I pulled on my blue robe, already suffering from the itchiness of the fabric on my neck and shoulders. Liam helped me pin my cap onto the top of my curls. The speeches were brief. Which I, and probably many others in the audience, thoroughly appreciated. Soon after the speeches were given, the main faculty called out the graduating students’ names in alphabetical order.
I quickly found myself just behind Liam, patiently waiting for his name and then mine to be announced over the speakers. I wasn’t nervous or anxious as I anticipated my name over the loudspeaker.
Once upon a time, I’d been very comfortable in front of an audience. Performing the sport I loved under the pressure of cheering fans and booing opponents. This short trek across the stage would be a cakewalk by comparison. On the other hand, I had to push away the feelings of contrition that crawled up my throat as I recalled such moments.
Liam’s name ricocheted through my skull over the nearby speakers and the crowd went nuts. My brother strutted across the stage. He proudly shook hands with the representing faculty and accepted his diploma.
But he didn’t stop there. No, Liam would not be so basic. Topping off the strut, he stopped at the end of the stage and threw himself into a perfectly executed back flip.
The audience erupted into shouts, screams, and whistles. The boisterous excitement perfectly timed with the announcement of “Maybelle Mason”. Allowing me to cross the platform, shake hands, accept my diploma and exit the stage past a bowing Liam before any cheers or claps could be meant for me.
Started out Harbor High invisible and ended entirely non-existent.
Again, a rush of memory hit me, but this time Icouldn’t ignore the twinge of disappointment in myself. I thought back to when I was the captain of the basketball team, and a friend to all. The young, innocent girl with big dreams and a lot less baggage. I was different now and for the first time in a long time, the realization made me sick to my stomach.
Liam finally found his way back and dropped into the seat next to me.
“They called you? I didn’t hear!”
I shrugged, letting him have his moment. “It’s hard to hear up there. I barely heard it.”
Liam accepted the excuse with a nod, then leaned into me and whisper-yelled above the cheering, “I’m real proud of us, May.”
I twisted to peer up at my brother’s smiling, sapphire eyes.
We may have struggled to talk about the important things with one another, but in the silences like this, there was so much said. In his look was the same relief and hope I’d seen from him the day we moved to San Francisco. He wore the same look he had on our first day of school and the day we filed the restraining order against Richard.
Each moment was one we didn’t think we would survive to see. Days we thought would never come to pass because we had been stuck. Locked away and hurt. Not anymore. We were safe.
I just wished I could get my mind, heart and body to understand—to believe in that fact.
Smiling, I nudged my twin. “The back flip was cool.” Liam beamed, draping an arm around the back of my seat as they continued to call names.
Trey’s name was next in line to be called and Liam dipped over to say, “Trey said he would do a flip too.” And that he did.
But while Liam sauntered swiftly, Trey swaggered gracefully. He shook the hand of each teacher as hemouthed “thank you”. He paused with Principal Nobly, a short pudgy woman in her early sixties. He accepted his diploma from her. Instead of shaking her hand like the rest of the students, he grasped it and planted a smacking kiss to the tops of her age-worn knuckles. Then he winked before throwing himself into a quick cartwheel followed with a fluid back flip that he landed with ease.
Liam shot to his feet like a proud mother as he put all his pride for his best friend into his applause. “THAT’S MY BOY!” he hollered above the crowd.
The bromance was strong with these two. If they didn’t inevitably marry each other, their future partners had better be ready for a lifetime of third wheeling.
Soon after, the ceremony concluded with us graduates tossing our caps into the air, the graduates and audience filtered out of the auditorium together. Friends and family met to exchange flowers and take pictures to look back on and remember this monumental night.
Liam and I walked out, side by side, to find our mom just outside in the hall. As soon as we were within reach, mom pulled us into a crushing hug. “Ah, I am so proud of you both! My graduates!” When she pulled away, she placed both of her hands on each of our cheeks. “I am so, so proud,” she repeated, this time with a lot more emotion written in her words and face.
We both leaned into our mother’s touch as tears lined her eyes. “Alright,” Mom said, stepping back to fan her face with a flapping hand. “Let’s get some pictures of you two. Do you have any friends you want to grab a picture with?”
Liam pulled me in with one arm to pose for the picture. I shook my head in answer to her question while Liam nodded. “Yeah, just a quick one with Trey and a few of the guys from the team.”
Nodding, Mom held up a digital camera, prepped and ready to snap the picture. “Okay, say cheese!”
Liam obeyed as he grasped me in tight, plastering ona cheesy grin while I hugged him back and smiled. The camera flashed. Before we could recover our eyesight from the light, two muscled arms wrapped around our shoulders.
“It’s not a family picture without me.”
I knew that voice, but I still peered back over my shoulder to be met with Trey’s green eyes and dazzling dimples. I immediately whipped forward before awe could overcome me.
“Here, let me get out of your picture,” I blurted, trying to twist out from under Trey’s arm.
