I do not own any of the recognizable characters presented in this story. No copyright infringement is intended. All other characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.

7. GRADUATION

"Jacob! We're going to be late!" I just finished tying my shoes and walked into the bedroom where Jacob stood there in a towel, staring off into space. "Jacob, let's go."

He shook his head quickly and turned to me. "I don't know what I'm going to say!"

"Well whatever it is, you can't do it naked!"

"There are some things I can do naked…" He walked over to me and pinned me to the wall.

I pushed on his chest. "No Jacob! Not now. When it's over." He stepped aside and I walked over to the dresser and threw a pair of pants, boxers, and a button down shirt at him.

"Do I have to wear this? It's gonna be hot enough with the gown on…" He started hopping around on one leg trying to get his clothes on.

I headed out of the bedroom, calling back to Jacob as I left. "You're making us late, now you get to suffer."

I paced around the living room waiting for Jacob to be ready to leave. Edward walked in the door, followed closely behind by Bella. "Are you guys ready yet? It probably already started."

"I'm ready. We're just waiting on him." I turned and looked at the bedroom door.

The door opened and Jacob walked out wearing his graduation gown and holding his cap. "Does it have to be this gross purple color?"

I smiled. "It looks hot on you."

He put the cap on. "You're just saying that so I'll stop complaining. Which way does the tassel go?"

"The right side." Edward laughed at the way Jacob looked. "That is a highly unflattering color on you."

"I'm going to ignore that insult. Are you sure it's the right side?" Jacob adjusted the tassel so it hung freely on the right side of his cap.

Edward laughed again. "How many times have I graduated?"

"Good point. Alright, let's go." Jacob walked over to me and smiled.

I looked up at him. "It's your big day, huh Jacob?"

He sighed. "Great thanks, no pressure."

Edward drove Jacob, Bella, and me to the graduation ceremony at Jacob's school. When we got there, Embry and Quil ran over to Jacob and started talking. Edward and Bella started walking towards the auditorium to find seats and I told them I'd be right there.

I walked over to Jacob and pulled him aside. He looked into my eyes and looked really nervous. I laughed and smiled. "You're going to do great, Jake. I know you are. Just speak from here," I pointed to his heart, "not up here." I pointed to his head.

He nodded and I turned to find Edward in the auditorium. Jacob grabbed my arm. "Don't I get a good luck kiss?"

"How could I have forgotten?" I turned back to him and pulled his face to mine, pressing our lips together. Before things got out of hand, I pulled away. "Go get 'em, wolfie."

"Wolfie?" He looked at me confused.

"Well the saying goes, 'go get 'em, tiger', but you know… You're not a tiger."

He shook his head. "I knew that, but why 'wolfie'? Why not just 'wolf'?"

I threw my hands up, turning around. "You know what? Forget it. I hope you mess up!"

Jacob's POV

I smiled as Terry stomped away. I loved to push his buttons.

"Jake, you comin'? We gotta go." Quil grabbed my shoulder, pulling me along. We walked down a long hallway and all the students were lined up. As I looked down the line, I discovered they were all in alphabetical order. Quil took his place near the front of the line and Embry walked back a ways to the C's.

I got in line with the rest of the B's, waiting to get this whole thing over with. Terry said not to think too much about my speech, so I didn't. I have really nothing prepared. He trusted that whatever I came up with off the top of my head would be great. I hoped he was right.

The principal came walking down the hallway and stopped in front of me. "Jacob Black. Valedictorian. No valedictorian is complete without this." He handed me what looked to be just a piece of gold cloth.

"Thank… you…?" I had no idea what to do with it.

"Put it around the back of your neck." He took the cloth back and lifted it up and over my head. He pulled it up against the back of my neck and let it hand down in front of me.

I looked down and in black stitching the word 'VALEDICTORIAN' was down one side. "Great thanks."

He placed his arms on my shoulders and smiled. "Make us proud."

I smiled back politely. Great… loving all this pressure…

After a few minutes of standing in the hallway, music started playing in the auditorium. I recognized it as 'Pomp and Circumstance', the song played at all graduations. Slowly, but surely, the line of people began filing into the auditorium. The people inside began clapping and cheering for their graduates. When I walked inside, the cheering got much louder. I looked to the source of the increase of sound and saw the rest of the pack that wasn't graduating, pumping their fists in the air. Next to them was Bella and Edward, and Terry was next to my dad and Charlie. Terry smiled and waved at me.

Once the students got to the seat we were supposed to take, the principal got up on the stage and gave a little speech. Typical principally speech, nothing too exciting. The he called my name and welcomed me onto the stage.

I walked up the steps of the stage and my cheering section began hollering again. I shook my head and stood behind the podium. I looked out at all of the faces in the auditorium, awaiting my speech. One face stood out above all else. Terry's. He looked me dead in the eyes and just nodded.

I nodded back, and then inspiration hit me. "The other day a friend of mine asked me what I thought was the best time of life. I answered without a thought, 'now'. How many of you here have done something you regret?" I looked out at the crowd and almost everyone raised their hands. "How many of you have lived through something so terrible, that it haunts you to this very day?" A little less than half raised their hands.

I looked at all the raised hands and noticed Terry's hand wasn't raised. He was just smiling at me.

"How many of you worry about your futures?" Again, almost everyone raised their hands. I shook my head. "And how many of you actually listen to that old saying and 'seize the day'?" I watched in amazement as almost no one in the audience raised their hands. "I do."

People in the crowd tilted their heads, engaging me in my speech. I smirked to myself. Terry was right…

"I live," I poked the top of the podium with my finger, "for today. Not yesterday," I swung my hand behind me, "and not tomorrow." I brought my arm around in front of me and pointed to the audience. "Today. You can't spend all of your time focusing on the past or the future. Your life goes by every second, of every day. If you don't stop and look around once and a while, you're gonna miss it."

The audience was loving my speech. I could see in their faces they were absorbing every word I said.

I looked over at the group of graduating students. "I know you guys are all worried about your futures. College, work, whatever it may be. But you can't focus all of your time and effort on that. Before you know it, you're life will be nearing its end. You'll be sitting in a room with your grandkids, telling them about life 'back in the day', and you're going to wonder where all the time went." I slammed my hand down on the podium. "This is 'the day'. You need to live it."

The auditorium filled with the sound of applause. The over-the-top cheering of my section, continued to over power the rest of the people. The principal came back on the stage and thanked me for my speech. I sat back down in my seat and the principal stood behind the podium.

He talked a little more and eventually we got to the diploma part. The principal started to call out each student's name, one by one. When he called my name, I stood up and for what I hoped was the last time, my cheering section erupted into thunderous howling. I walked up onto the stage and grabbed the diploma, shaking the principal's hand. We both turned to the crowd of people as flashes of lights started as people took pictures. When they were done, I sat back in my seat.

The principal continued calling names of students and when the last student had received his diploma and sat back down, the principal said we could now move the tassel of our caps to the other side. When we all had done that, he 'presented' the class to the world.

I was mistaken. The entire audience of people started cheering loudly but still, my group was louder. All of the graduates took of their caps and threw them up into the air.

When I had reclaimed my cap, I walked out of the auditorium to find my friends and family. The were all outside, the pack all had most of their clothes unbuttoned and removed. "There he is!" Everyone came over to me and started hugging me and congratulating me on graduating.

I stepped aside and saw Dad was off to the side. I walked over to him. "What's wrong, Dad?"

He looked up at me and for the first time, I saw my father crying. "My boy's all grown up."

I knelt down and hugged him. My dad and I were never people to be so emotional in front of each other, but tonight was an exception.

Terry's POV

I walked over to Jacob and placed his hand on his back. "Congratulations, Jake. Nice speech, too."

He turned to me, smiling. "Thank you. It just came to me."

I nodded. "Told you." I never had any doubts that he wouldn't have a great speech.

Jacob smiled a seductive smile. "I do believe you also told me I'd be able to do some things naked when it was over as well…"

"You can't keep it in your pants can you?" I smiled at him.

He shook his head. "Nope."

"Hey, Jacob!" Seth ran over to us. "Sam's throwing a graduation party for you, Quil, and Embry. Let's go!"

I ran a finger down Jacob's chest. "Looks like you have to wait…"

He laughed. "For now."