Graduation day dawned with a bright sunshine peering into Shelby’s room. The sound of birds chirping could be heard from outside of Shelby’s window as she stirred from her restful sleep.
The day before Shelby had gathered all her boxes to pack with, and threw them in her closet knowing she’d get up at 6 to start. Starting with her dresser, Shelby began the rigorous chore of packing, something she hated and had put off until the very end.
By 10 o’clock she had all her clothes and most of the accessories from her closet and dresser packed along with her nic-nac’s and shelves.
“Hey Shel, whoa what happened in here?” Nancy opened the door letting herself in.
“Come on in, find a spot if you can.” Shel breathed deeply and slowly let it out.
“You got a lot done.” Nancy slowly looked around.
“I have about half to go.” Shelby yawned stretching her arms above her head.
“Need some help?”
“Sure, grab a box.” Shel threw a box her way, then watched as Nancy caught it.
“Thanks for the warning.” Nancy smirked just barely catching it. “Nice song by the way.”
“I can’t get enough of this song. Almost makes me want to go find me a hero.” Shelby giggled listening to Hero for the 10th time that day.
“Jason’s my hero.” Nancy beamed.
“Right, I’d never have guessed. Have you eaten breakfast yet?” Shel asked.
“Nope.”
“Let’s get out of here for a while and go get something.” Shelby suggested standing up.
“I’m game.” Nancy agreed.
“Just let me change.” Shel asked.
“What’s wrong with what you have on?” Nancy wondered.
“I’m not wearing my pajamas thank you very much.” Shelby smirked.
“Ok that’s true.” Nancy nodded.
Shelby changed into the outfit she was going to wear for graduation and spiked her hair. Within 10 minutes they were both ready to go.
Shelby led the way to the car and headed to Denny’s. Shelby figured Brad would be working and decided to just go there to eat and pick up her check.
“Hey guys.” Brad said giving them menus.
“Hey Brad, we come to make you work.” Shelby smirked.
“Darn, I knew I should have stayed home today.” Brad cringed.
“What do you want to drink?” he asked several minutes later after he’d waited on another table.
“I’ll have an apple juice now and milk when my meal comes.” Shelby smiled sweetly.
“Geez.” Brad shook his head.
“I’ll have a French vanilla cappuccino and a milk with my meal.” Nancy smiled mimicking Shelby.
“You girls are just evil.” Brad smirked.
“Come on waiter go get our drinks.” Shelby winked.
Brad just chuckled and walked off, five minutes later he was back with their drinks and ready to take their orders.
“Here you are ladies,” Brad set their drinks in front of them and grabbed his pad and pen. “Now what can I get for you?”
“I’ll have french toast on whole wheat and bacon.” Shelby ordered.
“I’ll have the same.” Nancy added.
“Ok, sounds good.” Brad tapped his pen and walked off.
“He has a nice ass,” Nancy watched him walk off.
“Nancy Mae, you’re only twelve, you needn’t be thinking or looking about that kind of thing.” Shelby gasped.
“Why not, I can look but not touch. There isn’t some rule that says eyes off.” Nancy pointed out.
“He’s Jason’s brother.” Shelby reminded her.
“Yeah, but I can’t help it if Jason hasn’t fully developed.” Nancy shrugged sipping her cappuccino.
“You’re insane. Before it was just speculation but now your insanity is harsh reality. What does your God say about looking at your boyfriend’s brother’s butt?” Shelby
asked out of curiosity.
“Ouch, that was a low blow Shelby. I’m not even going to answer that. And by the way you’re just jealous that I have the insanity down to an art.” Nancy smirked.
“Oh, I’m wounded.” Shelby faked a fall.
“Here you go gals, I’m don’t even want to know.” Brad raised his eyebrows as he sit down their milks.
Five minutes later, Brad came back with three plates.
“Brad, honey, we only needed two plates.”
“Good observation Einstein, I’m breaking with y’all.” Brad answered sitting down.
“Be nice Nancy.” Shelby
“I am nice, aren’t I Brad?” Nancy winked innocently.
“Uh…no comment.” Brad carefully replied as Shelby shot him the look of death.
“Are you and Subway girl still all hot and heavy?” Nancy asked being nosy.
“Lainey and I,” he emphasized, “are taking it slowly. Are you and my brother still going hot and heavy?”
“Look at that, she’s blushing.” Shelby teased.
“Shut up Shelby. Me and Jason are taking it slow.” She mimicked Brad’s previous words.
“So you’re back to Jason again? What happened to Jasers?” Shelby smirked.
“What’s this?” Brad asked clearly intrigued.
“Just last night she started calling him Jasers.”
“Ain’t that cute.” Brad smirked.
“You guys are mean.” Nancy pouted.
“You started it.” Brad reminded her.
“Oh hush.” Nance stuck her tongue out at him immaturely.
Shelby watched in silence at the playful argument between her old boss and sister. She smiled at the realization that for the first time in a long time she had people to talk
to…she had a friend.
This scared Shelby. She feared that everything would disappear and they would betray her. Just earlier that week Brad had been the psycho boss who made her life
miserable. But now, now he was being nice to her and treating her like she was someone special. What had changed?
“You’re sister thinks we’re crazy.” Brad said in a stage whisper bringing Shelby out of her thoughts.
Shelby just smiled and shook her head.
“There’s nothing wrong with being crazy. I take pride in that. Hi my name is Nancy and I’m crazy.”
“Right.” Brad slowly shook his head in wonder.
“Hey, do you have my pay check ready?” Shelby suddenly remembered.
“Yep, I’ll give it to you when you pay.” Brad swallowed the rest of his milk then sat back in his chair.
“So this is where we sit in an awkward silence?” Nancy asked quietly.
“I guess.” Shelby shrugged.
“You excited to graduate?” Brad broke the silence.
“Yeah, I need to get away from here.” Shelby shuddered.
“You can’t leave me.” Nancy stated, lip quivering.
“I have to go hon, any longer with Alice and I’ll lose it. Maybe you can get transferred.” Shelby suggested.
“How did you guys get so close in such a short time?” Brad wondered.
“The day we met at the mall, I got the curse of womanhood for the first time and I was seriously freaking out. Shelby explained a few things then drove me to school.
She offered to pick me up and have a girls’ day out, we met you guys at the mall and the rest is history.” Nancy explained, tears thickening her voice.
“Well I reckon some of that was a little big of an over share but that’s pretty cool. To bad it didn’t come sooner then you could have spent more time together. I know
that’s how I feel, I finally get to know you and you have to leave.” Brad sighed and shook his head.
“Well at least we had that guys. I mean it could have ended the way it was before with everyone hating on me. At least we got to hang out as long as we did I mean I’m
happy for that.” Shelby smiled.
“Well now that’s very true, if it weren’t for that mall trip the other day the world might be two couples shorter. Maybe I would have had the courage to talk to Jason, but it might have been too late or something. It was fate that gave me the curse that day. It wouldn’t have happened had it not been for that. Maybe it’s not really a curse,
maybe it’s actually a blessing in disguise.” Nancy answered.
“That was deep.” Brad agreed.
“Yeah it was, also true. Who knows where we’d be if it weren’t for Nancy where we’d be if it weren’t for Nancy ragging. I would have left thinking that all Alice’s kids
were stuck up like herself.” Shelby sighed.
“I hate to break this up but I have to get back to work.” Brad stood up and started gathering up their plates.
“Yeah, we got to get back to packing. Well I do anyway.” Shelby agreed.
They walked to the cash register and picked up the tab.
“Here’s your check by the way.” Brad handed her a white envelope with her name and address sticking thru a clear plastic window.
“Thanks Brad, you coming to graduation right?” Shelby asked.
“Yes, it starts at 8 right?”
“Yep.”
“Ok, see you ladies.”
“By Brad,” they answered simultaneously.
“Crazy.” He pointed then waved.
They were heading home when Shelby got an idea. She’d bring her new car home and start loading her things.
“How are you going to do that?” Nancy asked.
“You’re going to drive the beast home.” Shelby simply stated the obvious.
“Say what?” Nancy asked, obviously caught off guard.
“We’ll drive over there, pick up the car and you can drive the beast back.” Shelby repeated.
“You forget that I’m only twelve and I’ve never driven a vehicle in my life.” Nancy reminded her.
“No time like the present to learn.” Shelby smiled evilly.
“You’re mean.”
Shelby just chuckled and turned into the driveway.
“Whose vehicle is that?” Nancy asked referring to the one sitting there.
“That’s Stewarts’, he knew I’d be here sometime this weekend.” Shelby explained getting out of the car.
“Shelby, what are you doing here? I wasn’t expecting you ‘til tomorrow morning. Please come in.” Stewart waved them in.
“My bright mind forgot that I’d need to pack.” Shelby shrugged.
“Well glad you remembered. Here are the keys and if you hold on one second, I’ll get that check.” Stew handed her the keys and walked to a different room.
“Check?” Nancy wondered looking at Shelby.
“Marc left me 5,000 dollars.” Shelby answered feeling the tears burn at the back of her throat.
“Wow,” Nancy stated carefully.
“Yeah,” Shel responded letting the tears fall.
“You going to be ok?” Nancy asked several seconds later.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Shelby sniffed trying to regain her composure.
“Ok, here you go Shel,” Stew handed her the check.
“Thanks Stewart, we better get going. We have a lot of things to do before graduation. You coming? It starts at 8 o’clock.” Shelby suggested.
“Sure honey, I’ll be there.” He smiled then ushered them out.
“If we get in an accident or pulled over, it’s your fault.” Nancy glared.
“I have faith.” Shelby reassured her sister.
“Right, you go first.” Nancy sighed getting behind the wheel.
Shelby just laughed and pulled out of the driveway. For Nancy’s safety and well--being, Shelby stayed under 15 mph the whole way.
They pulled up to the house about 10 minutes later and got out.
“That wasn’t so bad was it?” Shelby giggled.
“Nope, but I about crapped my pants when we passed that cop.” Nancy shuddered.
“Ach, it was all good. We weren’t doing anything wrong to give him a just cause to stop us. And besides you look older than 12.” Shelby smiled.
“Thank you,” Nancy and Shelby headed upstairs to Shelby’s room to finish packing.
“You have a lot of junk.” Nancy sighed looking around at all the boxes surrounding them.
Shelby shrugged and gazed at everything. “It’s not that horribly bad, I mean it could be worse.”
“That’s true I guess. Dude what are you going to do with your furniture and such?”
“I’m not taking any of it, I have no room. Besides it’s all crap.” Shelby explained as she loaded a box.
“What time is it?”
Shelby glanced at the watch on her wrist and gasped, “Damn, it’s 4:30.”
“Time flies.”
“I have to be at the school in 3 hours.” Shelby stared ahead solemnly.
“Then we better hurry.”
Shelby nodded in agreement and they got to filling boxes. A half an hour later they were ready to start loading the car.
“How are you going to do this? Load it all now or load the trunk and leave the rest til tomorrow?” Nancy questioned plopping herself down on a box.
“I want to leave ASAP tomorrow so I’d like to just get it all now.” Shelby sighed then stood up.
“Aye Aye captain.” Nancy saluted then stood up as well.
Shelby just chuckled and grabbed a box, Nancy following shortly behind. They both started the long process of loading the car.
Twenty minutes later they walked back upstairs and sat down for a rest.
“Oh, look.” Nancy started counting, “Only 11 boxes left.”
“Is that all?” Shelby replied sarcastically, all the while trying to catch her breath.
“Yeah, cool huh.”
“Heh, might as well start again. We ain’t getting any younger and it’s almost 5:30.” Shelby stood up and stretched.
Ten minutes later Shelby slammed her car door and leaned against it.
“Well that was fun.” Nancy remarked falling into the grass looking up at the clouds.
Shelby followed her example and slowly let out her breath, “Thanks for helping Nancy. I wouldn’t be even close to this without your assistance.”
“It was nothing. I do what I can.” Nancy remarked turning her head to look at Shelby.
Shelby met her gazed and smiled. “You’re a good kid Nancy, don’t ever let anyone tell you different.”
They lay there staring at the sky for a while longer before they finally got up to get ready.
_________________
Orlando
“JC what are you doing?” Justin asked into his phone.
“Sleeping.” JC mumbled.
“Sleeping, on a Saturday evening?”
“Might I remind you it’s the Saturday before we start rehearsing again. This will be one of my last few chances to have a nap for quite a long time.” JC answered.
“What are the other guys doing?” Justin questioned feeling extremely bored.
“Justin how would I know, don’t you have anything better to do?”
“Dude, I’m bored.” Justin sighed loudly.
“Go call someone else.” Justin heard the phone click down in his ear.
“Hello? Well how do ya like that, he hung up on me.” Justin rolled his eyes and dialed another familiar number.
Hello?”
“Hey Chris, what’s up?”
“Feeling bored Justin?” Chris asked sensing it right away.
“Very.”
“Bummer.”
“I know, so what are you doing?” Justin asked.
“I’m just getting ready to go to dinner with my family.” Chris answered.
“Oh, I guess I’ll let you go then.”
“See you later Justin.”
Justin listened to the click once again and sighed.
“Pointless to call Joey, he’d be with Kelly. Lance had something to do so that leaves me back at square one.” Justin spoke these thoughts aloud.
“Do you always talk to yourself?” Lynn smirked.
“When did you get back mom?” Justin smiled, feeling grateful to know he was no longer alone.
“Few minutes ago, why are you bored?” Lynn asked knowingly.
“I’m just unbelievably bored. Where are the terrors?” Justin questioned referring to his brothers.
“They went back home. It’s just you and me.” Lynn smiled.
“What are we going to do?” Justin plopped down at the table.
“Want to play a game or something?” Lynn asked gesturing to the board games in the corner.
Justin just shrugged and stared out into space.
“Oh hey, I still need to give you that celebritherapy information.” Lynn suddenly remembered.
“Hey yeah, go get it.” Justin readily agreed.
Lynn returned shortly with a folder and handed him the information.
Justin dove right in and started reading. Moments later he emerged with a consternated look on his face.
“Wow, that’s intense.” He commented looking at his mom.
“What do you think?” Lynn asked curiously.
“That’s a big responsibility.” Justin answered, eyes growing large.
“You would be helping someone recover, it could bring a great sense of accomplishment.” Lynn pointed out.
“I don’t know mom. I’d have to talk to the other guys about it. I’m kind of leery myself.” Justin’s face reflected his hesitancy as Lynn studied him closely.
“Ok kiddo, whatever you decide I’m behind you.” Lynn smiled and squeezed his hand reassuring him the best she could.
“Thanks mom.” Justin nodded.
“So what are your plans for tonight?” Lynn asked breaking the silence.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged.
“Well aren’t you a barrel of laughs today.” Lynn sighed.
“Yeah.”
Lynn looked at her son and walked out of the room leaving Justin to sulk by himself.
______________
Minot
“Killer outfit,” Nancy smiled when she saw Shelby.
Shelby walked in a circle modeling her clothes, “I do like it myself.”
Nancy put her fingers to her mouth and whistled. “You’re gonna be awesome tonight, enjoy it while you can Shelby, you earned it.”
Shelby thought about that for a second and everything she’d been through to get to this one moment, “You know you’re absolutely right, this is my time to shine.”
“What time is it?” Nancy asked putting the finishing touches on her dark makeup.
Shelby looked down at her watch and sighed, “6:30.”
Nancy looked at Shelby’s reflection in the mirror and frowned, “Is that all? We have a whole freaking hour left before you have to be there. Ugh!”
“I just want this to be over, to get on with the rest of my life. You are the only thing I might actually miss.” Shelby sighed.
“What about Brad? Aren’t you going to miss him?” Nancy asked.
Shelby raised her eyebrows, “Not really, I don’t even really know him. To me he was always psycho boss who made me do everything. The Brad now is just like an
acquaintance how do I know I can trust him?”
“I don’t know, his brothers nice, but then again I have to think that. Has Brad ever done anything spiteful?”
“He told Tyler, Rod, and Jeremy what time I was working. They came in and ordered shakes, poured them all over my head, then slammed my face into the table.”
Shelby frowned at the memory.
“Is that when you came home crying earlier this week?” Nancy thought back in time.
“Yeah I quit that night. I was just going to work my last day yesterday, but I was sick of it. It was a good choice now though.” Shelby explained with a feeling of
wistfulness.
“Yeah, if you didn’t we wouldn’t be as close.” Nancy smiled brightly.
“So what do we do now?” Shelby sighed.
“I don’t know, we could drive around or something.” Nancy suggested.
“It sounds good enough for me.” Shelby agreed standing up.
They went into the car and started the engine.
“Dude, this is like my last time driving the beast.” Shelby smiled looking down at her hands on the steering wheel.
“What are you going to do with her?” Nancy asked.
Shelby just shrugged and looked out the window.
“If you were old enough to drive I’d give it to you, but since you’re not.”
“Well, you could leave it with Stewart until I’m old enough.” Nancy suggested.
“I don’t think he’s going to be around very long.” Shelby answered.
“That’s true. You could always take it to a junk heap.”
“I’ll just sell it. I’m sure some fool is desperate for a car.” Shelby grinned wickedly.
“We could paint it.” Nancy suggested.
“Dude, we have an hour before I have to be there.” Shelby looked at her doubtfully.
“Oh come on, Alice has that spray paint in the garage. She has like 5 cans of black, 2 or 3 pink and green, and maybe one purple. She’ll never miss them and if she does
woopty doo.” Nancy pleaded.
Shelby looked out the window and pondered the idea. “Paint it black and put colorful things like flowers and peace signs and such.” She looked over at Nancy and
smiled. “Let’s do it. We have to hurry though.”
They ran to the garage and grabbed the paint.
“You start the front and I’ll start the back.” Shelby threw her a can of black paint and started in.
They began spraying the black as fast as they could. 10 minutes later they were both closing in on the roof.
“Just grab one of the bright colors and start making different designs. It doesn’t matter if they’re perfect just have fun.” Shelby grabbed the purple and a pink.
She made an outline of a pink flower and gave it a purple center.
“Cool.” Nancy giggled looking at the bright green peace symbol in front of her.
“Make some more. Hey lets write peace on the sides. Start with purple then add pink inside. It’ll look totally awesome.” Shelby went to the side and started working on
the writing.
Twenty minutes and lots of paint later they stood back and assessed their work.
“I like it.” Nancy responded first.
Nancy nodded in satisfaction then smiled, “We did awesome.”
Shelby glanced down at her watch and almost had a palpitation.
“It’s 7:15.” She scrambled in to the car, Nancy following close behind.”
“Step on it,” Nancy demanded handing Shel her gown.
“Steer for me while I put this stupid thing on.” Shelby instructed trying to pull on her robe.
“We’ll make it in time, just put it on there.” Nancy pulled the gown away from her and held it.
“Come on grandma, man I hate slow drivers.” Shel tapped her steering wheel impatiently.
They arrived at the school with 5 minutes to spare. Shelby ran to the history room all the while struggling with her black gown. She was zipping it up when she ran into the room.
“It’s nice to see you.” Tyler sneered and looked her up and down, “On time that is.”
“Blow yourself Tyler.” Shelby shot back trying to get her cap on.
“He doesn’t need himself when he’s got me.” Geri glared at her from Tyler’s side.
“I almost feel sorry for him.” Shelby rolled her eyes.
Geri just gave her a look of death then walked off.
“Bitch.” Shelby muttered.
In the next instant Shelby saw a fist flying then was lying on the ground holding her throbbing eye.
“What the-“ Shelby whispered.
“Never talk to my girlfriend like that or you’ll pay.” Tyler sneered just as Mrs. Kaylor came in.
“Do we have a problem here?” Mrs. Kaylor asked watching Shelby get off the floor, eye already starting to bruise.
Shelby just stared at Tyler not making a sound.
“What happened to your glasses? You’re eye is all red and watery.” Mrs. Kaylor looked up to where Shelby had gotten off the floor. She spotted the glasses several feet
away.
She walked over to the spot and picked up the glasses. She slowly started walking around the room, like a lawyer in a courtroom watching the students stopping now
and then.
“Come on guys its graduation, can’t you leave her alone for once in your life?” Mrs. Kaylor handed Shelby the glasses.
They all just sighed and rolled their eyes, muttering words under their breath.
“I would make all of you apologize but I won’t because it wouldn’t do any good. You would just go harass her more some other time.” Mrs. Kaylor reprimanded them.
“I don’t really care ma’am after today I’ll never have to see them again.” Shelby said unemotionally, gathering all her things together.
Just then Brad walked into the room. All the girls’ eyes on him he walked over to Shelby and stopped.
“Geez kid aren’t you even going to say hi?” he smirked.
Shelby jumped in surprise and dropped her stuff. “Geez Brad don’t do that. I’m bound to get a heart attack.”
“Yeah, well I do what I can.” Brad winked at her.
“Whatever, what are you doing here this early?” Shelby asked curiously.
“What can’t I come early just to see you backstage?” he chuckled when Shelby shot him that “yeah-right-I-wasn’t-born-yesterday” look. “Ok, I know you’re leaving
tomorrow and I won’t have much time with you.” He shrugged sheepishly.
Shelby smiled and shook her head. “Did you see what we did to-”
“Excuse me, we were just wondering why you are talking to the loser?” Geri asked sweetly then turned mean when she asked about Shelby.
“Excuse me we were talking,” Brad turned his back on Geri and turned towards Shelby, “What were you saying Shel?”
Shelby looked between Brad and Geri several times then focused on Brad.
“Did you see what we did to the beast?” she asked softly.
“You mean the black car with the retro symbols? Oh yeah! What happened to it?” Brad smiled.
“We got spray paint happy.” Shelby laughed softly.
“So I noticed, why did you paint it?”
“Well, I didn’t think anyone would want to buy it if it looked like it did before so me and Nancy painted it before we came.” Shelby shrugged and started digging thru her
bag for her speech.
“You’re selling it? Why would you sell the beast?” Brad questioned.
He then turned around and noticed Geri still standing there, “Did you need something?”
“You never answered my question.” Geri smiled.
“And I don’t plan on it, now go play with your friends or something and leave us alone.” Brad shuddered and turned back to Shelby who stood with her mouth hanging
open.
“That’s not very attractive.” Brad smiled softly then put his hand on her chin lifting her mouth, “now why are you selling the beast?”
“I’m taking the red car and I have nowhere to keep it,” Shelby responded.
“How much are you asking for?” Brad questioned throwing a glance across the room. “Excuse me but could you not stare at me please?”
Geri and Tyler just immaturely rolled their eyes and sighed loudly.
“I don’t know, I got if for $1,000 so maybe like 500 or something.” She shrugged nonchalantly.
“I’ll give you $500.”
“Say what?” Shel asked surprised.
“I’ll by the beast. Jason’s going need a car soon here and that way I wont have to worry about driving him around everywhere. Our siblings could go out on a date by
themselves.” Brad smirked.
“Are you serious? Yeah, ok um… I don’t know what to say.” Shelby fiddled with her hands unable to think of anything words.
“Shelby just say ok, will you be paying with cash or check.” Brad chuckled.
“Ok, will you be paying with cash or check?” She smiled mimicking him.
“Haha funny Shel, I have $500 in my checking account, I’ll be paying via check.” Brad smirked taking out his checkbook.
“Right, we have to hurry here. Have to start lining up or something.” Shel motioned to the others who were starting to walk out.
Brad quickly wrote the check and Shel was off to line up in front of the gym entrance.
Twenty minutes later the graduating Class of 2002 were seated on stage and the commencement ceremony had begun.
The superintendent gave a ten minute speech about the class and their years at Burke Central. He described how they’d come a long the way going through problems and struggles together.
Next the choir sang “May the Music Never End”. The underclassmen who were in the band all had tears running down their faces as did most of the graduates. Shelby
sat dry-eyed and counting down the minutes before her misery ended.
“And now ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to present our next speaker; she is graduating with a 4.0 GPA. Here she is folks, Shelby Murphy.”
Shelby stood up and walked to the podium, she looked back at Mr. Clark and smiled.
“Thank you Mr. Clark for that groovy introduction. Hey everyone I’m Shelby Lynn Murphy yes I did manage to pull out a 4.0, but I’m not going to college anyway.”
“Ok so most people stand up here and feed you bull about how much they’ll miss high school, but I’m here to tell you how it really is.”
“I absolutely hated school. I cannot wait to get out. I’m counting down the minutes as we speak. As you all can see I’m not the size 8 or even close to it. These quote un
quote classmates of mine never let me forget it for one minute. Every day I came to school knowing I’d be laughed at and called fat all day long. Whoever said that high
school and your teenage years are supposed to be the best years of your life were seriously lying. It’ll never matter what you were in high school. Everyone will see you differently out in the real world. It won’t matter if you were the most popular girl in school, or head cheerleader, or the basketball star. It doesn’t matter if you’re the biggest nerd or even the biggest person in school. You could be the biggest nerd and one day run a major corporation with lots of people kissing your ass. Come on people it doesn’t matter how school sees you. There’s a bigger world out there, bigger then high school bigger then you can ever imagine. I recommend you try to find yourself and don’t be afraid to express yourself.”
Facing the audience Shelby saw them rise to their feet in appreciation of her speech. She smiled and blushed then thanked them for their time.
A half an hour later all the graduates were in the acceptance line getting congratulated over and over.
“So, how does it feel?” Brad appeared in front of Shelby.
“Great! I can’t believe it’s finally over.” Shelby smiled wringing her hands.
“How about giving me a hug before I’m forced to move on?” Brad opened his arms and Shelby stepped to him and wrapped her arms around his back in a hug.
“Are you going to the after party still?” she asked pulling back.
“Yep, I’m going to pick up Lainey after this.”
Shelby smiled and watched him walk on. She nodded to the next person in line to shake her hand.
“I loved your speech.” An unfamiliar face told her.
“Thank you,” Shel murmured wishing he’d move on.
He just stared at her for a few more seconds then walked on.
“Aw, Shelby this is it.” Nancy interrupted her thoughts.
“Yeah, kind of freaky isn’t it.” Shelby wrapped her arms around the younger girl.
“Sad is more like it. You’re leaving me here with the dragon.” Nancy frowned.
“You’ll be fine. Just don’t let her dominate you.” Shel smiled.
“I better move on. There are about 10 people in line just for your information.” Nancy smiled then moved.
Another ten people later, and Shelby was finally free to go and went to find Nancy.
“Nancy,” Shelby called spotting her talking to some friends.
Nancy turned around and smiled when she saw Shelby.
“Hey Shelby glad to see you’ve been sprung. I didn’t think you were ever going to get done.” Nancy shuddered at the thought of all those people.
“Yeah, it’s ALL over now. I didn’t think I’d ever get here, but I am. I’m only hours away from the beginning of my new life.” Shelby sighed.
“Hey where is the car?” Nancy asked looking around.
“Brad moved it. He bought it for Jason.” Shel answered.
“He did? Awesome, but does this mean we’re on foot?” Nancy questioned just as two motorcycles pulled up.
“You ladies need a ride?” the first one asked.
Nancy and Shelby looked at each other then back at the mysterious riders.
“Sure.” Shelby got on behind him and held on to his waist.
Nancy did the same, getting on behind the other mystery biker.
Shelby held on tightly as they took off down the street toward their house. She thought it was weird that he already knew the way to her house.
“How do you know where we live?” Shelby shouted over the noise.
The guy just shrugged and continued driving until they reached their house. The guys shut their bikes off and took off their helmets.
To Shelby’s surprise her arms were tightly wrapped around Brad’s waist.
“Enjoy the ride?” he asked softly.
“Yeah, thanks.” Shelby smiled and removed her arms from his waist.
“Thought for sure you were going to cut off my circulation. Yeesh.” Brad smirked getting off his bike.
Shelby looked him up and down, he was wearing a very sexy black leather jacket and tight black jeans. Under the black jacket was a white wife beater making the whole
outfit look like a real biker. Shelby enjoyed every minute of it all the while trying to pretend she didn’t.
“Our siblings are necking.” Brad whispered breaking her daydream.
Shelby turned around and found Nancy sitting in front of Jason facing him, her arms were wrapped around his neck while she kissed him open mouthed.
“Did you teach him that?” Shel smirked facing him again.
“No, I think it was Nancy. Did you teach her that?” Brad mimicked her previous words then watched her face turn into something different. Something that seemed to
represent pain or an inter struggle.
“No as a matter of fact I didn’t.” She answered emotionless.
“Shel? What’s wrong?” Brad asked concerned.
“No, Brad, nothings wrong. Why would anything be wrong?” Shelby snapped at him.
After that the rest of the night went really bad for Shelby. Brad never talked to her after she snapped at him, and Nancy was mad because she interrupted their kiss.
“Shelby that was quite the speech you gave. You made a big mistake bitch.” Geri pulled her aside at the dance.
“Leave me alone.” Shelby walked away not wanting to start anything.
“Oh don’t even think about walking away. We’re going to finish this once and for all.” Tyler grabbed her wrist pulling her toward him.
“And what are you going to do with all these teachers here?” Shelby pointed out, wincing in pain.
Tyler pulled her arm harder behind her back, “Now I could always break your arm.”
“And I could always scream bloody murder and press charges on you.” Shelby spit out.
Tyler threw her on the ground and walked away leaving her lying there on the ground.
Shelby was shaking as she stood to her feet. She found a phone and called a taxi, waiting in the entryway for him to come.
Ten minutes later the taxi came, Shelby looked around taking everything in one final time. She walked away knowing she wouldn’t be missed and no one even knew she was leaving.
‘This is the last night in this hole.’ Shelby sighed going into her now empty room.
She put on her pajamas and lay on her bed with one small blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Shelby let the tears fall and slowly cried out her frustrations. The
thought of going away made her happy but she found herself crying herself to sleep, something that wasn’t rare for the poor soul.
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