got a chance to come to Stoneybrook that Friday to wish the senior
BSC good luck. It was soo hard to believe they'd be leaving Stoneybrook
in the fall. Mallory and I have two more years of high school to go. We're
junior BSC members along with Basila Caprio and we're also seasonal members,
which means that we're only able to baby-sit and join meetings in the vacations.
I'm also glad that we've created the next generation of the BSC, so parents
can continue to have a number to call. My sister, Becca, who's now twelve
and will be in eighth grade at Stoneybrook Middle School next year, will
be the club's next treasurer while one of Mallory's younger sisters, Vanessa
Pike will take Kristy's place as the club president after Kristy heads
for Fellowdean. Charlotte Johanssen will succeed Mary Anne as the secretary
while Karen will be the next club vice president and starting over the
summer, will start having the BSC meeting in her room since now she has
her own phone line like Claudia. That Friday morning, we had a special
meeting and sent flyers to our client letting them know what the new number
would be and when it would change.
"That's the way to keep
them up front about this transition," Kristy told us once we got the last
flyer sent out or posted up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mallory:
It was all of our parents'
idea, but Jessi, Basila, and I had the idea to take a vote on what the
favorite BSC restaurant was, since we were treating them to a graduation
lunch. Several places bid close place, but Timpano's won out.
"Wow..." Claudia and Abby
gasped at the same time, once they got there and saw all of our parents
there.
"CONGRATULATIONS!" boomed
from all the parental units.
"We wanted to give you girls
a treat," Ms. Kishi smiled.
"We're all so very proud
of our graduates," Ms. Brewer put in, her eyes damp.
"Thanks..." "Ohhh..." "This
is great..." The senior BSC murmured, giving various parents hugs. Mary
Anne's eyes filled with tears as she gave her dad, stepmom, and grandmother
a hug.
"Heeey, Lynn..." Claudia
greeted her little cousin and gave her aunt and uncle a hug. Not only were
all the parents there, but several extended family members were there,
which meant we'd had to reserve several tables. Fortunately, it was a buffet-
style meal, so each of us got up to get whatever we wanted.
"It worked," Jessi grinned
at me as we ate.
"Yeah..." I nodded. "Ready
for the big night?"
"Sure," Jessi told me. "Are
they?" We laughed a little. We ate a talked, going over various memories.
"...will never forget when
Stacey and Mary Anne stood up to those guys the first day of freshman year,"
Maureen McGill was saying. "You both made me so proud."
"Hear, hear..." several
others added...
"Here's to girl power!"
Sharon put in and all of us clinked glasses. "I'd like to propose a toast
not only to my own daughters who I'll miss so much in the fall, but to
all the Baby-Sitters' Club for turning Stoneybrook High around. And not
only did they turn the school around, but they've made this large Connecticut
town better for all of us due to their hard work and all the hours baby-sitting."
"Yeah...hear..."
"We'd like to add our toast..."
Richard and Sharon stood.
"To our two wonderful daughters,"
Sharon announced. "For braving our brave new stepfamily"
"And for their courage in
handling the terrible fire two years ago that burned down our house," Richard
added. "Their strength helped Sharon and me survive and gave us the courage
to rebuild our house and have a fresh start."
"And to their friends who
supported our daughters through that terrible time," Sharon finished. Mary
Anne's eyes welled with tears as we toasted. I love you so much
she mouthed, looking first at her parents, then her grandmother and stepsister.
There were a lot more toasts to various happening over the past four years.
Jessi, Basila, and I added our thanks to the BSC for their friendship and
for making parents' and kids lives easier through their club and for their
tireless spirit even through rocky times. We slowly finished our food,
then it was mid-afternoon, so all of us hustled off in different directions
to get ready for tonight. The big night. Wow. I was so excited I knocked
my chair over backwards as I booked out. I hastily righted the chair, then
continued. Kristy dropped her silverware with a clatter as she got up.
Anna accidentally spilled the remains of her juice on her blouse and mumbled,
"Oh, shit..." She started to wipe it up, but her mom said, "It's all right,
it's all right. They'll get it." Anna looked one last time at the puddle,
then she joined her mom and sister in leaving. It was like a videotape
on fast-forward, I thought in amusement.