Santa Monica, May 27th
Emma Diaz remembers how back in elementary school, Ashley Winslow used to talk a lot about how she hoped their old group of friends would be able to graduate from high school together. She'd share some of the stories her older cousins and neighbors supposedly told her about their good experiences as seniors, including taking more electives, taking part in ceremonies for academic and athletic achievements, their prom experiences, and the graduation ceremonies themselves. The four of them had nearly taken it for granted they'd have all these experiences together.
Yet years later, Emma and Danny Bennet are the only ones from their old group that still live in Santa Monica. Ashley moved with her mom and older sister to Connecticut when they were supposed to start middle school after her parents had gotten divorced. She's currently about to graduate from an elite boarding school in New York City. Paul Johnson moved to Elmwood, New Jersey with his parents one year later. He is now grieving the loss of his mom during that deadly attack in Hackensack last fall and has no idea what he wants to do after graduation, seeing no point in making plans when the future seems so uncertain to him.
As for Emma, she feels she's been doing well enough. Despite not being among the top seniors in her class, she made the honor roll several times, and managed to participate in the senior honors ceremony as a result. She's also just found out today that's been accepted to participate in a special writing program in London during the summer, having gotten the news this morning from her English teacher, Ms. Benson, who'd been the one that encouraged her to apply for the program. As far as extracurriculars were concerned, she'd participated in the school newspaper all four years and helped with the set designs for school plays several times.
However, right now, as she and her classmates are in Psychology class, all that matters is that everyone's able to get through their last class of high school ever. Their teacher, Mr. Jensen, takes advantage of this moment by showing them a series of short artsy films of high school kids who all have some form of identity crisis that makes them do stupid things just as graduation approaches. One kid finally gets a boyfriend, while another decides to see the world instead of go to Harvard, and another takes part in a bad prank that results in a teacher getting injured and him not being permitted to walk the stage during graduation.
"So, the whole point of these short films is that you never know what obstacles you might face now that you're finishing high school," Mr. Jensen says once the last film is over. "You may have not been accepted into your dream school, your girlfriend may have broken up with you after prom, or you realize you don't have enough saved up to go to college in the first place. My hope is that you'll recall the many lessons you learned in this class…"
"My Mom just planned a last -minute dinner for all of my relatives," Danny, who's seated next to Emma, whispers to her. "Am I supposed to have an existential crisis because of that?"
Emma smiles. Danny is still just as much of a goofball as he was as a kid. His mom may be a psychologist, but he doesn't really share the same passion she has for the subject, and it doesn't help that Mr. Jensen could be so pretentious.
"If you can understand the way your minds work," Mr. Jensen rambles on, "You are much less likely to maintain a mindset that sets you up for failure. And by maintaining a more positive mindset, you can navigate any obstacles you face much more easily. Any failure you face will only be temporary, and your successes will be much more satisfying…"
And it's as he says this that the bell rings. Nearly everyone in the class cheers as they leap out of their seats and race for the door.
"Good luck to all of you," Mr. Jenkins says, but gets no answers from his students, most of whom have left the classroom within seconds.
Out in the halls, it's even more chaotic as seniors holler loudly while throwing papers from the folders and binders around as if they were confetti, all while "School's Out" plays through the intercom. Danny quickly joins in, throwing the many vocabulary sheets and case studies he'd barely glanced through for Psychology across the air as he and many others shout, "School's out for summer! School's out forever!"
Emma, however, doesn't join in as eagerly. She throws some of her old graded papers through the floor, but she still gets out of the building more quickly than the other students. Having been diagnosed as mildly autistic when she was ten, she's never been very comfortable around loud noise and chaotic settings. As a result, even though she is feeling excited, she feels she needs to get away from the more ecstatic seniors as soon as possible. She may as well join the other seniors who are outside, some of whom have already started trying to sign as many yearbooks as possible.
Much to her luck, Danny joins her not too long after. "Did it get too crazy in there for you?" he asks.
"Yeah. You know how I feel about loud noise," Emma says.
"Some of the other athletes were begging me to stick around, but I told them that I have too much to do. And it's not really a lie. I really do have to make it in time for our big family get together."
"Does this mean we can't walk home together?"
"Oh, we can still do that. We just have to make it as quick as possible."
As they walk together, Emma tells Danny how Ms. Benson had told her that she'd just been accepted into the summer writing program in London. Danny gets very excited about this, especially when she mentions how all expenses will be covered by the program. He tells her that if possible, he might reconsider his summer plans and join her in London if there are still tickets available for June.
"Are you serious, Danny? You don't have to do that for me."
"Emma, what better way to celebrate the end of your high school career than to go on a trip with your oldest friend? And we're talking about the land of fancy tea, the Spice Girls, James Bond, and Doctor Who here. Why would I want to pass up on the opportunity to go?"
"Well, good luck trying to find tickets. Although if you can go, it would be great. Maybe we can spend time together between the program's activities."
"And is Ms. Benson going?"
"Yes. And she's really looking forward to it too, even if she's already been there several times before."
"Man, is Ms. Benson the coolest teacher ever. Not many other teachers can claim to have been in the military for four years and to have traveled to twenty-one different countries before turning thirty. It's no wonder she manages to make English classes so interesting. And the way she's helped you since freshmen year makes her even better."
Danny was certainly right about this. Her parents did the best they could to support her, but as Colombian immigrants who had to work hard to become successful lawyers, they'd always been disappointed that Emma wasn't as high achieving and self-sufficient as they'd been. They tended to think that her interests in writing and art weren't going to get her anywhere, and because she was autistic, they were even harder on her. Her older sister, Valeria, who was currently studying Computer Science in UCLA, was worse. She liked acting as if Emma was doomed for failure due to being autistic and not being a math or science genius, and she would make comments over how Emma was probably going to still be living with their parents in ten years because there was no way she could make it out in the real world on her own.
However, Ms. Benson had always supported her interests ever since Emma had been in her freshmen English class. After she wrote an exceptionally good essay on current issues in Education, she'd encouraged Emma to join the school newspaper. She had been mentoring Emma ever since, to the point where she was the one that encouraged Emma to apply not just for the writing program by submitting some of her best short stories and essays, but also to colleges with good English programs. And luckily, it had all gone well, and she now has a spot on the writing program and acceptance letters from two of the four colleges she applied for. Emma feels she owes much of her success to her.
Right now, they have arrived at Emma's house, which is very close to the high school. "Do you mind if I check the mail right now?" she asks Danny.
"Go ahead. There might be something for you there," he replies.
And Danny is right. In addition to the family's bills, she gets an envelope from Paul Johnson, and a package which only includes her address.
"That's weird. Who would send something without including their address on it?" she asks.
"Maybe they want to remain anonymous and have whatever it is they're giving you speak for itself," Danny says.
"Perhaps, but if you don't mind, I'll open that one when I'm on my own. Let's see what Paul has sent me."
"If you insist."
She proceeds to open the envelope from Paul and finds a graduation card with a picture of a cat in a graduation cap with the caption "If I can graduate so easily, then anyone else can too," and on the inside of the card it says, "Congrats on doing just that, grad!"
On the left side of the card, Paul had written the following:
Dear Emma,
I can't even begin to tell you how much I wish I was back with you and Danny in Santa Monica right now, especially now that graduation is approaching.
I'm sending you this to wish you the best of luck and remind you that I really do think you can make it out there. Back when people thought you were just "dumb little Emma", I always thought they were underestimating you. Maybe it's because I saw how good your drawings and stories were early on, or maybe it's only because I was your friend, but I sure wasn't wrong. Keep working towards you want and never listen to those who say you can't do anything. As for me, don't worry too much. Things may suck for me right now, but as I've said in some of my texts, maybe things will get better soon. Who knows? Maybe I'll go see you two in Santa Monica, or perhaps even join you in London if you get accepted into that writing program.
Either way, I hope you and Danny have a good graduation, and that you appreciate the little gift I sent you here.
Best wishes,
Paul
And right towards the bottom of the envelope, Emma finds a small box. Inside of it are two pearl earrings, exactly like the ones she sees in expensive jewelry stores. She hasn't always been into jewelry, yet it's hard for her not to love these earrings. It's not every day someone gives you a gift like this, especially from an old friend you haven't seen in years.
"Geez. Paul certainly knows how to give a girl a good graduation gift," Danny says.
"He sure does," Emma manages to say.
"And if that's what he writes, just imagine what he'd have to say to you in person. He's probably a big romantic."
"Oh, come on, Danny! Do you seriously think he has a crush on me?"
"What do I know? I haven't seen him in ages. However, he does like calling and texting you at least once a month, and I'm pretty sure other guys don't give jewelry to just any girl."
Could Paul really feel this way about her? Most of the texts and calls Emma's gotten from him have been anything but romantic. He's told her a lot about how depressed he's been lately, how it's hard for him to concentrate on schoolwork or extracurriculars, and how it's difficult from him to sleep at night without either thinking or dreaming about happened during that massacre in the theater. He's talked to his father about this, but he thinks he's moved on more easily than he has. If he has any feelings for her, he has yet to bring them up, and Emma has never been good at trying to understand when others felt this way.
However, what matters most to Emma is that he cares enough about her to give her something for graduation. Whether he has a crush on her or not seems less important in comparison, since Emma has always valued friendship more so than romantic relationships. If she never has a boyfriend yet manages to have at least one good friend for the rest of her life, she would still be happy.
Luckily, Danny doesn't go on about Paul for too long because he looks at the time on his phone and says, "Oh crap. I've got to get home soon. It would be weird as hell if I show up late to my own end of high school celebration. Are you still fine with heading over to the beach tomorrow?"
"Sure. We've got a lot to celebrate together."
"All right. See you then."
…
At home, no one really does anything special for Emma. Her parents are working until seven, so they can't do anything for her now. Her fifteen-year-old brother, Enrique, tells her that she's lucky she's done with high school, but quickly proceeds to go on playing Call of Duty in the living room. Valeria, who's home for Memorial Day weekend, only says, "You're done with the easy stuff now, Emma. Things are probably going to be much harder for you from now on" before getting back to working on something through her computer.
So much for family support.
Once Emma's in her room, she starts cutting up the package she's received carefully with scissors. She wonders who could have possibly sent this to her. Could it have been her relatives that still live in Colombia? Or could it have been Ashley Winslow, who's only been in contact with her through social media over the years?
But when she finds a note in the package which simply says, "Dear Emma. Happy graduation," it's not from her relatives or Ashley, but from someone named Tiffany Valentine.
Emma tries to remember who that is, and after a while, she recalls meeting a woman named Tiffany back when she was nine. She claimed to have been one of her mom's clients as well as the mother of Glen and Glenda, the twins she and her friends had a bad encounter with once, and she'd wanted to thank her for having gotten along with Glen during their brief time at her school. Emma remembers thinking that the woman was very strange despite how nice she was trying to be, and she'd been a bit relieved when she'd walked away from her rather quickly.
Why would this woman have wanted to send her a graduation gift?
Emma starts shaking a little as she removes the object from the box, and upon realizing what it is, she's even more shocked.
It's a doll with a dry, green face. It has disheveled red hair, a few freckles, what looks like dark circles around its eyes, and is wearing a wrinkled purple shirt and black pants.
It's obviously not a beautiful doll, but it's not so much its appearance itself that bothers Emma. She used to have a few ugly dolls back when she was a kid, and she liked them almost as much as her Barbies and American Girl dolls.
What bothers her is that for some reason, Tiffany Valentine had wanted to give her an ugly doll as a graduation gift. You never did that to someone unless it was part of a joke. And why did she do it in her the first place when she barely knew her? She had been nice to Glen back then; she hadn't acted as bad as Ashley did towards him…
But after taking a closer look at the doll, particularly its red hair and clothes, Emma realizes something:
This doll looks a bit like Glen.