The squeal of an electric guitar on full blast amplified through her silent bedroom, causing Ada's body to break out in a spasm. Shooting to consciousness caused muscles to jolt in an unattended direction and she fell out of bed in a loud thud that even she couldn't hear over the music.

A crash of a symbol caused her body to twitch, and the rug rubbed against her forehead in a fast burning movement. Ada readjusted herself to face upwards, and she held her palm against her aching head. It took Ada's eyes a few seconds to adjust to the sight of her mother standing above her, hopping up and down to the beat of the Alice Cooper song with a psychotic look on her face, holding her three fingers up in the air in the symbol of 'rock'.

As Ada sat up further, she noticed her dad was there, doing a dance where one leg was lifted and he was just jerking his body forward while playing air guitar to 'School's Out'.

If her parents were anyone else, she'd just assume she was still dreaming or that the head damage she'd received from falling out of bed was more extensive than she thought. But these were her parents, and this did not surprise her one bit.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Ada asked as she pulled herself upwards. "Is it even time to wake up yet?"

Her mom pulled her up the rest of the way before turning down the boombox enough that Ada could at least hear herself think. "Ah, but today we have made a bountiful feast to mark this very special occasion."

Her father continued the overacted monstrosity of a speech. "Join us upstairs and we shall devour frozen waffles, overcooked scrambled eggs and burnt to a crisp bacon. We will enjoy conversations that all begin with 'it seemed like just yesterday'."

Ada closed her eyes and pressed her palm to her forehead before allowing it to travel upward to her tangled short blonde hair. "Is Peter up yet?" Ada's voice came out just above a whisper, her vocal chords seeming to be as tired as the rest of her.

"Nah," her mother said with a wave of her hand. "We've fed the kid enough this month. Don't want to spoil him."

The sound of footsteps trembling down the stairs above answered her question. "I'll be up in a minute."

Her dad walked over to her bedside table, grabbed the boom box, and placed it against her shoulder. "I'd say hurry your ass up, but the food already went cold awhile ago, so take your time."

Her mom followed her dad halfway up the steps before yelling out, "Your forehead's red."

Ada rushed over to her mirror just as the door above closed behind her parents and saw that her forehead was red and felt a little warm. She'd received rug burn for all to see on her last day of school.

"Son of a bitch," she muttered before walking away from the mirror. She grabbed her red robe that lay beside Tom's sweatshirt on her dresser, noticing the wrapped present in the corner and placing it next to her book bag.

She'd ordered it for Tom a week before and it only arrived yesterday, making it a close call.

Though this wasn't yet his last day of teaching since the remaining grades still had a week left, it would be his last day teaching her. Their growing feelings and relationship aside, he had been an incredible mentor, her strength, her confidant and an irreplaceable friend these last four years. He'd taught her lessons beyond literature and beyond her own writing. He'd taught her to see the beauty within herself and made her feel important when she'd spent her entire life in the background.

She dragged her fingers across the present, wrapped in a simple brown paper that resembled newspaper. Ada was ornate with her wrapping, but this style felt more like Tom. It was peaceful and earthy. She hoped beyond hope he would appreciate the present, since it was personal for him and rather difficult to find.

After giving it a last glance, Ada walked up the steps and joined her family, including Nonnie, in the kitchen where all were sitting in wait for her.

"Happy last day!" they all yelled out in unison.

Stevie hopped up from her seat holding the paper crown she hadn't seen in years and forgot existed. It had 'graduate' written out in purple glitter and covered in plastic jewels of all shapes and colors. Ada had made it for her sister the day before her graduation party.

It wasn't until that memory hit her she realized what her father must have talked to Tom about the night before. She was sure they wanted to keep it a surprise, but the day she graduated was also the kickoff for their annual summer barbecue.

Stevie placed the crown atop Ada's head and everyone clapped. After giving them a small curtsey, she went and sat at one of the empty seats, noticing that foods her father had listed were all perfectly cooked and the waffles were homemade, which was further confirmed by the mess in the foreground. It took all of her willpower not to bolt over there and start doing dishes.

Nonnie took the plate in front of Ada and filled it to the brim with eggs, bacon, sausage and waffles, enough to make a man twice her size full. She spread the butter onto the waffles and covered them with syrup before placing the plate in front of Ada, who accepted it with a smile and took her first bite.

"Have you been invited to any parties?" her mother asked as Ada chewed.

Ada nodded as she swallowed her waffle. "One on Saturday. It was nice to get an invitation, but I'm not sure if Britt and I are going."

"Don't want to be hungover for graduation, huh?" her dad guessed with a smile.

That was the one mistake her sister had made that Ada would learn from. Stevie had suffered a massive hangover for the entire next day and had been in the bathroom puking an hour before walking across the stage.

Unlike Stevie, Ada knew how to pace herself, but Britt did not. It was all or nothing with her, and Ada didn't feel like babysitting Britt all night and stopping her from doing stupid shit. She wasn't an angry drunk or an overdramatic one, but she wasn't the best decision maker and Ada had spent every party they ever went to playing defense against those poor decisions.

At least Ada's dad was good about picking them up. He had a 'no questions asked' policy that he stood by, making him an easy person to call.

"I just don't want to be out late that night."

"Did you have any other plans for Saturday?" her mom asked behind her coffee cup.

She knew what the question was behind that question. Her mom was so back and forth about Tom it was making her dizzy. She was not on board with him being her boyfriend, but also hesitant about Tom in her life in any regard.

"Not at the moment," she responded. She guessed her mom was wondering if their 'hookup' would happen as soon as she was no longer his student, but Tom was pretty well set on waiting until after she graduated. Plus, she had zero intention of having that talk with her mom. She had it before with her first boyfriend and only boyfriend, and it was mortifying.

"You and I could go out and do something," her sister suggested. "Go to the arcade or a movie or out to dinner. Have a sister's night out."

She'd never, not once, had a night out with her sister. Their gap in age had always stopped them from having similar interests. "That sounds awesome."

"Great," she said with a smile before shoving a bite of waffle into her mouth. "Saw lover boy leaving the house last night. You sure he won't mind giving you up for a night?"

It wasn't until Ada's glare bore into her that Stevie seemed to realize what she'd just done.

"Who's lover boy?" Nonnie asked.

Ada was in no rush to look in her grandmother's direction, only kept glaring at her sister, who mouthed 'I'm sorry' to her from across the table.

"Ada?"

Her eyes reluctantly shifted to her Nonnie, hoping to God her poker face was good enough. "Huh?"

"Who's lover boy?" Nonnie asked again. "You have a boyfriend no one's told me about?"

Ada swallowed hard and nodded. "Someone from school. It's still new."

Nonnie pursed her lips into a fine line as she stared at Ada, studying her. "A student?"

Dammit.

Her body grew warm as she prepared herself for scrutiny. "Nonnie-"

She tossed her fork against the plate. "It's that teacher, isn't it?" When Ada's expression seemed to speak for itself, Nonnie continued. "I knew somethin' was goin' on between the two of you. I knew it. How could someone as smart as you do somethin' so damn stupid? The man's twice your age, for God's sake."

Although he wasn't twice her age, Ada was too afraid to correct her and it wasn't far enough off to distinguish the difference.

"Ma, will you relax? We're tryin' to have a nice family breakfast," her father spoke.

Nonnie's mouth gaped open and her green eyes seemed to grow twice their normal size. "You knew about this?"

Her father made a noise resembling a snort before he tied his hair back, away from his face. "Stevie just said he was at the house last night. Ain't nothin' happen under my roof I don't know 'bout."

"How could you let this happen, Jeff?"

Her father finished chewing his eggs, taking his sweet time as he stared at his mother with little expression. "Only God himself could have stopped this from happening, ma, and I ain't him."

Nonnie shook her head, appearing as flabbergasted as she'd ever seen her. She'd never seen Nonnie speechless before. She always had something to say and was always quick to say it.

Everyone went back to eating their breakfast; everyone except her grandmother, who looked like she was about to throw up all over her plate.

It was a good minute or two before her Nonnie spoke again. "they should fire that man, takin' advantage of an impressionable young woman like this."

Her father sighed. "Yeah, well he already done quit, so what else you got, old woman?"

"You don't talk to me like that, Jeffery Adams Sinclair. I brought you into this world and you can bet your redneck ass I can take you right back out of it." Nonnie waited a few moments, staring her son down until he hung his head, then raised herself from the seat. "If y'all will excuse me, I believe I've lost my appetite."

Ada kept her eyes on Nonnie as she walked through the room, shaking her head with disappointment, and walked out the back door.

"So," Peter said, speaking up for the first time since she walked in. "You're dating Tom, huh?"

Ada smiled at her brother's casual tone. "Yup."

"Cool."

She wanted to give him a great big kiss on his cheek, but he just would have wiped it away and whined about girl cooties. Instead, she held out her fist, and he promptly bumped it with his own.

After that, family breakfast continued on with the stories beginning with 'it seemed like just yesterday', everyone ignoring Nonnie's mild outburst.