Second Helpings_ A Jessica Darling Novel - Megan McCafferty [137]
The rest of the ceremony is a boring blur. As salutatorian, I got my diploma after Len, the second person out of 180. So I had a lot of time to sit and get hot under the blazing noonday sun. I might have fallen asleep if it weren’t for the frequent head-bonkings from the beach balls that my fellow graduates had smuggled in under their gowns.
In accordance with alphabetical destiny, I watched Sara D’Abruzzi, Marcus Flutie, Scotty Glazer, Bridget Milhokovich, and Manda Powers walk up the stairs to the stage. I watched each one walk toward Principal Masters in their red and white gowns. I watched them reach for their diplomas and wave to their parents in the bleachers, despite how corny it was to do so. I watched them turn their tassles from one side to the other. I watched them walk down the stairs on the opposite side, grinning with freedom. I watched them and thought, These are the people I went to high school with. Some, like Manda, Sara, and Scotty, will never amount to more than that. There was no last-minute redemption for them, simply because it was a perfect opportunity for final forgiveness and understanding.
As for the others . . . well, I hope it goes without saying.
One hundred and eighty caps flew into the air in celebration, and for a split second, the sky was red.
But not the same fiery orange-red I saw bounding toward me once the bleachers were cleared and the field was filled with camcorder-toting parents.
“Hey, you!” she yelled, from twenty yards away.
“You!” I screamed, sprinting toward her.
Hope. Hope was here.
“I wanted to surprise you!”
Roget could not come up with enough synonyms to adequately describe just how surprised I was to see Hope standing right in front of me.
“Omigod! Omigod! Omigod!” I shrieked as I bounced on my tippy-toes.
Hope’s face fell. “Oh, I’m sorry, Sara,” she said, gently mocking my Clueless Two–like enthusiasm. “I thought you were my old friend Jessica Darling. It’s been a while since I’ve seen her, you know. I apologize for the error.”
She turned and started to walk away, but I grabbed her before she made it two feet.
“I’m just so happy and totally shocked to see you here,” I said. “I mean, this is even better than Jake Ryan—”
Hope knew exactly where I was going with this. “Surprising Samantha Baker after her sister’s wedding—” she continued.
“At the end of Sixteen Candles!” We finished the thought simultaneously, before tackling each other into a hug.
As we held on to each other, I thought about how this is all I had ever wanted. My best friend. Right here with me.
When we finally separated, we just stood there, having far too much to say to actually start talking. Then I saw her eyes drift over my shoulder. And I knew why.
I knew Marcus and Hope had spoken on the phone, that, in fact, she was responsible for the miracle of us getting together at all. I truly believed that she wanted us to be a couple. Yet I couldn’t help but worry about what would happen when the three of us were together for the first time. Would they see each other as competition? As the enemy? Or worse?
But then all the fear and guilt and worry washed out with one simple gesture.
Hope held out her hand. “Hey, Marcus.”
Marcus held out his hand. “Hey, Hope.”
I stood there on the grass, watching the Darlings chatting happily with the Fluties, my two best friends pressed palm-to-palm, and a wave of calm washed over me. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t thinking about what would happen in the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years to come. I was right there in the moment, my world finally, albeit briefly, complete.
And I was happy. Deliriously, deliciously happy.
Jessica Darling’s Graduation Address
Real-World Revelation: