Chapter 19: Graduation

Renee is back from college for the summer and will be working as a shift manager again. “Hey Sport, how are you?” she waves as I arrive for my dinner shift on the Monday following the Prom.

“Not bad,” I call across the kitchen. It’s good to see Renee again.

“Oh hey, go see my dad in the back,” she tells me.

I knock on the door frame of Bill’s office and poke my head in, “Did you need to see me?”

“Yes, Kyle, come in. So, I was checking the records and see that you have been with us for one year now.”

“Wow, hard to believe. That sure flew by.”

“Wait till you’re my age, Son,” he jokes, “Anyhow, I want to thank you for all your hard work and dedication by giving you a dollar an hour raise.”

“Thank you, Bill!”

“You deserve it, son,” he smiles. “I understand you will be going away to college in the fall?”

“Yes, I’m going to Northbrook.”

“Good for you! Although, we will miss you around here when that time comes.”

“I’ll miss you guys too...”

“In the future, if you have the time, and want to make some extra cash when you’re home, know that you will always have a job with us at Pizza Depot.”

“That’s awesome, thank you!” How super-cool of him to offer me that.

“Absolutely, Kyle. I don’t offer this to just anyone, but then again, you are not, just anyone.”

Once Bill and I are done talking, I get busy on some pizza orders that are lining up. Renee comes over to help, “So, how was Prom?”

I think for a long moment and then say the only word that comes to mind, “Bittersweet.”

Renee tilts her head in question.

“I’ll tell you about it sometime, just not today, okay?”

“Okay, Kyle...” she doesn’t press the subject.

Final exams are coming up soon, time to cram once again. Our teachers have been busy packing our already, overstuffed brains with what we will need to know. Silly me, thought these last weeks of school were supposed to be fun.

Today after dinner, I grab my backpack and head for the door. “I’m going to Tiffany’s to study,” I holler on my way out.

“Oh Kyle, wait.” my mother calls me back inside.

“Yeah, Mom?”

“Can you stop by Rite Aid on your way and pick up a prescription for me?” she hands me $20 for the co-pay.

“Sure, no problem.”

I walk into pharmacy, it’s quiet in here today. I see a couple of customers over by the cashier and make my way to the pharmacy counter in the back.

“Can I help you?” Mr. Henshel asks.

“Yes, I’m picking up for Mrs. Stevenson.”

“Okay, I’ll be just a minute.” He goes off to find my mother’s prescription. While I wait, I hear familiar voices and look towards the front of the store. I see Justin Blaine is on duty as cashier, Jodie Marks and Dirk Larch are hanging out with him at the counter. Is this Deja-vu or what?

Mr. Henshel rings me up and I pay the $20. As I’m starting to leave, I stop, turn back and grab four boxes of different varieties of condoms from the nearby shelf.

“Do you need me to ring those up too?”

“No, thanks, I’ll take these up to the front,” I smile.

I saunter up the aisle, loudly clearing my throat to make sure that I have their attention. This ought to be good.

Justin sees me coming and nods for Jodie and Dirk to step over. I plop all the condom boxes on the counter, making sure they are splayed out in plain view, no trying to hide them amongst other goodies today.

“Oh, what the fuck? You’re fuckin’ kidding me, right?” Jodie snaps her gum.

“Really, Pizza-Boy?” Justin laughs, “We’re supposed to believe an ass-hat like you is getting laid?”

Jodie pops her gum, “Oh wait, don’t forget his miss prissy-slut, Tif-phony. He does hang around with that wanne-be skank.”

Dirk steps in, “Jodie, how about you shut that fuckin’ mouth of yours, the flies are escaping.”

Jodie looks at him and shakes her head, mouthing, “What the fuck?”

Justin, not believing what he just heard, feels free to speak his sentiments, “What the hell, Dirk? Are you buddies with this fuckin’ little geek now?”

Dirk turns to him and says, “Justin, you can knock your shit off as well. Just ring him up.”

Justin scans the boxes and throws them in a bag. The total comes to $28.42. Dirk slaps a $20 and a $10 on the counter. “On me.”

“Thank you, Dirk.” I take the bag and stroll out the door. I can only imagine the conversation that followed in there. If anything, I’m all stocked up on protection now.

Tiffany opens the door and lets me in, “Hey, Kyle. Come on in.”

“Hey, Tiffany.”

“Before we get to the books, my dad wanted to see you.”

We go into the family room, “Hi Kyle, have a seat will ya,” her dad motions to the couch.

“What’s up, Mr. Hammond?”

“We were wondering if you could help us by keeping an eye on the house this summer when we’re in Europe?”

“Sure.”

“Could you come by once a week to check that everything is okay?”

“Yeah, I can do that.”

“And, for your time, I want to give you $200, how does that sound?”

“No need to do that, sir.”

“I insist.”

Mr. Hammond explains everything he would like me to do. “In the basement, take a look around, make sure there are no puddles or signs of water on the floor, and check the water heater to see that it’s not dripping or developing any leaks.”

“Okay.”

“On the main floor, double check that the doors and windows are secure and that the faucets are not leaking, same for upstairs as well.”

“Sounds good.”

“We have a lawn service set-up to take care of the grass, so you don’t need to worry about that. In general, just take a good look around and if anything at all seems odd or out of place, text me, or Tiffany, okay?”

He hands me an envelope with the money and a house key. “Thank you so much, Kyle, I asked because I know we can trust you.”

“You are welcome, I’m happy to do this.”

“Our flight out is the day after graduation, so wait a week and then start coming by. We’ll be returning in mid-August.”

Tiffany and I spend the rest of the afternoon studying and testing each other for our upcoming exams. After we have exhausted our brains, we lay together on her bed enjoying being with each other. I see some clothes she has set aside that she wants to take on her trip, the summer dress she bought at Forever 21 is among them.

Bev knocks on the door and quietly asks, “Are you two decent?”

“Yes, Bev.” Tiffany answers, rolling her eyes.

“You two wanna go get some ice cream?”

“Sure!” We both hop up and follow her downstairs.

Like Luke, Bev has her moments when she can be a decent person. I think she knows it’s going to be hard for us, but that’s how life is sometimes, all we can do is roll with it and hope for the best.

Before we know it, the last week of school is upon us, it sure came fast. It will be a short week, Wednesday is our last day. As graduating seniors, we get out of school a whole week before the underclassmen. Luke thinks this is totally unfair, but I told him I’ll be thinking about him while I’m sleeping-in. He flipped me off.

On these last days of school, we take our finals, talk about a brain-drain, I’m sure glad that’s over. I think I did okay, for the most part, but I know I probably just squeaked by in my Modern World Studies course, that was a tough test. I doubt Tyler did very well with all the texting and dick-pic exchanging he did in that class.

The following Saturday will be the commencement ceremonies in the school auditorium beginning at 2:00. Our caps and gowns will be our school colors of blue for the boys and white for the girls. My classmates and I must be at the school two hours before the ceremony for a dry-run through of the program. The boys will be seated on the right side of the auditorium, and the girls on the left. Row by row, we’ll be called up alphabetically, to receive our diplomas following the ceremonial speeches.

Luke will be preforming in the school band at the event, so he needs to go with me to the school at noon. He asks, “Well, Big Bro, this is it huh. You gonna miss this place?”

“Probably not, but someday I might. I definitely won’t miss mystery-meat day in the lunchroom.” How many times has that been said in schools across America?

“Awww, come on, it’s supposed to be meatloaf ... isn’t it?”

At 1:45, the auditorium is filling up with our families. Luke leaves to join his bandmates while my class assembles in a side hallway, we’ll be making our entrance on cue.

At 2:05, I can hear Principal Krausburg begin his speech of welcoming everyone. Our cue is when we hear the band launch into Pomp and Circumstance.

When the speech is over and the band begins to play, we file in from both sides of the auditorium and take our seats. The room is packed with a full attendance, all the seats are filled with some people standing on the sides and in the back.

Our school district Superintendent is here to speak. He’s filled with accolades of, “How hard we have all worked,” and, “The bright and prosperous future we have ahead of us.” He wishes us well on the journey-of-life we are about to embark upon.

The program moves forward with more speeches by some of our prominent teachers, our Class Valedictorian and Class President. The main themes being our future and our commitment to try our very best in everything we do. We finish with a loud cheer of, “Blue and White Forever!”

It’s time for the commencement. A row of seated girls and a row of seated boys are asked to line up on the side the stage. One by one they are called up to receive their diploma and shake hands with the Superintendent, Principal and Vice-Principal.

Being my last name starts with “S”, it will be a while before they get to me. We have over 500 graduates in my class.

I listen as they go through the list. “Justin Blaine” a receives loud round of cheers and applause.

Several dozen more names, then, “Marc Dietrich”, I cheer nice and loud for my friend.

Another name that sticks out to me is Tiffany’s friend, “Kayla Duffy.”

Time for my buddy, “Jeff Gardener” to receive his. I make sure to give him a loud cheer as I did for Marc.

Soon up is, “Tiffany Hammond”, I stand up and applaud.

A few more names then, “Bethany Hobson”. She is such a warm and giving person, I’m glad I got to know her better this year.

It does not escape my, ever-analyzing brain, that this is probably the final high school popularity contest. The volume and sustained length of the applause varies from graduate to graduate. This is based on their level of adoration by the student body over these last four years.

Quite a room-filling roar went out for “Dirk Larch”. If you asked me at the beginning of the school year (hell, even five weeks ago) if I would be applauding for him, I probably would have asked you what you’ve been smoking. I gave the guy an applause, a few heads around me turned like, Huh? What’s he cheering for that douche-bag for?