Bryce POV

This was it. Graduation Day. The end of school, tests, boring teachers, naps during first period, and best of all, no more Juli Baker. Juli Baker: his first love, the girl who ripped and shredded his heart to tiny pieces. He couldn't wait to be done with school. Bryce was recruited by a local university as the new incoming freshman to replace the star quarterback. He would be at practice a lot this summer and figured this would be a good way to avoid Juli. They hadn't spoken in weeks. And now they were graduating. Bryce could possibly never lay eyes on Juli Baker again. Why would he care about that though? He would not miss seeing her beautiful smile or hearing the sound of her laughter as he passed through the school hallways.

"I can't wait for tonight baby," Sherry whispered into Bryce's ear.

They were together again. It made sense. They made sense. Sherry would never reject him the way Juli did.

"Yeah. Yeah, it'll be great," he said half heartedly.

Sherry had promised Bryce that tonight was the night. They would both lose their virginity. Bryce was tired of waiting on "the one".

Just look at my parents and tell me "the one" exists.

He sighed. That was just some bullshit fairytale that Chet made up. It didn't exist. He had Sherry and she would do. It didn't matter now.

Sitting on the football field with the rest of his classmates, Bryce awaited anxiously for his name to be announced on the loud speaker. Juli's name was called and Bryce watched her receive her diploma from Principal Moore. A fragment of him could not help feeling a hint of joy for her. After all, they had been neighbors practically all of their lives. It was only a natural reaction, right? As she walked back to her seat, her eyes found his. His heart ached. It was breaking all over again. He couldn't stand looking into her beautiful eyes. Sherry squeezed his arm, as if to draw his attention to her. Bryce forced a smile and tried to clear his mind of Juli. But something made him want to keep looking back at her. He couldn't help himself. She looked beautiful as always.

"What is so interesting that you have to keep looking behind us, Bryce?" Sherry asked with obvious annoyance in her voice.

"Nothing. It's nothing babe." Bryce forced himself to stop looking. He had to get used to the fact that he wouldn't be seeing much of Juli Baker anymore, perhaps ever again.

Juli POV

Graduation day. All these years of perfect attendance and schoolwork led up to this day, this moment. It was a bit surreal to think everything was finally coming to an end. Juli could not be more grateful for this. She was ready for it to be over. It would be the end of Bryce Loski torturing her night and day by filling her thoughts, her dreams, and her heart.

The past few weeks had been unbearable. Bryce would not even look at Juli as she passed through the school hallways, let alone speak to her. I haven't even spoken to him since that night. The night we almost…

Juli couldn't even let herself think about what had happened. She tried to fight the urge to let tears flow from her eyes.

Dana pulled her attention. "Can you believe it? This is it!" she grinned as all of the students sat down, waiting to hear their name called and to receive their diplomas.

Juli managed to muster a smile for her best friend. Dana had always been so sweet and loyal. Juli would miss her.

As Principal Moore began to call names out in alphabetical order, Juli knew this would be a slow and painful process. Suddenly she heard her name being called out over the loud speaker. "Juli Baker".

Juli's heart raced a little as she walked to receive her diploma. As Principal Moore handed her the diploma and shook her hand, a slight smile appeared at the corner of her mouth. She was a high school graduate. Juli walked back to her seat, but her focus was immediately drawn to one person. There they were… those dazzling eyes. She could pick them out any time and any place, even in a sea of people. It was Bryce Loski. Her Bryce: the boy across the street who always had an undeniable amount of power over her, probably much more than he should. They locked eyes. This would probably be the last time they would see each other. Juli felt her heart sting. Taking a deep breath, she rejoined Dana.

"You know he keeps looking back at you every chance he gets right?" Dana nudged Juli to look in his direction.

"Dana! No," Juli said sternly. "It's over, ok? Just let it be. Please."

She couldn't help silently wondering why he would even be looking at her. But it didn't matter anymore. Tomorrow everything would change. Bryce would no longer be a part of Juli's life…

"Bryce Loski," Principal Moore called out over the loud speaker. It was Bryce's turn now. Juli watched him receive his diploma, a twinge of sadness striking her. They both did it. They were high school graduates. This would mark a new chapter in their lives and things would never be the same.

After quite a few more names and students, the ceremony finally came to an end. It was all over now. The football field filled with people, and Juli wondered where in the crowd her parents and brothers were. Her eyes searched and spotted Mrs. Loski walking towards her.

"Congratulations, dear," Bryce's mom said while hugging her.

"Thank you," Juli smiled.

"And you, baby I am so proud!" Mrs. Loski broke the hug and ran to hug her son.

"Thanks, mom." Bryce hugged his mom back.

"You two must be so proud of each other! You started off as cute little kids and look at you now. You've blossomed and matured into wonderful young adults," Mrs. Loski said warmly, oblivious to the situation.

Juli and Bryce exchanged looks, speechless.

"Well, I'll leave you two to your graduation festivities! I'll see you at home honey." With a quick kiss on the cheek, she was gone leaving Bryce and Juli locked in each other's eyes, still neither saying a word.

Bryce finally broke the silence. "Congratulations, Juli."

"You too, Bryce."

Again, they simply stared at each other.

Bryce took a deep sigh. "I…" he hesitated.

"What?"

"Nothing. It's dumb. Just… nothing," he answered with frustration.

Juli looked at him expectantly, waiting for an honest answer.

"It's just that, I guess… I am going to miss you," he blurted with difficulty.

Juli let this register. "Oh."

She couldn't answer anything else. The inside of her was screaming, telling her to admit she would miss him too. But she was too proud to do that.

"I'm going to a local university. I'll be playing football and have an athletic scholarship."

"That's great," she said sincerely. She was really proud of him.

"Will you be staying around here too?" He almost sounded hopeful asking this.

Juli couldn't answer because Sherry managed to push her way into the conversation.

"We're actually going to the same university, Juli. Did you tell her that baby?"

Sighing, Bryce shook his head.

"Oh. That's great," Juli answered, this time lacking sincerity.

"I know! And you know what's even more great is that Bryce and I are together again. Don't worry, Juli. You couldn't make him happy, but I will." Sherry smirked.

"Sherry, stop." Bryce gave her a pleading look.

"You don't need to worry, Sherry," Juli snapped. "No need to feel threatened because as of tomorrow I'll be on a plane to England. And I don't plan on coming back."

"England? Juli, you can't be serious." Bryce searched her eyes for an answer.

"I am. I'm going to school there and I don't plan on coming back," she answered coldly.

"What? Surely you plan on coming home to visit. You can't just leave everything behind like that." He seemed deeply hurt by the idea of this.

Juli took a deep sigh. "Yes, I can. And I will."

"Well, that's that then. We should get going Bryce. Better let Juli pack."

"Sherry, that's ENOUGH." Bryce seemed to be fed up. "Go to the car and I will meet you in a little bit."

"Ok. I'll do it for you baby. But I'm only doing it because I can't wait to get out of here and do what we promised so I can be all your's."Sherry directed this right to Juli and with that took off.

Bryce looked at Juli apologetically, as a single tear was streaming down her cheek. He moved his hand to wipe the tear but Juli backed away.

"No, Bryce." She was clearly upset by what Sherry had said.

Bryce fumbled for words, trying to explain. "Juli, wait! What she said, that wasn't true. It wasn't true at all. I thought I was going to or that I wanted to. But now that I'm here with you, I know I don't want it. You're all I'll ever want because I love you and always will…"

"I don't need to hear any explanations, Bryce. I'm leaving and you're staying here with her. It's simple."

"Did you hear what I said?"

Juli looked at Bryce, his eyes beginning to water. "You'll do great with football. I know you'll do great." Juli tried to avoid the question.

"Damnit, Juli. I love you."

This would be one of the hardest things she would do in her life. On the inside, she felt like she was dying. "Look, it's a day to celebrate. We graduated and it's a new chapter in our lives, a fresh start. I just, I hope you'll be happy, Bryce. I want you to be happy,"

She placed a gentle kiss on his cheek as tears formed in her eyes. Waving goodbye she began walking away from him. This was it. She would never see him again.

Bryce watched her go, the idea of losing her forever tearing his heart to pieces. One last time. He ran to catch her hand, hoping for one final glance. They locked eyes again. Squeezing her hand gently, he placed a single kiss on her hand. "I hope you are too, Juli."

"Thank you." Juli squeezed his hand back and with that disappeared into the crowd of people till she was nowhere in sight. And with that, she vanished. She was gone.

Well, that's it! THE END. I didn't mean to leave you hanging but life got incredibly busy so that is why it took a while to update. Better late than never! I am still considering writing about what life would be like after university for Juli and Bryce. It could be a interesting fanfic ;]. Hope you enjoyed the story. Thank you so much for reading/favoriting (not a word, I know)/following/reviewing! Y'all are awesome!