If this was what graduation looked like, I sure as hell was looking forward to it. My school really knew how to clean up its courtyard nicely—all the half-dead rosebushes were replaced by freshly planted lilies of the valley, and there were subtle white streamers and banners strung everywhere. Besides, this evening, there was a nice breeze blowing through, as if it was a gift from nature to the soon-to-be-graduates, that made the lit candles flicker slightly.

I held in my breath. God, why did I have to want to sneeze now?

"Woah," Lila sighed, biting her lip as she stood next to me. "Damn, they better do something better than this for us next year."

"Your ridiculously high expectations are ruining everything," Olivia said, crossing her arms. She was on my left (while Lila was on my right), which really did just cause more issues for me. Where was I supposed to sneeze now without blowing out one of the candles?

I scrunched up my nose (probably making me look like I didn't like the decorations and everything, which certainly wasn't true). Lila raised her eyebrows at me. "Well, Audrey," she started to say slowly, "I guess this isn't up to your—"

"Achoo!" I let out my sneeze in my left elbow (which was Olivia's side). I sniffed a couple times before responding snarkily to Lila (although I did have a stuffy nose, which really ruined the effect and everything), "I'm perfectly in love with this setting right now, thank you very much." I paused. "And bless me."

"Bless you," Olivia jumped in, a beat late.

I smiled dryly and patted Olivia's shoulder with my hand (the one I didn't sneeze into, for hygiene's sake). "Thank you, darling."

She returned my smile, her blue eyes twinkling in the fading light of the dusk. It really was a pretty time of day. (It had always been Excelsior Prep School tradition to hold the graduation ceremony in the evening rather than in the morning.) "No problem, love."

"I'm always missing out on these love fests," Lila complained loudly from my other side. When I turned my head to look at her, her arms were crossed. "I swear, you two."

I shrugged and looked back at Olivia, who really understood what I was feeling. I felt bad, really, for not paying as much attention to Olivia as I did to Lila. Plus, I wasn't much of a supportive friend when it came to her past feelings for Luc (I wasn't so sure that they were completely gone, though—Luc Mercier was a very striking character). Maybe we were overcompensating with all the hugging and love quips, but that was okay. We only had so much longer together, after all.

This ceremony really did remind me of my impeding departure from high school.

Luc came to the three of us from the refreshment table (the ceremony hadn't even started yet) with a cup of punch in hand, smiling lopsidedly at us. My heart skipped a beat. "Why aren't you guys in the seats yet?" he asked casually, slinging an arm over his sister's shoulders.

With a pointed glare, Lila shrugged his arm off. "Get away from me, freak," she said as venomously as she could (which wasn't very vindictive since she was eyeing his punch too jealously to actually use her energy on anger). "Damn, we're already allowed to get drinks?"

She seriously thought that her brother was sipping away at champagne. I held back a giggle and exchanged a glance with Luc, who shot me a little smile (that was really just the lift of one of the corners of his lips, but it made me want to swoon because damn, those dimples) just for me. I rubbed my bare arms as a delicious little shiver ran down my body.

I could always say that the evening breeze had gotten to me.

But really, any efforts to hide the effects that Luc had on me would be futile since I was already pointedly avoiding Olivia's eyes.

"You really think that they'd let minors have wine," Luc said to his sister, glancing down at her derisively. (After all, Lila was just about as tall as I was, which was about a good five inches shorter than Luc. Well, at least that made me feel a little better when I was comparing myself to her.) "You are so stupid."

Lila elbowed his arm so hard that his little plastic cup of champagne shook, causing him to spill a little on the ground. "Don't disrespect me because I have the capability to make your life hell."

If he didn't take her threats seriously, then he was truly an idiot. (This was why I loved Lila. I'd always wanted a friend who beat up people upon the slightest provocation. It was like having a pitbull who was always willing to attack anyone I wanted all the time.)

"Fuckin' shit," Luc grumbled under his breath, stepping back from the dark splotch on the stone tiles of the courtyard. "Garce stupide! What'd you do that for?"

"Well, just because you hit your growth spurt last summer doesn't mean that you're any stronger than I am—" Lila began to retort, but Eli, wearing a smart black jacket and blue tie, came jogging over to his, holding up a program. Olivia's smile grew a little (which made me want to fangirl out loud, but I kept it inside).

Luc was sending his sister a look that would normally scorch her into a cinder, but again, it was his sister. She was used to all his antics. Really, if I had to be honest, I just wanted to poke his cute little dimples (since he was clenching his jaw, bringing them out). He shifted his eyes to meet mine, and his glare shifted into a smile.

Eli broke through my dreamy haze (of Luc, that was), waving the program insistently. "Why aren't you guys in your seats yet?" he demanded in a whisper. "It's starting a couple minutes."

I glanced around. Indeed, everyone had quieted down a while ago, and most of the population was already in their seats. Biting my lip, I scooted into the reserved row of seats for Eli and Blake's family and friends. I didn't look back, but once I sat down, I watched Luc join me in his navy blue suit and red tie.

"Hey," I whispered. I didn't protest when he touched my left hand gently and, later, hesitantly intertwined our fingers. (Really, I was just praying that my hand wasn't too sweaty. I think my focus on it wasn't making the situation any better.)

"I like your dress," Luc whispered back to me.

I smiled. I was wearing my favorite little black dress (very party and formal event appropriate). Also, I was kind of training myself on how to pick up male undertones to their words, and if I was right, Luc was hinting that I was looking pretty today. "Thank you. You're looking pretty dapper yourself."

Luc leaned over and popped a kiss on my cheek. (After all, on my right side was Eli and Blake's thirteen-year-old cousin, who looked way too interested in Luc for my liking even though she was a fucking pre-teen. Anyway, it was very important to keep everything strictly PG around children.)

And then everyone was standing up, so Luc and I rose, turning around to watch the seniors, divided into two lines of girls and guys, stream into the courtyard itself. It was breathtaking to watch them so triumphantly walk in in their blue-and-gold-trimmed graduation caps and gowns. I bit my lip.

This was going to be me and Luc and Olivia and Lila next year. Oh my gosh, I really wanted to cry now. (But of course, I couldn't do that since I'd ruin my makeup, so I tried to wipe my eyes as inconspicuously as I could.)

The seniors filed into their seats in the front rows closest to the podium so gracefully that I felt the jealousy (but in a good way) churn lightly in my stomach. Out of all the blue heads, I spotted Blake's curly blond hair under one cap, and I smiled, contented. He was such a great guy.

I was so happy for him.

Our headmaster walked up to the podium and began his beginning remarks, but I couldn't really pay attention. Who could with all the candles flickering in the steadily approaching darkness? In the distance above the headmaster's head, the sun was setting, sending its last violent red and orange and peach light to us. Another breeze flew through my hair.

I glanced to my left, where my friends were sitting next to Luc. My hand was still intertwined with Luc's. It made me feel warm inside to just think about that—me and Luc together. I felt the heat rushing to my cheeks. No. No. I wanted to check on Lila and Olivia.

Lila was sitting next to her brother, legs crossed as she looked blissfully bored. I watched her fingers twitch on the hem of her dress, like she wanted to fiddle with her phone. That was like her. Undoubtedly, there were at least three texts waiting on her phone, but she'd silenced it and stuffed it in her purse before the ceremony started.

Next to her was Olivia, who was staring straight ahead, like she was memorizing everything that the headmaster was saying. Oh no, was she going to quote him in her graduation speech next year? That would be horrid. My eyes moved a little more leftward, and I caught sight of her hand in Eli's.

I almost cooed out loud, but then I remembered that I was, after all, sitting in the middle of a formal event and that I myself was holding a guy's hand.

Luc met my eyes as they wandered back to where they should have been in the first place—the back of the head of the person sitting in front of me. "What?" he mouthed. Oh gosh, I must have been staring at him too long. Even in the darkness, I could see his warm golden eyes smolder.

I shook my head. "It's nothing," I mouthed back to him.

And I wasn't lying.

It wasn't wrong to enjoy perfection in this very moment with the candles and evening breeze and my hand in Luc's.

→

They were coming very close to Blake's graduation speech, and if I had to be completely honest, I was about to drop dead from boredom. On more than a couple occasions, I found myself leaning my head on Luc's shoulder, only to be bumped back to my upright sitting position. (Ugh, didn't Luc know that he was totally ruining my hair?) He shot me several warning looks, as if he wasn't falling asleep himself (he closed his eyes for three speeches in a row—that couldn't be normal).

"This is boring," I whispered into his ear.

It felt good to feel him shiver under my fingertips. "We've only got Blake's speech left."

Even though Blake wasn't one of the top students in his class (and I wasn't judging him for that because becoming valedictorian was incredibly hard—plus, that position was reserved for either geniuses like Luc or scholarship students), he was amazingly active in his community, a fantastic athlete, and just generally well-liked by everyone.

I really did wish that I'd gotten to know him better. Well, for now, I guessed that knowing his brother, Eli, who was my age, was good enough for me.

Then Blake stood up and took the podium. I could literally feel my ears perk up. This better be good, Blake, because I had kept myself up for a whole thirty minutes for this. Just for this.

By the middle of Blake's speech, I was feeling pretty proud of myself—I'd actually managed to absorb some life lessons from him (always be resilient in the face of challenges, try to have a positive attitude, and other whatnot that I tried to follow but always managed to fail) without feeling a twinge of drowsiness.

Really.

It was 8pm now. The late dinner that the school had promised for all attendees of this ceremony better be worth it.

Luc seemed to feel my sentiments, since he elbowed me and whispered in my ear, "After Blake, they're going to hand out the diplomas, and we're done."

I smiled and leaned my head against Luc's shoulder.

Blake finished soon enough, and that was when the headmaster and some other department heads stood up and began to prepare to hand out diplomas. I straightened up in my seat. They kept it brief, thank goodness, and it only took twenty minutes for them to reach Blake Wyatt's name. The seniors filed back into their seats once they received their diplomas and shook the headmaster's hand, beaming.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please proceed to blow out your candles," the headmaster's voice said clearly through the speakers.

Another Excelsior tradition. The entire courtyard was suddenly plunged into darkness without the flickering light of the candles when the people sitting near the aisles blew out the candles there.

"Congratulations to our senior class and now alums!"

And with a united, exhilarating whoop, the seniors threw up their caps, filling the air with laughter as they tried to catch their caps again.

Soon enough, the maintenance crew came around to light all our candles again one by one. It was strange to be in the orange light of the candles again, but I grinned as I joined the Wyatt family in rushing out to greet Blake.

Really, once we got to Blake, he was too surrounded by his family members to properly greet me. I exchanged a glance with Luc, whose hand was still holding mine. My hand was definitely sweaty now, but he didn't seem to mind (since his hand must have been sweaty by now as well).

"This is going to be us next year," I said wistfully, watching Blake's mother hug him, a tear streaming down her cheek.

Lila, coming out of nowhere, bumped my shoulder (on the side that Luc wasn't already occupying). "We still have time, A." And then she smiled, lighting up her face, even in the hazy darkness of the night.

I really did love these people—Lila, Olivia, Eli, Blake, Luc. I loved them all.

→

I just wanna cry, you know? The last day of writing is tomorrow, and, in fact, this year is my last year at my school, so I'm catching the feels.

Just comment anything you'd like, will you? I'd really appreciate the support :)

Anyway, I'd just like to say that I'm very aware that there are a bajillion plot holes in this book (due to my lack of planning throughout everything), so I'm definitely heavily editing this after April ends. I'd also like to mention that I'm so insanely grateful for all the reads (1K!) on this book. Thank you so much!

I'm in the mood for love, so kisses to everyone <3 One day left!

Anne