Vald smiled at the sky as he absorbed the extent of what had just happened. He felt like he was glowing, but was still sad that his brother was not with him. His friends were, but thinking of them made him wonder where they had gone. He glanced back down at everyone and spotted Trevor hugging his family. He made his way over to his best friend, smiling.

Trevor was caught in a bear hug from his older brother as Vald walked up. Trevor's mother, always like a mother to Vald, turned and beamed at her son's best friend. "Congratulations," she whispered, pulling him into a hug.

"Vald!" Trevor called once the woman had released his friend.

"Trevor!" Vald called in response. They hugged and laughed, posing for a picture Trevor's dad wanted to take.

Vald left then, it being obvious that Trevor's family all wanted pictures with him as well. He moved off to find another of his friends. He quickly ran into Janet, Mary, Kelly, and Jen who all wanted pictures with him as a group and individually. After tearing himself away from them, he ran into Matt and Jared who wanted the same thing.

"Prince!" a high-pitched voice called. Vald turned to face his second best friend Oliver, being so smart and young that he was only thirteen but still in their class. He was going through puberty and his voice was cracking so others made fun of him often, but Vald never had. As a result Oliver had attached to him like glue.

"Don't call me that," Vald said, trying to hide his embarrassment.

Oliver grinned and handed him a crown. It was a prop from their drama club, and Oliver's prize from entering a play he wrote for a contest. He had insisted that Vald have it, saying that he was the muse that led to the play's genius, but Vald had refused.

"No," Vald said, blushing a little. "It's weird that you guys always call me a prince."

Oliver beamed and opened his mouth, only to be cut off as two big jocks pushed him aside to claim Vald's attention. The small boy tripped and almost fell over, except Vald caught him with an arm, pulling him out of the jocks' way.

"Hey Vald!" one of the guys cheered, sounding too loud for how close he was standing. "Have you decided which college to go to yet?"

Vald shook his head. "Nope. I'm going to look again tomorrow. It's really hard."

"Especially when everyone wants you," the other jock laughed, also being too loud.

"Who offered the best scholarships?" Oliver asked, sounding surprisingly quiet after the two loud-mouths.

"Who cares when you're rich!" the first jock laughed, slamming his hand down on Vald's shoulder a little too hard.

"Are you two drunk?" Vald asked, raising an eyebrow and smiling slightly. They looked at each other and then beamed back, nodding. "Just don't get caught," Vald continued, looking around for any teachers.

The two jocks laughed and walked away, calling after one of their cheer friends. Oliver watched them go, glancing at Vald in a baffled way.

Vald laughed and said, "Come on, let's go find one of the others."