(Raymond)

 "Cap and gown on?" I ask Pete, as we adjust our gowns in the gym. I have to slightly yell because of the fact that everyone's talking is making this sound like a Super Bowl game. He nods. 

"All on. Man, I can't believe we're graduating. I can't wait to rub my diploma in people's faces, and yell, 'I told you so!' to everyone around me," he says, while I smooth out my gown. 

"You're not done yet, sir. You still have four years of college to complete, and even I don't know if we're going to survive that." He sighs, with his face falling. 

"Oh great, now you made me sad. Thanks a lot." I chuckle. 

"Hey, no problem." Pete walks away from me. 

"We have to line up in alphabetical order. I have to go all the way in the middle." I wave. 

"Later," I say, and Pete scurries off to the front. I make my way to the back, based on my surname. I find the approximate R- alphabet row, and I stand in line. As we're waiting, we hear the music being played, and someone opens up the doors. It's time to finally receive the long awaited diplomas. Took us four long years, but we did it. 

"Come on, let's go!" a teacher yells, and slowly, we start to file out of the gymnasium. The sky is a beautiful mix of yellow, orange, and pink from the sun setting. While we're walking out on the football field, we hear the families cheering for us, and screaming our names. Proud parents are waving posters with their kids names, or blowing obnoxiously loud air horns that almost rip our eardrums in half.

I keep my head high and I keep on walking towards the stage. In the middle aisle, the teachers are clapping for us as we start to reach our seats. Eventually, we make our way to our seats, and we sit down. After the music dies down, Ms. Robinson comes up on stage to give the speeches. 

"Welcome to the class of 2017's graduation. Class of 2017, you guys have accomplished so much throughout your four years of high school, and we're really sad to see you guys go. Thank you for all the memories you gave us," she says, and people applaud. Then, Melinda Brown goes up on stage to sing the national anthem. With my hand over my heart, I raise my head high, and I just take a minute to absorb everything. 

I'm finally here, about to graduate high school. I never imagined that I'd get to this point in my life, but here I am. And I'm so proud. I'm so proud of everyone that's here, after all the hard work and tears they cried. 

After the national anthem is sung, we sit back down. Ms. Robinson comes up to the podium, and she announces what's next. "Up next, we have our valedictorians to give their speeches. Raymond Richards, Sophia Smith, and Chris Lee, please come up to give your speeches," she says, and us three get up to give our speeches. 

Cheers erupt from all sides of the field and stadium. People cheer from all the way in the stands, and my fellow classmates cheer for all of us. As I'm walking towards the stage, I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn my head, and Sophia is right there, looking beautiful as usual. I smile, and her hand moves from my shoulder to encase itself around my own hand. 

"Are you ready?" she asks. I nod. 

"More than ever," I declare confidently. Finally, we make our way up to the stage, and Ms. Robinson stands by to let us give our speech. I get up to the podium, clear my throat, and look around. All eyes are on me. Everyone's watching me at this moment. While some gazes looked comforting, others looked like they were going to burn two holes into my skin. I can see Pete in the audience, giving me the thumbs up. I inhale deeply, and start. 

"Honestly, if you asked me if we would reach graduation this quickly, I would've looked at you like you were growing a tail at that moment. Now, we're here, and time went by far too fast for me to even consider. We went through so much throughout high school. We had teachers who were literal angels from heaven, teachers who pushed us to our full capability, and teachers who were a mix of both. We all had tests where we aced, we failed, we wished we did better on, and there was always that one test where everyone studied, but everyone failed because the test material was like an alien script. I'm not going to give names. Chemistry teacher," I say, mumbling the last sentence under my breath just enough for the audience to hear. The audience erupts in laughter as I continue to give my speech. 

"But, through all of that, we made it. We made it here, to graduation day. And even though we ended up at the same destination, we'll be taking different trains in life. Some of us will go straight to a new job, while others will torture themselves a little bit more in college," I say, and the audience erupts in laughter again. 

"But, even though we might not see each other that much anymore, we're all grateful for the memories that we gave each other. I'm grateful, and I'm sure you all are too. High school was an experience in which we learned a lot, but we also went through a lot. But, in the long run, it was worth it. To everyone out there, I wish you guys luck in the future. Thank you for being so amazing to me throughout these four years," I say, and the audience applauds me loudly. 

Cheers are screamed from across the field. Whistles are being heard in the air as I step aside for Sophia to give her speech. After she's done with her speech, and Chris is done with his, we both step down from the stage, and head back to our seats. Ms. Robinson steps back up to the podium, and clears her throat. 

"Class of 2017, it's time to receive your diplomas," she announces, and everyone cheers a little bit more. One by one, teachers call students up to receive the one thing that they've been longing for these four years. For all my friends, I cheer and whistle for them. I cheer even louder for Pete when he gets his diploma, and shakes Ms. Robinson's hand. I'm honestly surprised he didn't yell into the microphone, "GOODBYE EVERYONE, I'LL REMEMBER YOU ALL IN THERAPY!" 

Eventually, it's my turn to go up to get my diploma. I'm on the stage, really nervous, because everything seems so surreal. Eventually, one of the teachers says, "Raymond Andrew Richards." The whole class of 2017 erupts into cheers, and I can hear my parents cheer in the audience. I go up, shake Ms. Robinson's hand, and get off the stage. Not long after I sit down in my chair, I hear, 

"Sophia Thérѐse Smith," being said in the microphone. I cheer as loud as I can for her, and whistle as well. Sophia receives her diploma, and when she gets down, Sonia's name is called as well. We both cheer as loud as we can for Sonia as well, and not long after that, all the teachers are done with the diploma dealing. 

"Class of 2017, turn your tassels," Ms. Robinson instructs. After we all do so, she smiles.

 "Congratulations! The class of 2017 graduates!" she announces proudly, and at that moment, everyone throws their hats up in the air. Once I find mine, I look around to see if I can find my family anywhere. 

"Ray!" my mom calls from behind. I turn around, and my parents are hurrying towards me. I run towards them, and they all engulf me in a huge hug. 

"You did it, Ray! You finally did it! Congratulations, sweetie!" my mom squeals. I smile. 

"Thanks, Mom!" I say, and I turn to my dad. 

"Ray, you did it. Congratulations. We're all so proud of you," he says, and he comes in for a hug as well. I smile. 

"Thanks, Dad," I say, and I hug Randy as well as he hugs me. 

"Ray! Ramona!" a voice says from behind. Sonia's family, Pete's family, and Sophia's family are all hurrying towards us. Sonia and Sophia are hurrying towards us, with bouquets of flowers in their hands, along with large balloons. 

Pete's walking towards us, with his mom's arm around him. Sophia comes up to me first, and she throws herself into my arms. I wrap my arms around her, and I plant my lips onto her cheek. She plants her lips onto mine in a long kiss, and we stay in that position, with me holding her up, for as long as we can. I set her down after a while, and I look her into the eyes. 

"We did it, belle. We finally did it," I say. She smiles. 

"Finally," she says, while our moms and dads are hugging. 

"Ray! Congratulations!" Pete's mom and Sophia's mom both say in unison. I smile at both of them. 

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Klein and Mrs. Smith. It means a lot," I say, with pure euphoria engulfing me. All our moms hold their phones up. 

"Come on, guys, we all need a picture! Get in!" our moms say. Sophia's arm snakes its way around my back, and my arm goes around her shoulders. Pete's arm goes around my back, and Sonia's arm goes around Sophia's back. 

"Smile!" everyone says, and they take a picture of us. It's probably the first picture in a while in which we're all just purely happy. It took a while, but honestly, I'm glad we made it. 

Sophia and I went through a lot. Not just in senior year, but just in life. We went through phases in which we were scared, we were afraid of losing each other, phases of fighting, and pure romance. It was a long journey, but we finally made it to one of our main destinations of this journey. 

We stopped over at so many of those destinations, and we stayed at some of them longer than we had planned or wanted. But, at the end of the day, the path in which we took eventually led us to our planned destination. 

I couldn't be any more happy with where we have arrived at. Now, all I can do is look forward to the destinations that we'll stop over at in the near future. Hopefully, at the end, we'll end up in a stop in which we stay at, and one that is like the one we are at right now. 

But, I have to thank my imagination on this. My imagination carried me to a world in which I thought never was. But I would've never gone anywhere with it. Now, all I can do is see what worlds my imagination will carry us to in the future. 

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What a memorable ending. (to me, at least). What do you guys think will happen in regards to Sophia and Ray's future? Let me know in the comments. 

Wow. We've finally made it to the end. After almost a year, I'm proud to say this is the last chapter of I Never Imagined. It's honestly surreal that I've come this far with INI. I'm not going to lie, this made my heart hurt a little. My first Wattpad book, that I put so much effort and love into, has finally drawn to a conclusion. Makes me shed a few tears. 

Okay, I saved the sappiness for the afterword. Feel free to check it out, if you wish.