Karma: Chapter Eight

Today was the day. No, I wasn’t getting married. Not yet anyway. I was graduating from North Oaks High. It’s about time. I didn’t work my butt off to not receive a piece of paper. Okay, that’s a lie. I didn’t work my butt off. I barely passed all my classes, but I did it!

“Rayna Mallory,” Mr. Newman, our principal called.

I gulped. It was my turn next. Everyone clapped as I got ready to walk across the stage. I adjusted my red gown for the thousandth time and took a deep breath. It’s not like I was accepting a Grammy or anything.

“Audrey Milan.”

I plastered a smile on my face as I shook the hands of my teachers and principal. He handed me my diploma and erupted a bunch of cheers from the left side of the room. Ah, there’s my family. I even invited Gavin, who turned out to be a pretty good friend.

I stepped off the stage, my moment of fame and attention gone and to the next person. I sat back in my plastic folding chair and listened to even more names get called. Anna won valedictorian, of course. She made a nice speech. I can’t really remember it…but I’m sure she’ll recite it to me again. I listened through even more speeches, until I heard my cue.

“Congratulations Class of 2012!”

I threw my hat up, careful to keep a careful watch on it. I paid for it and it wasn’t going to get mixed up with any of my classmates. To my pleasure, it landed right in my hand. I followed Rayna and the rest of my classmates out the door and into the rotunda. We began congratulating each other, snapping pics, and saying our goodbyes before we left for the real world.

Then our families were let loose. I heard names being shouted in all different directions, trying to listen for mine. In the meantime, I was looking for Cam. He was in the corner, talking to some of his basketball buddies. I made my way over there and kissed him on the cheek. “Congratulations Cam,” I whispered in his ear.

“You too, babe. We did it.”

“Ah, so the rumors are true,” Jared, captain of the basketball team, pointed out.

“Yup, we’re back together. For good,” I said confidently.

“Good to hear it.”

I spotted our families; they were approaching us. “We should go, I see my dad and he’s going to want pictures. Congrats guys! Good luck with the rest of your lives!”

I dragged Cam to my family. “Ready to meet my mom?”

Cam grunted noncommittally, but didn’t make any move to go back and run.

Dad was the first to scoop me up into a hug. “Congratulations Baby! I can’t believe my little girl is graduating high school!”

I patted his back. “You better believe it.”

“Jackson, move out of the way. It’s my turn,” my mom yammered, pushing him out of the way. “Congratulations honey! I haven’t felt this proud since Christian and Penny took their first steps!”

“But I graduated last year,” Will interjected blandly.

She glared at him. “Exactly, you’ve had your moment and now it’s your sister’s. Stop being such an attention hog, Will.”

Will shut up after that, except for when he congratulated me. I think I had posed for about a hundred pictures. It was okay though, the smile I wore on my face didn’t

I felt someone tug the bottom of my gown. I squatted down to face level. “Hi Pen.”

She smiled shyly and pointed at my cap. “Can I wear your hat?”

I laughed and her cuteness and placed the red cap on her bouncy, blonde ringlets. She beamed and went off to show Christian and the others.

“Who’s this?” Mom wondered, her eyes on our interlocked hands.

I gave his hand a tight squeeze. “This is my boyfriend, Cameron.”

She pursed her lips and scanned Cam with her eyes, deciding whether or not he made a good impression. I really hope he did. I had a feeling my mom was going to be around a lot more often now.

She stuck out her slender and perfectly manicured hand. “Lisa, but you can call me Mom.”

She winked and flashed me a pearly grin. She approved. He shook it. “Cameron, and I’ll just stick with Lisa.”

She pouted. “Boo. Now, are you going to break my Audrey’s heart again? Because if you do, I know people that can break your heart. Literally. Is that clear?”

“Crystal.”

Her smile was almost forced as she walked away. “I’ll meet you at home,” she called back, dragging my Dad, Paul, and the rest of my siblings with her.

I had ridden here with Cameron, so we were leaving together. We stayed after a little bit to say our goodbyes to our classmates.

“Let’s stop at McDonalds. I’m hungry.”

“Audrey, we’re going to your house for lunch. Can’t you wait?”

“No! My house is like five minutes further than McDonalds. Think of it as a snack or a small celebration for our achievement!”

“I don’t know…it’ll ruin your appetite.”

“Pleeeease Cam! My treat,” I sang.

“Well a McFlurry does sound good. Okay. We’ll go.”

I clapped for joy and started singing, “We are the champions.”

We went through the drive through and ordered two Oreo McFlurrys. “You know our parents are going to be mad,” Cam chimed.

I shrugged. “Who cares, we’re free!” I threw one hand in the air, the other was holding my cup. “So instead of going home…let’s go to the park.”

“But they’re already expecting us home…”

I waved my hand dismissively. “They can wait. Besides, we didn’t bring enough to feed them all.”

Cam sighed and drove to our park. We walked over to a bench and just sat there, enjoying the summer breeze. The sky was a bright shade of blue, with not a single cloud in sight. I liked days like this; perfect days.

We tossed our ice cream in the trash—well he did. I ran over to the swings and squealed, “Push me!”

He jogged over and did, just like the doting boyfriend he was. And like the stupid idiot I am, I let go of the chains on the swing. “Look Cam, no hands!”

“Wait, don’t—”

Too late. I fell off and died.

I’m joking. I didn’t die. I just had a few scrapes and a small cut from the woodchips below. “Ouch,” I complained. “Guess there goes my dream of learning to fly.”

“You’re so stupid,” Cameron tutted. I smiled weakly and brushed the dirt off. “We should go before you rip your gown. That thing was expensive.”

I agreed and skipped back to his car, only getting in the driver’s seat this time. “Audrey…what are you doing?”

“Getting ready to drive…how about you? Can I have your keys?”

“You’re not driving my car.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re a horrible driver.”

“But you promised! You told me sophomore year that I could drive your car when we graduated.”

“I meant from college.”

I shook my head furiously. “Hand over the keys, Mister.”

He tossed them over to me. “Be careful. Don’t go over the speed limit, stop at stop signs—”

“Blah, blah, blah. Okay Dad.” He scowled, which made him incredibly cute right now. I just had to flick his nose. “Don’t be grumpy.”

I recoiled and sank back in the seat muttering, “Don’t let me die,” over and over.

I rolled my eyes and sped away. He clutched onto the sides of the seat and began screaming dramatically. I laughed. “Don’t be such a drama queen. It doesn’t suit you.”

As soon as I parked the car in my driveway, Cam was out the door and knelt on the ground, kissing my driveway. I put my hands on my hips, attempting to act angry, although I was failing miserably. That’s why I wasn’t going to be an actor. “I thought we were done cheating on each other!”

He looked up from the pavement. “It’s not what it looks like!”

I tapped my foot impatiently. “Well explain.”

“You see, I have this amazingly hot girlfriend who’s the best kisser in the world and I worship the ground she walks on. I just wanted to thank the ground for being there…and uh…um…I love you?”

I giggled and gestured for him to hug me. He was just too darn adorable for his own good. “Good try, Cam. You know, if you just wanted a kiss, you could’ve just asked me.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”

We walked into my house and were immediately greeted by a chorus of more “Congratulations!” There was a banner strung across the hallway that read in Mom’s neat cursive, ‘Congratulations Audrey and Cameron.’ There were balloons and streamers placed randomly around the first floor.

“Can we have cake now?” Leo asked impatiently.

Mom nodded and led us to the kitchen where a big sheet cake awaited us. Cameron and I cut the cake together, making sure we made extra big pieces for the kids. They were only allowed one, another one of Mom’s “rules” in front of Paul.

We had a nice little barbecue, ice cream, and his mom and my dad reminiscing about our childhood days. It’s not like we were getting married or anything. No, Cam and I were waiting until after we landed a steady job. To us, marriage and children go together, one right after another. Notice I said nothing about sex after marriage. I could barely handle not having sex with Cameron for a month and I had a substitute for him!

And then he popped the question.

“Can I have my keys back now?”

What? Were you expecting a marriage proposal or something?

I hesitated before giving them over. I liked his car much better than my own. Towards the end, Dad and his mom, Elizabeth, were nearly in tears. Patrick, his dad, was comforting them both, telling them that we wouldn’t be far from home. Cameron and I both got into MSU, about two or three hours from home. We would be visiting home every couple of weekends. Our parents have to come and pick us up though, as freshmen were not allowed to have cars.

Everyone went home and Dad retired upstairs, leaving Cameron and I alone. Cameron had pretended to leave separately, and when my dad left, I let him back in. We had already changed into our pajamas awhile ago; I had some of Cameron’s clothes in my closet because I liked to sleep in them sometimes.

We were cuddling on the couch, watching an old rerun of Spongebob. It was the one where Patrick gets spoiled by his grandma and he gets jealous. To be honest, I wasn’t even paying attention to what the characters were saying. Cameron was distracting me by playing with my hair. I was probably going to end up like last time—in knots, but I didn’t care. If it made him happy, then I’d spend hours untangling…or just use conditioner.

“Let’s go skinny dipping,” I declared suddenly.

Cameron turned to look at me. “What did you say?”

“Let’s go skinny dipping,” I repeated, but more confidently.

“Where did this come from?”

“My head?” Sometimes he asked the silliest questions.

He chuckled. “Right now?”

“This is a time as good as any.”

“Alright…let’s go. Should we bring towels?”
“Yeah, that’d be a good idea. We don’t want to catch a cold or anything. That’d be pretty lousy.”

I grabbed two beach towels out of our linen closet and we left for the river. No one, except for the seniors at graduation parties that we didn’t go to, was awake at this time. If they were, they certainly weren’t at the park. We were a small, crime-free town (except for the occasional shop lifting), so the cops only roamed every once in awhile, just to keep the wannabe criminals at bay.

The moon was out; it’s shimmering reflection on the dark river water. Thousands of stars glittered in the sky, reminding me why I liked night better than day. The only lights, besides the one in the stars, was a single dim lamppost in the middle of the park. It kind of reminded me of that lamp in Narnia.

We stripped and left our pile of clothes by a great oak tree. There was a part in the fence that was broken, so we got through there. Tons of kids used this to swim and fish…well maybe not fish, but you get it. It was well known and city hall never bothered to fix it.

We carefully treaded down the slippery slope, not wanting to fall in just yet. Hand in hand, we jumped in. I screamed as my bare body hit the icy water. The collision hurt, like a bunch of pointy needles stabbing me all at once. Cam was quiet. If he was hurt, he certainly didn’t show it. What a weird boy.

I shivered and ran my hands up and down my arms. “What a stupid idea, Cam.”

“It wasn’t my idea.”

“I’m cold.”

“No,” he responded sarcastically.

I slapped him on the arm, hearing the stinging sound. He rubbed the spot and glowered at me. “What was that for?” he demanded

“I’m cold.”

“Just because you’re cold doesn’t mean you have to slap me.”

“I’m cold.”

“I get it. What do you want me to do about it?”

“Make me warmer!”

“How am I supposed to do that? Tell the sun to come out? Here sun, come here!”

“Don’t be so childish, Cam.”

“I’m being childish? I’m not being childish. You’re the one who told me you were cold.”

“How is that childish? I was just voicing my thoughts to my boyfriend, in hopes that he would do something about it. I thought we were supposed to tell each other how we were feeling.”

“We are, but not over and over again.”

“Well sorr-ry.”

“Fine, we’ll get out.”

“No!”

“You said you were cold.”

“I don’t want to get out,” I told him firmly.

“Fine, but don’t expect me to do stuff about it.”

“When a girl tells a guy that she’s cold, she obviously wants him to do something about it! So do it!”

“I don’t even have a jacket to offer you. If I did, I would wear it myself because I’m cold.”

“Selfish jerk.”

“Stubborn wench.”

“Really wench?”

“You know I don’t like to swear.”

“Inconsiderate bas—”

“Audrey…”

“Just because you don’t swear, doesn’t mean I can’t.”

“You know I don’t like it when you use your other language.”

“My other language? This isn’t French class.”

“You didn’t take French.”

“Why can’t you just hug me when I say I’m cold?”

“You didn’t ask!”

“You obviously weren’t smart enough to figure it out.”

“I don’t understand why women drop super subtle hints. Just tell us! This isn’t…isn’t…isn’t a game where you need hints.”

“You’re the best quick thinker I know.”

“Shut up.”

“Wonderful insult.”

“Shut up.”

“You’re just getting more and more creative each time you talk.”

Was it bad that I was just enjoying this more and more? I was no longer hiding the smirk on my face. It was getting too hard to keep it in.

“Shut up!” he screamed.

“Make me.”

And he found a lovely way of doing it.

Remember when I said I liked the peace and serenity that came with being single? Screw that. I loved us fighting, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

And in case you were wondering, yes, we were cliché and made love under the moonlight. And it was absolutely beautiful.

THE END