Note: THE EPIC (hopefully) CONCLUSION TO MIRI'S STORY (or, at least, the first part of her story ;) )
ENJOY!!!
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The girls and I ended up making a project about vampires, using Mariana, Six's friend, as our source for all things undead. Ashley, Six, and I went on plenty of dates, all of which usually ended with a sloppy mess of bodies on my poor, overused bed. Before I knew it, the months passed by in the blink of an eye. I settled into a nice routine, I'd wake up, talk a little with Six and my mom, head to school, uh... Do stuff with Kalissa, Priscilla, Cara, or whoever generally wanted to spend some time with me, and yeah. It was comfortable.
Graduation day arrived in no time. All that stressing about my last couple of projects and tests was replaced by a sense of "wow, it's actually over". Well, it wasn't entirely over because I was going to college and all that, but high school was done!
And yet, I realized something. In the last couple of months, ever since I met Six, we'd never really done much alone. Well yeah, there was that one time she helped me get off while Kalissa was sexting me, but every time we, you know, did the thing, Ashley was there or someone else was there.
I woke up with my arms wrapped around Six's small body. The vesie was snoring peacefully in my embrace. For the first time in a while, I looked at her. Okay, obviously I see her every day, I mean like, I *looked* at her. I really saw her. She was kind of like an overgrown fairy. Her slender body added to that slightly immature but extremely bubbly energy she always had.
She was insanely cute. Not just that, but she understood love in a way I found so interesting. If she really tried, she could have just about any girl out there. And still, she chose me. Me. A brooding, socially awkward brunette whose only real attractive trait was her thick legs.
She stirred as I watched her, seeing all the memories we'd created flashing in front of my eyes.
"Hm?" She rubbed her multicolored eyes. "You're up already?"
"Yeah." I nodded. "It's uh, kind of a special day."
"Graduation!" Even with her tired voice in full effect, I could hear her excitement bursting through her sleepiness. "Congrats."
"Thanks." I hugged her a little tighter, which made me realize I hadn't unwrapped my arms around her. I moved to do exactly that, but Six held me.
Christ. The amount of kindness in those eyes looking back at me, it made me feel like I didn't deserve it for some reason. I looked away and my own eyes landed on that one small object that started it all. The Love Box sitting on my desk, unused. It turned out, I didn't need it after the first couple of uses. But I never threw it away. It was, and probably always would be, special to me.
After a few minutes of looking into each other's eyes like dopes, I finally got off my bed and went to take a shower. Six hovered off the bed and because for some reason her body just never smells bad, she just floated on over to my door and moved out, probably to go give my mom a "hello".
It was when the water was hitting my face in the bathroom, as I stood there with my hair draped over my forehead like a villain, that I thought to myself "you know what? You should do something for Six. She deserves that much, at least."
So, that was my plan. I didn't know what I'd do, but somehow I wanted to show Six that I appreciated her.
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A few hours later, because Halfgreen was all about the early to midday times, every senior in my school (myself included) were standing in a random local baseball field. This was the place that had been chosen for the ceremony. God, couldn't they have chosen a place that was a little less sunny? I could feel sweat dripping down my skin and onto my toga.
I was flanked by all sorts of people that I sadly didn't know. Despite everything that had happened recently, the truth was I hadn't exactly been socializing for most of my time in school. Instead, I was called over by the only constant friend in my life.
"Miri!" I looked to my left and saw Ashley basically skipping in my direction. She was wearing some kind of cream shaded lipstick today, and her hair was tied into a ponytail. She looked great, better than usual even. Her friends, in the background behind her, kept talking amongst themselves as she drew close enough to hug me.
"You look great!" She declared with a grin as I blushed a little and moved back.
"Thanks, you too."
We stared into each other's eyes like idiots for a few seconds before another voice came into my ears.
"Oh? Miri." I turned and found Cara and Priscilla walking up to me. Cara's hair had grown a little over these last few months, and although Priscilla was still as... Prickly, let's say, as she used to be, she did have a slightly more agreeable air to her.
"Hey." I waved at them.
"It's pretty sick, huh?" Cara said. "We're finally done!"
"Oh trust me, I get you." I nodded sagely.
"Hm, I dunno, I think I'm gonna miss going to school with everyone." Ashley indicated.
"Someone as popular as you would say that," Cara noted without malice in her tone.
"Can't help being loved, what can I say?" Ashley shrugged with a smile. "But seriously, I'm gonna miss soooo many people."
"Ah, it is what it is." Cara shifted next to her and gave her a half-hug. "If it's any consolation, we are heading over to get some pizza after this."
"Who's we?" I asked.
"Me, Prom Queen over here," she pointed at Priscilla who rolled her eyes, "Kalissa, Michael, Tom. A few people."
"Oh? Miri!" I heard someone else say to my right and I found Kalissa jogging over to me.
"Wow." Ashley turned to me. "I thought I was the popular one."
A blush painted itself on my face as Kalissa wrapped me up into a bear hug.
You know, her and I didn't get to do much after everything that happened, but this big, muscly dark-skinned girl did hold a special place in my heart. She took my first *real* kiss! That shit matters!
"Goddamn girl!" Kalissa grinned down at me. "Looking good."
"Uh, thanks." I shyly replied while Ashley chuckled.
"So, what are we doing?" Ever the extrovert, Kalissa asked.
"Trying to convince these two to come for some pizza," Cara replied as everyone's eyes fell on me. "So?" She said. "What do you think?"
"Um..."
As much as I wanted to say yes, there was something that I felt I had to do. Sixcia's face appeared in my mind and I breathed in. As special as this day was for me, I wanted to make it special for her too. In a way, she was the reason all of these wonderful people were surrounding me right now. So, I looked up at Cara and I shook my head.
"Sorry, I have something to do later."
"Come on Miri! It'll be fun!" Ashley, who I guess decided she was going, tried to convince me.
"... Sorry," I shook my head again, "but maybe this weekend we can plan something out?"
Ashley pouted but Cara nodded.
"Sure." She said. "I'll let everyone know."
"Nice."
With that out of the way, the microphone on the small brown stage in the middle of the park diamond turned on. The school's principal took the center and just like that, the ceremony began properly.
Did I get any awards? Not really. My grades were fine, but not high enough to make honors or anything, I never participated in sports of any kind so nothing there either. All in all, I just stood there, watching other people head up.
The one that surprised me was Cara getting Valedictorian. Yeah, I get that this is a bit presumptuous of me, but I seriously didn't see her as the type to study that hard. But, yeah, 4.0 GPA. Cool.
Things moved along pretty quickly. Well, maybe it just felt that way because of what I knew I'd be doing later. I was so excited I couldn't stop moving side-to-side as one student after another went up to collect their stuff.
After everything was concluded, proud parents hugged their kids, speeches were given, my mom kissed my forehead, and people cheered and applauded as a random pop song started to play on speakers.
And, well, the goodbyes were bittersweet. Yeah, I had all of the girls' numbers, so I was gonna be able to talk to them and hang out on occasion, but when I realized that I wouldn't be seeing them every day the same way that I had throughout these last few months, it felt strange. I wanted to keep in touch with them. I was going to make an effort at it.
But, first, Six.
Mom drove me back home where Six was waiting outside, looking at the plants on my yard. As soon as she saw me, she grinned and (checking first to see if there were neighbors out or something), she floated over to me and embraced me.
"Few too many hugs today for my taste," I noted but smiled down at the vesie as she placed her forehead on my chest.
"Congratulations! So, what will you be doing from now on?"
"College, after summer's over," I told her as we walked back into my house. "So, yeah, school isn't *really* over or whatever."
"Hm? Then what's the point of a graduation ceremony?"
