A/N: I'm glad you guys like this. Thanks for the feedback! I was nervous the entire time I was writing this!!
A long awaited chapter both for you and me. I hope you guys like this! You guys got lucky; we're having a snow day today so I wanted to finish this and get it up!!!
Disclaimer: I own NOTHING!!!!
February 7th, 2028 1:30 pm Chicago/Evanston
The last month had been hectic to say the least. It was harder by the day to keep it a secret where I would be attending college. Meghan and Chelsea had asked me at least three times a day to tell them my little secret. But I didn't give in. I was pretty proud of myself. But then again, I had tried to get the two of them to tell me where they were going but they didn't budge either.
"Are you ready for the best day of your life?" Meghan asked me coming up to my locker and grinning her usual smile.
"As ready as I'll ever be. I thought the best day of your life is when you get married?" I asked her smiling.
"Well that day too but you get to tell the world where you're going to college." Chelsea told me as I smiled.
"Yeah but best of all, you guys can't bug me anymore after today." I told them smiling.
"So are you going East or West Coast?" Meghan asked me as I rolled my eyes at the girl.
"You only have to wait another 20 minutes until we all go down and sign together." I told the two of them.
"I guess I can wait that long. Are your parents coming?" Chelsea asked me as I smiled.
"They told me they would be here. They told me that a surprise was coming today as well." I told them.
"Who could that be?" Meghan asked me as I quickly shook my head.
"I don't know. They wouldn't give me any hints about it either. I tried to get them to tell me but when they're determined nothing can get them to open their mouths." I told them slamming my locker shut and headed down to Anatomy.
"Oh joy! Anatomy time." Chelsea said as we walked into the classroom.
"That better had not been sacarasm Chelsea!" Our teacher, Mr. VanRyn told us grinning.
"No it was pure and utter joy that we get to learn about the human body today." Chelsea told Mr. VanRyn.
"I don't know how much you're going to learn since you've got to leave in a few minutes." Mr. VanRyn told us.
"Thank goodness for small miracles." Chelsea mumbled as Meghan and I laughed.
"Girls take your seats so we can begin." Mr. VanRyn told us as we all grinned at each other.
"Can the following students come down to the cafeteria for signing? Tess DeVries, Chelsea Howards, Meghan Buursema, Michael Barron, and Michele Brown. Thank you." The secretary said over the intercom as Meghan, Chelsea, and I got up and grabbed our book bags before heading out the door.
"Good luck girls." Mr. VanRyn told us as we closed the door behind us.
"Are you sure you don't want to tell us where you're going to college before we go in there?" Meghan asked as I glared at her.
"In ten short minutes, you'll find out. Now have some patience woman." I told her grinning.
"I'm sorry if I'm antsy." Meghan told us as we continued down the hallway.
"Who's all going to be there?" I asked my two best friends.
"From what I heard, both volleyball and basketball coaches are going to be there, our teammates from both teams, anyone from the senior class can come down and see us sign, as well as the press and our families." Chelsea told me.
"That's a lot of people." I told them suddenly getting nervous.
"You've played in front of more people than that. And besides all you have to do is sign a piece of paper." Meghan told me as I looked at the two of them.
"Well so do you and I don't see either one of you nervous at all." I told them standing in front of the cafeteria doors.
"We are but we're not showing it like you. Now come on. They're waiting for us." Chelsea told me as we stepped into the cafeteria.
There were chairs set up and the majority of them were filled up. Our principal was standing on the raise stage as we walked in.
"Girls, good you're here. You can each have a seat at the long table." Mr. Beamer, our principal told us as we walked up on the raised stage.
"Are your parents here?" Meghan asked me as I looked out into the audience.
"I don't see them but I can't really see anything because of the stupid lights." I told them as they laughed at me.
"I bet you they are out there. They wouldn't miss this for the world." Chelsea reassured me.
"Now that we are all gathered here, I would like to introduce the class of 2028 signees. We have Michele Brown, Tess DeVries, Chelsea Howards, Meghan Buursema, and Michael Barron." Mr. Beamer told us as everyone clapped.
"Now how we're going to do this is the representative from each school is going to come up here and talk a little bit about the student or students attending that particular school." Mr. Beamer explained.
"Mr. Cobb, you may begin." Mr. Beamer said as a man came up. He talked about Brown University where Michele Brown was attending. We watched Michele sign her letter before everyone started clapping.
After he was done, another man stepped to the podium. He talked about the University of Illinois where Michael Barron was going. We then watched Michael sign before a woman this time stepped up to the podium.
"Today we have a special event happening. Three best friends are going to continue their journey with us at the University of New Mexico. Tess DeVries, Meghan Buursema, and Chelsea Howards have decided to pursue their goals, dreams, and love for basketball at the University of New Mexico." The woman, who introduced herself as Michelle Braxton, said to the crowd.
I turned to the girls with pure shock on my face. Meghan and Chelsea just grinned at me.
"Girls, if you will, we need your John Hancock's on the pieces of paper in front of you." Michelle told us.
We each picked up the pen and signed our names hurriedly across the paper. We heard camera shutters snap as we signed. I dropped my pen and looked up at the crowd and smiled.
"Congratulations everyone." Mr. Beamer said as we wrapped it up and stood up from our seats.
I walked down the steps and instantly had a microphone stuck in my face.
"Tess tell us why you chose UMN for your college choice." A news reporter asked me before I smiled.
"I chose UMN because I felt comfortable with the team and I feel like it's a good place for me to pursue my dream of being a physician." I told them smiling.
"Will you be playing both basketball and volleyball at UMN or pursuing just one?" The news reporter continued.
"I will be pursuing basketball and leaving volleyball behind." I told them smiling.
"Thank you for your time, Tess." The news reporter told me before I walked off and found Chelsea and Meghan talking to reporters.
"And Tess what do you want to pursue while you are at UNM?" Another reporter asked me as I smiled.
"I want to be a physician when I grow up so I'll be pursuing that." I told them.
"Well good luck to you girls and the whole city will be following you when you go to UMN." The reporter told us.
"Thank you." We all said before they walked away leaving us alone.
"Have you seen your parents yet?" I asked the two girls.
"Not yet. I was grabbed by the press before I could make my way over to them. I'm going that way now." Chelsea told me.
"Me too. We'll meet up later?" Meghan asked us as I smiled.
"You can count on it. If I don't see you guys before I take off, how about we meet at my house at 3:30? We can hang out and chill." I told the two of them.
"Sounds good. We'll see you then." Chelsea told me before I looked around the room trying to search out my parents.
"Looking for us?" Mom asked coming up behind me as I smiled at her.
"Yeah I was." I told them smiling.
"Congratulations honey. UNM is a good school." Dad told me giving me a hug.
"I was worried about how you guys would react." I admitted to them.
"UNM is a good school and it's got your name written all over it." Mom told me.
"Thanks. I invited the girls over later this afternoon." I told them smiling.
"That's fine. Do you want us to take you out of school so you don't have to go back to class?" Dad asked me.
"Sure I don't feel like going back to Anatomy." I told them grinning.
"You finish up here while we go sign you out in the office. We'll come back here to get you." Mom told me.
"Ok I'll go finish up." I told them before walking over to the seats and sitting down.
"Exciting day huh?" I heard a voice asked behind me as I nodded my head.
"Oh yeah. One of the best." I said not bothering to look behind me at the voice.
"You mean there's more than one exciting day?" The voice asked me as I grinned a little.
"The other would have to be when I met my second family." I told them nodding.
"Tell me about this second family?" The voice asked me as I smiled.
"They are an interesting bunch." I told the voice as he laughed.
"That they defiantly are." The voice told me as I turned around and saw Chad, Ryan, Jason, Zeke, and Jack all sitting there grinning at me.
"What are you guys doing here?" I asked them standing up and walking over to give them each hugs.
"We're here to see our girl sign to the college she wants. Congratulations!" Jack told me as I smiled.
"Thank you. I'm surprised to see you guys here." I told them as they all grinned.
"Your parents called us to see if we wanted to be here. They gave us all the details and we made reservations to come out here and see you." Chad told me.
"Well thank you guys for coming out. Are the girls with you?" I asked them.
"They are over there talking to your parents. We wanted to come surprise you so we saw you sitting here." Zeke told me.
"How long are you guys in town for?" I asked them as they all smiled at me.
"We're in town until the 9th. We figured you could show us around the town you grew up in." Jason told us.
"I think I can do that. We'll have to see though; I don't think my parents will let me skip that much school." I told them.
"Oh you have perfect attendance." Ryan told me.
"I sure do. But I've got Senior English and Spanish tomorrow and I can't miss those. I'll talk to my parents." I told them grinning.
"Come on the girls want to see you." jack told me as he pulled me close to his side.
"It's really good to see you guys." I told them as we walked across the cafeteria to see everyone.
"It's really good to see you too, Tess." Chad told me as I smiled.
"TESS!" The girls screamed as I walked up to them with the guys.
"Hi guys. How are you?" I asked them before Sharpay and Kelsi pulled me in for a hug.
"We're really good. We could ask you the same question." Sharpay told me as I smiled.
"I'm good. I'm happy and relieved that I don't have to hide where I'm going to school anymore." I told them smiling.
"We're happy when that girl announced that you were going to UNM." Kelsi told me as I smiled at her.
"It wasn't until the 31st of January did I figure out where I was going." I told them.
"You still were debating between Duke and UNM until the last possible second?" Kristin said stepping into the conversation to give me a hug.
"Yeah. I had my pros and cons and it was still one of the hardest decisions I had to make." I told them.
"So are you done for the day or what?" Taylor asked me as I smiled at her before giving her a hug.
"I'm done as soon as my parents sign me out. I just have to be home before 3:30." I told them.
"Why then?" Carly asked me coming over to give me a hug.
"Chelsea and Meghan are coming over for a little relaxation." I told them grinning.
"So you're going to let your friends met your crazy second family?" Chad asked me laughing a little.
"I'm having serious second doubts about the two of them meeting you but I guess they could since they're coming out with me in April." I told them.
"Oh you are coming out in April?" Ryan asked me as I quickly nodded my head.
"Spring Break is in April so I decided to come out there to look at the college again and hang out with you guys." I told them.
"That's cool." Taylor told me as my parents came over to me.
"You're all signed out. You can go home." Mom told me as I nodded.
"Thank you for signing me out. I'm going to get food and then I'll be home." I told her grabbing my keys from my back pack.
"Ok we're going to take them over to the house. Be home by 3:30 when the girls come over." Dad told me.
"I'll be home soon." I told them bidding my goodbyes before heading out to the parking lot where my 4-Runner was sitting.
I got in, drove to the local McDonalds, got food before heading back to the house. I walked in and saw the chaos in the house. There were people everywhere in the house. I walked into the kitchen, grabbed a plate before heading back to the spacious backyard.
I started eating my chicken tenders as the backdoor opened. I turned to see who it was and smiled.
"I totally did not think you guys would fly out here just to see me sign." I told Jack as he sat down across from me.
"We talked about it and decided that since we've missed out on so much on your life that we wanted to be here to see you sign with the college you had chosen." Jack told me smiling.
"Thank you again for coming out here. It couldn't have been easy to get time off." I told him.
"It was easy to get off time. And you're welcome. We were sad that you left early so we wanted to see you again." Jack told me.
"Well I'm glad. So what have you been up to?" I asked him but he didn't get to answer because I heard yelling inside the house.
"TESS ALEXIS DEVRIES!!!" I heard Chelsea and Meghan yell as I looked at Jack with a guilty look on my face.
"What did you do?" Jack asked me as I smiled at him.
"To tell you the truth, I have no idea. I'm not going to go in there and get my head bitten off." I told him settling back into the chair.
"WE'RE GOING TO FIND YOU MISSY." Meghan yelled as I shook my head.
"The girl has no sense of quietness in her body." I told Jack as he laughed.
"So those are the girls you've been hanging out with since you were little?" Jack asked me.
"We were in the same preschool class and ended up in the same classes from elementary school all the way through high school. We were on the same basketball teams and ended up on the same volleyball teams as well." I told him before the back door was thrown open.
"FOUND YA!!!" Chelsea yelled as I turned around and looked at her.
"You know the neighbor's children are currently down for naps. Great job you two; you might have woken them up." I told the two of them grinning.
"We were looking for you." Meghan told me smiling.
"Well now my entire second family thinks you two are crazy and their wondering who their niece and granddaughter hang out with." I told the two of them.
"Well I'm sorry. We had to talk to you." Chelsea told me.
"Well go ahead and talk." I told them rolling my eyes.
"Well we wanted to tell you that it's senior skip day tomorrow." Meghan told me.
"You mean the school is actually giving us one?" I asked them grinning.
"Surprisingly yes they are." Chelsea told me as Jack laughed and shook his head.
"What's so funny about this?" I asked my grandfather laughing.
"Just how excited you guys get about a senior skip day." Jack told me.
"Oh before I forget, Jack this is Meghan Buursema and Chelsea Howards, my two best friends since preschool. Girls this is Jack Bolton, my grandfather." I told them before they shook hands.
"It's nice to meet you two. Tess has said a lot of things about the two of you." Jack told the two.
"It's nice too meet you too. I hope she's said only good things." Meghan said as I grinned at her.
"Oh she's been good. We've made sure of it." Jack told both of them smiling.
"Good because if she's hasn't, then she knows what will happen." Chelsea said pounding her fist into her palm of her hand.
"I've been good you two. I promise. Did you guys meet the rest of the clan?" I asked looking between the two.
"Nope we were too busy looking for you that your mom pointed us in the right direction." Meghan told me.
"Come on in and I'll introduce to you everyone." I said picking up my trash and taking it into the house.
Meghan and Chelsea followed me into the kitchen so I could throw away my stuff before heading into the living room where everyone had congregated.
"Hey guys can I have your attention? This is Meghan Buursema and Chelsea Howards, my best friends since preschool. Girls, this is everyone." I told them as everyone laughed.
"Do you mind introducing everyone individually?" Chelsea asked me punching me in the arm.
"Sure if you don't ever do that again." I told her pointing my finger at her grinning.
"Sure I'll try to contain myself." Chelsea told me as I looked at her.
"All right; we have Ryan and Kristin Evans, Chad and Taylor Danforth, Zeke and Sharpay Baylor, and Jason and Kelsi Cross; they're my aunts and uncles. Then we have Jack and Carly Bolton, my grandparents." I told them smiling.
"It's nice to meet everyone." Chelsea and Meghan told my family as I grinned at them.
"These are the people I went to see out in Albuquerque." I explained to Meghan and Chelsea.
The rest of the afternoon we hung out. Meghan and Chelsea shared stories of how I was as a child to my second family as I blushed through the majority of them. My second family shared more stuff about Troy and Gabriella with me than they did while I was in NM.
So what did you guys think? Loved it or hated it?? Feedback would be the greatest present ever!!!!