Okay, I'm going to give you guys a bit of a background on Moving Up Day, which takes place in this chapter. I think I explain it pretty well but I'll just tell you. Moving Up Day is a ceremony at my former high school in which they present the graduating seniors with awards and scholarships, and then when that's done, they move out of their seats and gather around the flag pole while "It's Time To Go" is sung by students from Chorus. Then, the juniors move into the seniors' seats, making them officially seniors. My high school only has the seniors and juniors participate because the classes are so big, but for the sake of this story, all classes participate. Okay, we all clear? Good. Without further ado, here is chapter 24!
There wasn't much free time in the month following prom for any of the students attending Stroudsburg High School. Juniors were busy taking their SATs. Seniors were prepping for graduation and college. There were too many school events to count on ones fingers and toes.
This also meant that there wasn't any time for Clint and Natasha to take their relationship to the next level. Natasha was too busy studying for her SATs and stressing out over them. Clint was busy with securing his living arrangements and classes for college in the fall. Clint had decided on going to Penn State Main in the fall, and anytime he brought up the topic with Natasha, she grew stiff and quickly tried to change the subject.
The fact that Clint was leaving for college in the fall was probably why she was finally ready. She had to admit that she was still scared and nervous, but she realized that she would be losing him in the fall. Not permanently, but she wasn't going to see him every day, and it scared the living hell out of her.
Every time she thought about it, there was a sharp pain in her chest, right near her heart. She didn't want him to go, and she knew he didn't want to leave her either. But Natasha wasn't selfish. She was quite proud that he was going to Penn State, and she wanted him to go and experience all of the fantastic things college has to offer. That included the crazy frat parties and getting wasted every weekend. Penn State wasn't one of the top party schools in the country for nothing.
Within the last few weeks of school, Natasha got extremely anxious. It was going to be hard watching him "move out" on Moving Up Day, a Stroudsburg ceremonial tradition in which the seniors moved out of the school and the juniors, sophomores, and freshmen moved up. It was going to be ten times harder to watch him graduate.
The week before graduation, Moving Up Day took place. Not only was it a ceremonial tradition for Stroudsburg, it was also meant to award the graduating class with academic scholarships and awards. The juniors, sophomores, and freshmen just sat there until it came time for them to "move up."
The temperature was in the 70's but the sun was beating down on the students on the football field with force. Unfortunately and fortunately, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. There wouldn't be any rain, but all the students, parents, and staff wanted was a little break from the sunshine.
One by one, Natasha watched from the juniors section- seated in between Jane and Peggy – as seniors were called up to the makeshift stage on the field to accept their scholarships. Natasha cringed every single time Bobbi Morse's name was called, and then looked away as she saw her walk on stage to accept her awards.
As smart as Clint was, she didn't think he would win any scholarships or awards. It's not like he needed any anyways. Along with the $10,000 from Coach Ross, Clint was also awarded a $2,500 yearly scholarship from Penn State. He was pretty well off for his first year.
Natasha was caught off guard when his name was called to receive one of the academic department awards: history. Clint was always great at history and he could name the dates of an event in practically any country's history off the top of his head. It didn't surprise her that they would award him with being the top student in the history department, she just didn't expect it. Like the proud girlfriend that she was, she stood straight up and cheered him on as he went up to accept his award.
The rest of the ceremony went on without Clint, Steve, or Thor's names being called and Natasha, Peggy, and Jane didn't care. They'd already seen Clint, Steve, and Thor get awarded at the Senior Football Banquet back in March, and that was enough to make them proud.
When the ceremony began to come to a close, Principal Fury announced that it was time "move up and move out." The seniors filed out of their seats and headed to the end of the field to gather around the flag pole, while the juniors, sophomores, and freshmen "moved up" to their respective seats. The juniors were now seniors. Sophomores were now juniors, and freshmen were now sophomores.
The entire student body watched as the flag was lowered from the flag pole and the ceremony was officially over. Cheers erupted from the audience and the student body, and the field turned into total chaos as the student dispersed to hug their friends and celebrate moving up or moving out.
Natasha pushed her way through the crowd to find Clint at the end of the football field. He was standing there with Steve and Thor, and when he saw her, he took several steps towards her and immediately kissed her.
"No matter what happens this fall," he said when he pulled away from her. "I'll still love you. I promise."
The second Friday in June was graduation, and Natasha did not want it to come. Of course, it snuck up on her and she wasn't prepared to watch Clint graduate. She was prepared in the sense that she requested the night off of work about a month in advance, but mentally and emotionally, she would never be ready for it.
Natasha caught a ride with Clint's parents and Barney to graduation; Clint had to be at the school almost two hours prior. When they arrived at the school, they parked in the football practice fields across from the stadium and then walked to the stadium to grab some seats in the stands.
As 7:00 drew nearer, Natasha got extremely nervous. She wasn't quite sure why seeing as she wasn't the one graduating. They had the whole summer to do whatever they wanted, but come the end of August, Clint would be three hours away in State College. From there on out, Natasha would be all alone.
"Pomp and Circumstance" began to play and the crowd erupted in cheers as the soon-to-be graduates paraded onto the football field and took their places in the seats that were placed on the field. Natasha managed to find Clint in the crowd easily. He was seated on the outside of the third row on the boys' side. She wanted to wave to him, but she knew that even he wouldn't be able to find her in the stands.
Principal Fury stepped onto the makeshift stage and began his usual spiel about the future and living your dreams and trying not to fuck up. Even though he never quite phrased it that way, it was usually implied that that was the message he was trying to convey.
After Principal Fury's speech, he welcomed the class president on stage to give her speech. Natasha started to tune out. As much as she wanted this to be dragged out, she really didn't want to be listening to these speeches. They were a bunch of bullshit anyways about how they're all a family and finished this journey together. That even though they'll be going on to bigger and better things, they'll always have the memories they have together from high school.
By the time Natasha tuned back in, Principal Fury had taken the stage to begin announcing the names to hand out the diplomas. It felt like it was taking forever for Principal Fury to announce Clint's name, but when he did, Clint's parents, Barney, and Natasha stood and cheered for him. When he got his diploma and bounded down the stage steps, he did a lame fist pump into the air and Natasha giggled at his ridiculous gesture.
Since Clint's last name was in the B's, they had to sit through the rest of the students' names. One by one they watched at the rest of Clint's classmates received their diplomas. When Bobbi Morse's name was called, Natasha rolled her eyes at the large roar of cheers Bobbi received from her classmates. Natasha cheered for Steve and Thor as well when they received their diplomas.
When the final student received their diploma, the graduates were just itching for Principal Fury to present them as the most recent graduating class of Stroudsburg High School. When he did, cheers erupted from the field and the graduates were lost in a sea of graduation caps and silly string as fireworks exploded in the sky.
Natasha couldn't help the smile that spread across her face as she watched the graduates celebrate. Graduation was an exciting time in anyone's life, and this would be Natasha in a year. She wasn't sure why she'd been so nervous in the beginning of the ceremony. This was exciting and she couldn't wait to celebrate it with Clint.
Clint's parents, Barney, and Natasha made their way down the field. They gently pushed past groups of families already celebrating as they searched for Clint through the sea of people. They found Clint on the outer edge of the field with Steve, Thor, Peggy, Jane, and Steve and Thor's parents.
Clint's parents hugged him and Barney gave him a playful punch in the arm. When his parents had gotten their emotions in check, they stepped back to let Natasha have her one-on-one with Clint. She stepped forward and gave Clint a hug but he picked her up and swung her around. Natasha giggled at his ridiculous behavior, and then he set her down firmly on the ground and looked her in the eyes.
"I graduated," he breathed.
"You graduated," she said with a smile. As much as it pained her to say it, he had definitely graduated and they had roughly less than two months left with each other.
He knew something was bugging her. He knew her too well. Anybody else wouldn't notice it because she was extremely skilled at hiding her emotions, but around Clint, he could read her like an open book.
Then he realized that he knew exactly what was bugging her. The fact that they only had a couple months left together was seriously eating away at her. Clint didn't like it either, but they had the whole summer to do whatever they wanted together.
"Hey," he said, lifting her chin up with his finger so she could look at him. "We're going to make this work, but for now, can we just have fun this summer?"
Natasha nodded and then Clint gave her a quick peck on the lips so they could proceed with taking pictures.
Graduation pictures took longer than the prom pictures and by the time they had finished, the crowd of parents and students had started to exit the stadium and head home for the night. Clint, Natasha, Clint's parents, and Barney broke off from the rest of the group and headed to their cars. Traffic was a nightmare already, so there was no way they'd be making it out of the parking lot anytime soon.
Clint said that he had parked closer to the school, and then slung his arm across Natasha's shoulders and pulled her towards the school with him.
"Where are we going?" she asked, confused.
"You don't want to ride back with me?" he asked with a sarcastic undertone.
Natasha rolled her eyes at him. "I do, dumbass."
Clint chuckled. "Okay, so technically we're not going home. I'm taking you somewhere."
"Shouldn't it be the other way around? I mean, you're the one who just graduated high school. I should be taking you somewhere."
"Yeah, well, since you don't know how to drive, I'm taking you somewhere."
They had reached Clint's car, which was parked in the faculty parking lot by the school. Many of the other high school graduates had parked here as well, and traffic wasn't so bad getting out of this parking lot so they were in luck. He unlocked the car and opened the passenger side door for Natasha for her to slide in. He shut the door and rounded the front of the car, and quickly slid into the driver's seat. He chucked his cap, gown, and diploma into the back seat and shoved the keys into the ignition.
Before they knew it, they were out of the parking lot and driving out of town towards home. Natasha didn't know where they were going and she was confused when they pulled into the parking lot of Hamilton Elementary School. Clint put the car in park and got out, rounding the front of the car, and opening Natasha's door when he reached the passenger side.
"What are we doing here?" she asked, stepping out of the car into the humid summer night air.
"We are going to swing on the swings," he said matter-of-factly.
Natasha rolled her eyes at him. "You just graduated high school and all you want to do is swing on the swings?"
"Duh," he said sarcastically. Natasha shook her head at him, but couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face. Clint moved closer to her, resting his hands on her waist, and pulling her closer.
"I want to spend my graduation night here because this is where I first met you. I want to end the grade school years I spent with you where it started," he said.
Natasha lowered her head to hide the ridiculously goofy smile that she felt on her face.
"Okay," she said, looking back up at him. "But I get the third swing from the right."
She broke away from his grasp and started to run to the playground behind the school.
"No, that one goes the highest!" he whined as he chased after her.
They spent the night on the playground as if they were little kids again. They competed against each other to see who could go the highest on the swings; Natasha won because she was on the swing that was third from the right.
They jumped off the swings to see who could land the farthest. Natasha's legs had given way one time when she landed and she ended up on her back. She half-moaned, half-laughed at her stupidity as Clint laughed at her from a couple feet from her side.
"You okay, Nat?" he asked as he sat up to look at her.
"Oh, no," she moaned. "It hurts."
"Wait what?" he said, panicked.
She turned her head towards Clint and reached her hand towards him.
"Come kiss me and make it better," she said with a smirk.
Clint shook his head and felt a smile spread across his face. He crawled over to her where she was laying down in the grass and he braced his arms on both sides of her. He lowered himself down, but only enough so that he could feel her breath on his.
"Where does it hurt?" he muttered.
She brought a hand up to her face and tapped her lips with her index finger. Clint flashed a small smile before leaning in and pressing his lips against hers.
"But really," he said when he pulled away from her. "Are you okay? You're not hurt or anything?"
"No I'm totally fine," she said with a laugh. She pushed herself up onto her elbows and Clint pulled away from her to sit beside her. From where they were sitting, they had a perfect view of the entire playground, including the spot where Natasha was teased by the playground bullies many years ago.
"I still remember that day so well," Natasha said, nodding her head towards the spot where she was teased. Clint smiled; he knew exactly what she was talking about.
"You were a cocky little shit then," she teased.
"Hey!" he said in protest.
"Still are," she said with a smirk. "Just the way you introduced yourself. Pointing to yourself as you said your name. Who does that?"
"An adorable first grader who saves an even more adorable red-headed kindergartener from playground bullies," he said, leaning over the kiss her on the cheek.
"You thought I was adorable?" she asked, slightly blushing.
"Still do," he corrected.
Natasha smiled to herself, even though she knew that Clint could see it anyways. She looked around at the playground. It held so many memories and not just memories for them. Jane and Thor had their first kiss under the swirly slide. Clint, Steve, and Thor spent much of their recess time competing to see who could swing the highest on the swing set. There had been many skinned knees, and many battles over who gets to go on the monkey bars first. Now that they were all grown up, the conflicts of their elementary years felt like nothing compared to what they have faced and what they will have to face.
"What are we going to do Clint?" she muttered.
Clint turned his head to face her but she was still looking straight.
"What do you mean?" he asked, bewildered.
Natasha let out a breath. "You're leaving at the end of August. I know you said you won't be able to go a couple months without seeing me and that you'll come home but – but…" she trailed off.
Clint looked at her confusion but waited to see if she was going to finish. She took a deep breath and continued.
"I'm proud of you. I really am. You got into Penn State Main, and that's where you're going, and they're giving you a great scholarship to go there, but I can't help but feel extremely selfish. I don't want you to go."
"Hey. Hey, hey, hey," he said quickly and he leaned in to kiss her. She fell back against the grass as Clint continued to kiss her.
"We are going to make this work. I promise you," he said when he pulled away from her. "I'll come home every other weekend or you can come visit – ."
"And how the hell do you expect me to come visit you when I have no license and no car?" she interrupted condescendingly.
"I'll arrange transportation for you or something. I don't know, but if you want to come visit me, I will get you there somehow," he said.
"It's going to be so weird not having you around."
"I know," he said, "but we will make this work. I promise you. I don't know how many times I have to tell you that."
Natasha nodded her head and pushed herself back up. However, she didn't look at Clint at all. She just continued to look straight ahead.
"Are you going to look at me?" he asked.
She turned her head but didn't even crack a smile. Her entire face was expressionless, which meant that she was pouting.
"Stop pouting," he said, giving her a quick peck on the lips. "I want a rematch anyways."
He got up and quickly claimed the third swing from the right. Natasha rolled her eyes and got up to sit on one of the swings next to him. When she looked over at him, pumping his legs to gain more momentum, she smiled at how childish he looked. She shook their conversation from her head and started pumping her legs to try to swing higher than Clint.
No matter how hard she tried, he was going to win because he had the third swing from the right. But she also realized that no matter how hard she tried to argue it, Clint would try his hardest to see her every weekend. As she looked around at her surroundings, she realized that ever since elementary school he had always been promising her this, and he kept his word every single time. The fact that she doubted him now was ridiculous so she decided that this time, she was going to trust him because she knew he wouldn't let her down.
Awww how adorable! haha. So Clint graduated, Natasha's officially a senior, and they still haven't had sex yet? haha. It's coming up. I can tell you that much. Within at least the next three chapters.
As always, thank you for adding this to your favorites, signing up for alerts, and reviewing. Let me know what you guys think about Moving Up Day, graduation, and Clint and Natasha's talk on the playground. Review away! I still love reading what you guys think!