Chapter 7: The End Is Near

June is a weird month for school. On the one hand, you are following your regular schedule of classes. On the other hand, you and a bunch of other people are just counting down the days till it's over.

This is the last month of my junior year here at East Highland and I don't know how to feel about it. Next September, it'll be my senior year and I'll be counting down the days till graduation. For some reason, I never thought I'd make it this far. It felt like yesterday I was getting ready for my first day of elementary school.

Time flies by so dang fast. I should be excited since I've always wanted to grow up as soon as possible when I was a kid. Now, I'm almost a year away from finishing high school and starting college.

I'm not sure if it's just me, but I always pictured high school as this transition to adulthood. Whenever I had conversations with my parents as a child, high school would always constantly be brought up whenever we'd talk about my future. It would go like "When you're in high school you'll be old enough to do this...or help me do...".

To me, I feel like we're all still just a bunch of kids just with more responsibilities. I'm not sure what to make about this whole end of high school thing so I decided to talk to Dr. Melfi about it.

Thursday Evening: Dr. Melfi's Office

Dr. Melfi: What do you find so troubling about finishing high school?

Daniel: I don't know. It's just that I never thought I'd make it this far.

Dr. Melfi: What makes you say that?

Daniel: I didn't mean to say that in a literal sense. I guess what I want to say is that time flies by quickly. You know?

Dr. Melfi: I can see that. Not too long ago did I felt like the day was about to begin.

Daniel: Exactly! Time goes by when you least expect it. I just wished that it were the same whenever I'm in boring classes.

Dr. Melfi: Yes. Time is not your best friend whenever you're in those situations.

Daniel: Yea, time works in mysterious ways, I guess.

Dr. Melfi: Indeed. Is there anything else you would like to share about school?

Daniel: Not really. It's just that I had some of these thoughts on the back of my head. I didn't really know how to process them until I had this discussion with you.

Dr. Melfi: Have you ever tried to tell anybody else about what you're going through?

Daniel: No, not really.

Dr. Melfi: How about your parents?

Daniel: My dad almost never has time to talk. I guess I could talk about it with him on the days that I see him.

Dr. Melfi: How about your mom?

Daniel: Nah. I don't think my mom would understand.

Dr. Melfi: Why do you say that?

Daniel: Well, besides the fact that she likes to talk more than listen, me and her are completely different. She wouldn't understand what I'm going though.

Dr. Melfi: How different are you two?

Daniel: Well to start, she's way older than me. Second, she's a woman. I don't think a middle-aged woman would understand the stuff that someone like me must deal with.

Dr. Melfi: I'm a woman and you're telling me all the stuff you're going through. But I wouldn't say that I'm middle age just yet.

Daniel: You're not middle age. Yeah, I do tell you all this stuff, don't I? But you're my therapist and I'm supposed to tell you all of this.

Dr. Melfi: Not necessarily. We can stop talking about school if you want.

*Brief Silence*

Daniel: Well, I guess I tell you all of this because I don't know...I trust you.

Dr. Melfi: Well, I'm glad that you trust me, Daniel. I always make sure to make this space a comfortable one for all my clients including you. So, if you feel comfortable then I'm doing a good job. But if you ever feel uncomfortable about something you can always tell me, and I'll try to help.

Daniel: Thanks.

Dr. Melfi: Don't mention it.

Last Day of Junior Year

On the last day of my junior year, I got up early. I didn't really sleep too much last night because I was up until 3 am watching YouTube videos. Out of all the days that I could have done that; this was the worst day to do it.

I was half asleep in my front yard as I waited for Miles to pick me up. After being woken up by Miles' car horn, I made my way to the backseat of his car. Miles had picked up me and a couple of senior guys from our school.

This year, Miles and I were given the opportunity to help some of the senior guys with the last day of school pranks. We met some of these guys at one of Nate's parties and we got along well but I would say that it was mostly Nate's recommendation that probably got us this opportunity.

We arrived at the school and the parking lot was as empty as I remembered it the day I went to take my SATs. We made our way to the back entrance and went along with preparing the pranks.

The pranks were nothing that extreme, a couple of whoopie cushions and paint bombs basically. When we finished setting up the pranks, all of us except two seniors made our way to Miles' car.

We waited inside Miles' car until the first period was about to start. Me and Miles headed to our first period class as usual. When we got to our seats, the school speaker came on.

*School Speaker Sound On*

School Speaker: GOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING EAST HIGHLAND HIGH SCHOOL! ARE YALL READY TO GET OUT OF THIS SHITHOLE?

Our teacher stared at the speaker confused while the rest of us started laughing.

School Speaker: *loud knocks* OPEN THE GOD DANG DOOR OR YALL ARE GONNA BE MISSING THE GRADUATION TODAY. WHOA IT LOOKS LIKE THE PRINCIPAL IS TRIGGERED YALL *Laughs*

We heard pretty much everything that went on in that room. We then heard the door bust open.

School Speaker: YOU ALL BETTER TAKE OFF YOUR MASKS AND REVEAL YOURSELF RIGHT NOW. GIVE ME THE MIC.

Before the speaker went off, the hub theme started playing.

Everybody in our class started laughing, a few cheered. Me and Miles looked at each other and we couldn't be any more proud of ourselves than at this moment.

The first half of classes went quicker than I imagined. When it came to the last period of class, we were told by our teacher that it would be a free period, and we could roam around. A bunch of people made their way to the cafeteria after the teacher told us that.

School Cafeteria

When I got to the cafeteria. Everybody was chilling at their usual spots. There were some going around and getting their yearbooks signed. I'm not really one to go around and ask people to sign my yearbook, I mostly sign the yearbooks of others.

I couldn't find Miles anywhere, so I sat at an empty table. I was going through my phone until I got a tap on my shoulder. I looked up and expected to see Miles but instead I saw someone I couldn't imagine running into.

Kate: Hey Daniel!

Daniel: Hey Kate.

Kate: Oh my gosh, it's been like forever since we last talked.

Daniel: Yeah, it has.

Kate: So... how have you been?

Daniel: I've been doing good. How about you?

Kate: I'm doing great! I'm just asking people to sign my yearbook. How many signatures did you get in your yearbook?

I open my yearbook to the signing page.

Daniel: None, actually *laughs*

Kate: *laughs* Do you want me to sign your yearbook?

Daniel: Yea sure.

Kate signs my yearbook with a pink marker. I was about to read it until she shoved her yearbook in front of me.

Kate: Thanks Daniel! Oh wait, before I go. Cassie!

Kate signals for Cassie to come over. Me and Cassie both glare at each other. We cringe.

Cassie: Yeah?

Kate: We're signing yearbooks. Would you like to sign Daniel's so he can sign yours?

Daniel: *thinks* That bitch.

Cassie: Yea sure.

Cassie signs my yearbook, and I did the same.

Kate: See ya later Daniel!

Kate and Cassie walked off the same exact way. Only difference is that Kate smiled when she walked away while Cassie gave me a death stare.

I guess Cassie hasn't told her about me. Cassie came back to school a week after the whole play incident. She separated herself from her friend group after coming back. Rumor has it that she also separated herself from her family even after moving back in.

With the whole play incident, you'd think somebody in Cassie's position would be ostracized by the whole school but nope, quite the opposite happened.

Upon coming back, Cassie was met with a bunch of people coming up to her and praising her for her actions during the play. Although there were some people that felt indifferent about her actions, a good chunk people thought what she did was badass.

It's sort of like Cassie has her own posse backed up by her number one fan, Kate Sutherland. For some reason, Kate became extremely close to Cassie after the incident. They started their own friend group that I like to call "The Cassie Fan Club".

Miles: Danny Boy!

I look back and see Miles coming my way. We both greeted each other, and Miles sat down at my table.

Miles: That speaker prank was fucking epic. *laughs*

Daniel: Yeah. It makes sense why those two seniors stayed at the school instead of coming with us.

Miles: Yeah. Sorry for coming in late, I was getting a few signatures for my yearbook.

I roll my eyes.

Miles: Let me see your yearbook.

Before I could even react, Miles snatches my yearbook and turns to the signature page.

Miles: Have a nice summer! Call me. And there's a number here.

Daniel: Do not say that number out loud idiot.

Miles: And it's from Kate. Yo, I think she's into you dude. You gonna call her over the summer?

Daniel: I don't know. Maybe.

Miles: Bro what do you mean maybe? Are you not interested? Cause if you're not then I'll gladly take that number away from you.

Kate is a good-looking girl, and I have known her since elementary school. We basically grew up together since our parents were close with each other. We haven't interacted too much throughout high school though, but I think it could be because we never have the same classes.

There are a bunch of people I used to hang out with back in the day that I don't hang out with now. I guess Kate became one of those people. It's not that Kate is a bad person, she's more bearable than Miles sometimes.

I guess I thought we all went separately after middle school. Believe it or not, Kate's the type of person I'd want to go out with. She's blonde and has a nice tan, the problem is that I'm not interested in her for some reason.

Before Miles could tell me more about what he'd do to Kate, the final school bell rang and the whole cafeteria got even more crazy. Everybody started cheering and making their way out. Me and Miles joined along.

Miles: School's over bro. Let's fucking go.

Daniel: Yup.

Miles: Bro, can you believe that we just finished our junior year?! When we come back, we'll be seniors.

Daniel: Don't remind me about the time we come back *laughs*

Miles: Aight I won't. But still, we're almost close to graduation. It's almost like the end is near. You know?

Miles' Car

When we finally made our way out of the crowded school, we hopped inside Miles' car. Even though we had parked close to the school, we still had to deal with the traffic by the exit of the school parking lot.

Miles: Aw motherfucker! Can these fucking cars move already?!

While Miles was concentrating on traffic, I looked out and saw some kid rolling down the grass hill beside our school. It got a slight chuckle out of me. The kid went back up the hill and did the same thing again.

I was about to tap on Miles' shoulder until I heard some snickers coming from the people besides the kid. The kid still kept on rolling and smiling.

I was confused by this kid's actions. Isn't that kid embarrassed or something? I know if I was in his position, well I wouldn't be in his position in the first place, but regardless, I would stop immediately and save myself from embarrassment. Right when I was about to tap on Miles' shoulder, he made his way out of the parking lot.

Miles: FREEDOM

Even though I was as ecstatic as Miles, I kept on thinking about that kid rolling down the grass hill. The kid gave no fucks about what other people thought and kept on smiling. He sorted of reminded me of how I felt when I was on ecstasy at Nate's party. Feeling joyous of the freedom from the bullshit that is around us.

Author Note: This is the end of the first part of the story. If this was a tv series, this would be the season finale of the first season. I think seven chapters per part works idk what do you all think? The next part will focus on Daniel's summer and his senior year. I decided to add Kate from Kat's flashback to the story. She might be important later in the story so keep your eye on her. Expect more characters and interactions with existing characters later in the story. I sort of have everything planned out on how I would like this story to go. Take care everyone. Peace.