Chapter 6- School's
Out
This
chapter is dedicated to my friends; Lacy, Becky, Suzy, Dawn, Andy, Chris,
Amanda (Hey, We kinda look alike :-) inside joke…), Mike, Bryon, Theresa,
Megan, Johnnie, Bonnie, Josh, James, Ron, Ryan, Nick, the other Nick, Lysette,
and Jimmy. I'll miss you guys so much
at RoyHart next year. I'll most especially
miss Amanda skipping gym to be in lunch, and smacking Andy on the back of the
head, hence the bit in this story. I
love you guys all very much, more than it seems, and I will keep in touch as
much as I can! See you at ten-year
reunion.
Joey
looked in the mirror at his reflection. He donned his cap and gown, and smiled at himself. His hair was tied back, and if you asked any
girl in passing that day, they'd tell you he was perfect. "Joseph!" Dave yelled. Graduation was
here, at last. They all had made it,
and because the drinking incident had happened off of school property, there
wasn't a damn thing the school system could do about it. However, they were required to take a trip
through a wing in Mercy where they kept people who were dying of
alcohol-related damages. That was
awful, and it gave each one of them nightmares, on top of the ones from their
friend's death.
Joey
left the room and smiled at his father. "Hey, Dad." He whispered,
hugging Dave. Dave hugged back. "I love you, daddy." He whispered. Dave smiled into Joey's shoulder. "I love you too son." HE
whispered back. Dave never punished
Joey for running away. He figured that
Joey had been punished enough by seeing his friend die, and by seeing Matthew's
grave. Joey had promised that during
summer, he'd help Dave plant flowers up there with him.
The
Tank pulled up to the parking lot, and a horn honked. "HEY, JOEY! WE'RE GONNA
BE LATE!" Josh yelled. Joey smiled. "You'll be there, right dad?" Joey asked. "Of course I will." Dave said, tenderly kissing his son's
forehead. Joey smiled brightly, said
goodbye and left. He hopped with his
change of clothes into the van. Alex
was waiting there and she kissed him softly. Josh made a mock-gagging noise. *She smiled and smacked him in the back of his head. Josh smiled widely. He cuddled up to Tara, who snuggled up to
her boyfriend. Josh and Joey shared a
knowing look, and then each rested their head on their lovers' shoulder. Trent and Zoë were in front and Trent was
focusing on the road. They drove down
the road to a large auditorium, bigger than the one at their school. They parked down the street however, to
avoid getting caught up in traffic later. That and the Tank was about ready to blow up one of these days. Josh's Viper, affectionately called the
Warhorse, was the next form of group transportation. They piled out of the van and walked up the street. Alex pulled Joey's arm around her waist and
smiled. He smiled too, content that she
still loved him. Tara did the same with
Josh. Trent and Zoë tried to kiss and
walk at the same time, but that didn't work out too awful well. They reached the auditorium. They gathered up with all the rest of the
seniors and waited there. They heard
the instrumental music coming from the stage and they knew it was almost time
to go in. Trent and Zoë, and Alex and
Joey, (hey, I can rhyme!) and Josh and Tara each kissed their lover and then
filed in behind the rest. The walked to
'Pomp and Circumstance' which none of them truly enjoyed, but had to live with
it. They sat down and prepared for the
long graduation commencement. The
school officials and the superintendent and all those people talked and
blathered on for a while. Then the
principal called up the Valedictorian. "Now, for the best out of all of his class, not that you all aren't
special, Joshua James Cranston." Josh
snorted awake as he heard his name. The
rest of the gang snickered as he woke up. He blushed and walked up to the podium.
"Sorry
about that. That's the way I was all
throughout my 13 years at school, and I guess it had to go out the same way,
too." The crowd laughed. "I really don't have much of a speech
prepared, I guess." He paused. "All my life, I've been told that High School
will be the best years of my life. "I'm
only eighteen years old, and I will be finding that out pretty soon, huh?" He paused again looking into the
auditorium. "I was always the class
clown. I guess that's why you voted me
class clown. Anyway, that's not what I
came here for. Not for Gossip. I guess that I want to say that these years
are precious, as our time as humans is incredibly short. One day, you'll wake up and be 80 years old
wondering what the hell happened to your life. Then you'll look back at your senior yearbook, and see yourself as
young, smart, and having a bright future ahead of you. Look around at each other. This might very well be the last time you
ever see that person. Some of you will
die young, and others will live for what to your grandchildren will seem like
forever. To you, it will seem like a
very short time. Look at us now, I
mean, I can't speak for all of you when I say that 18 years has passed like the
blink of an eye." He paused again, this
time looking at Tara. "These will be
the times you remember most fondly. When you are on your deathbed, you will all flashback to at least one
time during your senior year. Good Luck
and Godspeed." Josh said, stopping and
looking skyward. "Peace Out,
Josiah." The whole senior class was
astounded by the speech. Josh Cranston,
total smart-ass, made an absolutely beautiful speech. They erupted in cheers and applause. When He sat back down, Tara leaned over and kissed him
softly. He smiled and kissed her back,
a little harder. She smiled and clasped
his hand. He lay his head on her
shoulder. "Luv ya." He whispered. She kissed his blonde, spiky head gently.
Three
hours later, they were back in the tank, headed to the mall. Josh and Joey sat next to each other to talk
in private. "Hey, guess what!" Josh said. "Hmmm?" "I'm going to pop the
question to Tara." He said,
happily. Joey smiled. "Wow. Congrats. I kinda want to ask
Alex. I mean, I can't imagine a life
without her." Joey said. Josh nodded. "I can't picture being without Tara." He said. Joey
smiled. The girls were gossiping to
each other and Trent turned the music up louder to ignore them. Joey smiled and rested his head on his best
friend's shoulder. Josh smiled and
rubbed Joey's shoulder. "God, I can't
believe it's the end of high school, man." He groaned. "God, I know. You guys are my best friends, even though
I've only known you for like 2 years." He said. Alex smiled. "Yeah. I'm going to miss seeing you guys in detention." Trent said. "Yeah. And I'm going to miss making
waffles in Home Ec." Tara said. "I'm going to miss those end-of-year food
fights." Joey said. They all nodded at that one. "I'm going to miss smacking Trent in the
back of his head." Zoë said. "I'm going to miss being a pain in the
teachers' asses." Josh said. Alex stayed quiet. Joey noticed this, and moved from Josh over to her. "Alley? What's wrong?" He asked. "I don't want to grow up!" She said, smiling and crying at the same
time. They all nodded and began to cry
themselves. Trent pulled into the mall
parking lot and they all hugged each other, not speaking, just crying. They all knew that they would be friends
forever, but as Josh had said, they might not be there tomorrow. They filed back out of the van and into the
mall. Trent had begged Zoë to let him
go to the Guitar Center in the mall. He
eagerly went in a picked up an old '62 Fender Jaguar. It was a red sunburst in color, and was in great shape. The strings were thicker than most others,
and the tuning keys needed a little bit of readjustment, but other than that,
it was perfect. He flopped down onto an
amp and plugged it in. He began to play
'Suspect Non-Conforming's 'Getting Out of the Depths of Despair'. This was definitely the graduation present
that he told his parents he wanted. They gave him the money to go and buy it for himself.
Josh
and Joey, meanwhile, had left the group and headed to the Jeweler. There was a Scottish man in his 30's, with a
large red beard, and a large frame to match. He opened his mouth to introduce himself. "'Ello, Lads. The name's
Haggis McMutton, of the clan McMutton." There were two other men there. There was a tall man, with a long black beard in his 30's, and he was
polishing some of the jewelry. There
was a very short, fat, bald man with a goatee, earring, and peg leg sitting and
sharpening tools. "Hello, little
wretches. Allow me to introduce
myself. My name's Van Helgen. Edward Van Helgen." Josh's face lit up. "VAN HALEN?" He asked. "VAN HELGEN YOU
BLOODY IDIOT!" Edward shouted. "I'm Bill." Joey looked confused. "That's
it? Bill?" He asked. "Cutthroat
Bill." He said. "We used ta be pirate barbers, so 'E dropped
the 'cutthroat' from 'is name." "Barbers? How did you go from
being pirates to barbers to Jewelers?" Josh asked. "It's a long story,
lads. It all started at the tender age
of sixteen. I remember sailin' the high
seas with me mum and da'. Me Mum was a
hairdresser and she taught me everything I know." Haggis began. "Look. We'll listen another time. We're interested in engagement rings." Joey said. Haggis nodded. "Right This way,
Lads."
6-17-01 I'm doing a late-night update, so that means
that you should read this by Sunday Morning. In my life, if anyone gives a rat's ass, I just spent $400 on a new
Fender Deluxe 90 Amplifier for my guitar. Soon, I'll trade it up for a Marshall Stack for my new band which My
Buddy, Joe, and I started. So far, Joe's
on Bass, I'm on rhythm guitar, and Chris is on Drums. We still need a lead guitarist, but 'JB' knows a lot of people
from the Lockport Area, so it won't be that tough. By the end of senior year, we plan on playing the local
skatepark, at least one battle of the bands, and talent shows at both Royhart
and Lockport, where the members will attend school.
In other news, my sister
just bought a drum set. Yeah. Now we have a bass, two guitars, a flute, a
saxophone, and a big ass drum set. Boy,
We'll really get the next-door neighbors' dogs a-howling when we move into the country… "Yee-ha!"
P.S. To all who entered the contest (and those
who didn't and want the picture anyway…) leave your email in the review, or send
me an email with your address, and I'll send the hot-ass pic to you guys right
away.