It was finally Friday and the day of the graduation. "Ethan, can i give you your present now?" I asked. "Sure." He grinned rubbing his hands together. I nodded my head towards the garage. "You don't know how long I've kept this secret." I said. "Wait, is my present what was under the sheet?" He asked. "Yea, why?" I asked. "Well Ryder told me he had stacked up some old boxes and other junk items. I should've known." He rolled his eyes. "I'm glad you didn't look though." I pushed the door open and we walked inside. I pulled the sheet off the car.

          His eyes lit up. "Sydney! How, HOW did you find this car!? I've been looking for months for one of these bad boys it's like my top car at the moment." He said. "I know, i found your paper while i was cleaning your room and i thought it might just be the perfect gift for you." I said. He ran his hand across the hood. "Man oh man, a 69 Chevy camaro. I am gonna have fun fixing up this bad boy." He said rubbing his hands together. He turned to me and pulled me into a tight hug. "This is seriously the best gift ever, thank you Sydney." Ethan said letting me go.

          "You're welcome, now don't get your fancy clothes all dirty." I said. "Hey that's no fun, besides my gown will cover it up." He said winking. "You have fun with that i said patting his arm. "Soon, i have to go finish getting ready. I'm kind of nervous my grandparents are coming and honestly they've never been proud of me." He said. "Oh no, why not?" I asked. "Because i moved out of my parents house. They thought it was a huge dis to them. And then when my mom told them i was opening my own garage my grandma about fainted. How dare i not go to college. I mean seriously WHAT does it matter? I'm going to be making good money either way." He said.

          "Yea, i understand that. Look, you are gonna do amazing things with your garage. You have nobodies expectation to live up to but your own." I said. "You're right, it's just hard to hear them never be proud of me." He said. "Well you're graduating high school that's pretty impressive." I said. "It is, i'll see you at graduation. Thanks again." He said patting my arm. "Anytime" I followed him out of the garage.

          "There's my high school graduate!" I said wrapping my arms around Ryder. "Hey." He said leaning up to kiss my cheek. "I have your present." I said. "Is it you?" He asked laughing. "No, even better." I said. "Nah nothing is better than you, but please show me." He said standing up. I lead him out to the garage. "You hid my present out here too? Man i didn't even look because i was trying to keep Ethan out. You are good." He said. "I try." I pulled the door open and we walked inside.

          In a different corner i had all of his goodies stacked under a sheet. "Wow what is all this?" He asked once he had pulled it off. He picked up the art work first. "Grey and red, thought it would look good in your studio." I said. "And this is a dummy, you hit it in all the right places and his eyes light up. I thought that might be less painful then all those girls hitting you." I Joked. "To true, and mats! They're red. This is great Sydney. I love it all. Thank you." He said wrapping me up into a hug.

           "Anything for you." I said. "You're to good to me." Ryder said sighing. "Nope, not even." I said holding him. "It's almost time to get going, i still need to change." I said pulling back. He kissed the top of my head. "Okay, i'm going to finish up some of my last minute assignments" He said. I laughed. "Leave it to you to wait until the last minute." "Hey, it's what i do best." He said.

          I pulled on one of my new dresses. I did a spin in the mirror. It still looked as cute as when i had bought it. It  had cap sleeves and went down to the middle of my thigh. It was a light blue with a beautiful floral print. Next i had to do my hair and make up. My hair just needed a quick brush and i pulled it half up and added a pin with jewels that matched my dress. Once my makeup was done i slipped into my high heels. I came out of my room to find Ryder hunched over his lap top deep in concentration.

          I cleared my throat. He looked up. "Wow, you look beautiful." He said standing up. "Why thank you!" I said. "No i mean it you really look beautiful." He said wrapping me into his embrace. "And you smell nice too." He said taking my hands in his and swaying to imaginary music.  "If i haven't told you lately i'm one lucky guy." He said."I'm the lucky one." I said. "We're both lucky." He said capturing my lips into a slow sweet kiss.

         We were interrupted by a clearing of a throat. "So are you guys ready to go?" It was Ethan. "We are, here let me fix your tie." I said coming over and straitening it.  "Thank you." He said. "I just have one question." I said. "Shoot." Said Ethan. "How are you gonna get your cap over your hawk." I said touching his spikes." "Oh i'll have to smush it down i guess?" He said. I giggled. "Go away." He said smiling and shooing me away. "Fine. Let's go." I said."Okay great, i thought we'd try out my new ride. I just finished up an SUV i thought we could take it when we go to New Mexico." He said. "I painted it a sand color so it'd be like camouflage." He said chuckling at his own genius.

         "Meet ya'll out front." He said leaving as Caleb and Liam entered the room. "Where's Jake were gonna be late." I said looking at the time on my cell phone. "Probably in the gun range i'll go get him." Said Liam walking out the back door. He returned minutes later with Jake trailing behind him. "Let's go Ethan is out front in the new SUV." I said.

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                        "Hey look there's my parents." Ethan said pointing and walking up to a polished couple. It didn't take much to figure out the older couple standing nearby scowling were his grand parents. Ethan said a few words to both and gave hugs then called us over. "Mom dad, you know the guys. This is our newest roommate. Sydney." He said. "It's so nice to meet you!" They said enveloping me into a hug. 

          "Harump!" Said his grandmother. "Ethan you've always been a disappointment and now NOW you're living with a girl! Are you two shaking up?" She asked.  We only kissed that one time! "What? No of course not! She and Ryder are dating." Ethan said. "Shame on you young man!" Said Ethan's grandfather wagging his finger at Ryder. "What? I'm not doing anything wrong." He said his eyes growing big.

           "You don't sneak into her room at night! Bull larky!" He said. "No sir, i don't have to and whatever Sydney and i do is between us and you should be prouder of Ethan. You know he's opening his own garage." Ryder said. "I know that's why were so disappointed he should be going to college." Said his grandmother. "Woah, where do you get off telling Ethan what he needs to do. Owning a garage is a great source of income, that's all that matters. He's also doing what he loves. Maybe try being proud of him. And if you don't want to support him then fine that's on you. But when you don't have a relationship with your grandson now you know why." I said. 

         "Young lady, you are out of line." His grandmother said. "No, you are out of line. This day is to celebrate Ethan and how proud we are of him. If you're not, then you shouldn't have  come. I'm not going to sit by and let you talk down to him on his special day!" I said crossing my arms at a stand off. "And you don't have to like any of his decisions but support him because you love him." I said giving them a warm smile. "I don't like the way you spoke to me but i appreciate what you said and how you seem to care for my grandson. " She said. "Look i'm sorry i didn't mean to yell at you. I do know i'm supposed to respect my elders i just hate to see anybody being talked down to." I said sighing.

           "I don't always understand Ethan, and i may think i know what's best for him but i suppose in the end it's his life and not mine so..." She held her arms open for Ethan to give her a hug. "Thank you Gan Gan." He said releasing her. "And thank you Sydney." He said pulling me into a hug. "You're welcome, you're gonna do amazing things. I'm really proud of you." I said. "Thank you." He pulled back.

               "Oh my, we should take our seats." Said Ethan's mother. "Yes we should." Said Caleb. We all found a decent spot on the bleachers and waited for the graduation to start.  "Can we cheer really loud when they call Ethan's name?" Asked Liam. "Why not!" Jake said. "I almost feel we should've brought an air horn." Said Ryder. "Right??" I said. "So, are you upset that you didn't get to walk?" I asked Ryder. "No, i got a diploma that's all that matters." He shrugged taking my hand in his.

          "Well i'm proud of you either way." I said. "Thanks." "So now that you've graduated are you sure you wanna be seen with somebody still in high school?" I asked. "Heck yea, you're amazing! I'd be lost without you." He said. Just then the principal tapped the microphone signaling the start of graduation. The music played and all the students filed out in there green graduation cap and gowns.

               They lined up at the podium. They finally called "Ethan Bartholomew Carson." We all stood up and yelled as loudly as we could. "Yay go Ethan!" I screamed. We took our seats and waited for the rest of graduation to end. We walked back down to the football field to hug him and take lot's of pictures. By the time it was over it was hot. Like summer in the south hot. Ethan's grandmother was more than ready to go home.

           "Don't you want to go to dinner?" His mother asked. "No, not today it's just to hot! I need to go stick my head in the freezer why don't we plan on lunch tomorrow?" His grandmother asked. "Fine then, fine Ethan does that work for you?" His father asked.  "Yes sir that's fine." he said. "Okay text us and let us know where you'd like to go." His mom said giving him one more hug. "I am so proud of you, my baby boy." She said. "Moooom." He pulled back blushing.

           "But we should go get dinner." I said once they all left. We already had plans to give the gifts to the guys. We got back in the SUV and headed to the back room at Texas roadhouse. Once we had ordered our drinks Liam passed out the gifts to Ethan and Ryder. "What you guys this is great, i see this is why you had us take the picture the other day." Ethan said reading all the signatures with our well wishes. "Yea this is great, thanks guys." Said Ryder.

           The waitress came back to take our order. She knelt down next to Ryder. "What can i getcha cowboy?" She asked winking. "I didn't even look at the menu!" I said throwing my hands up. Ignoring her lame attempt at flirting with my boyfriend. Cow boy, really? "Oh you are so cute! You say that every time and you always get the same thing. Steak, well done. Fries with honey mustard and salad with extra Italian." He said placing a hand on my leg and smiling sweetly at me.

          "Oh...i uh...i" She stood up backing away from Ryder. "I'll put that in..." She said frowning. Ryder gave his order and she went around the table ignoring the fact that she was just burned. Badly...Once she left Caleb burst out laughing. "Okay that was the funniest thing ever. Hey cowboy." He said in a girlish voice waving at Ryder. "Dude i'm gonna punch you that aint funny." Ryder said scowling at him. "So...! Liam said changing the subject when do we leave for New Mexico?" He asked. "Well my mom is due home in a few days, give me like a week to make sure everything is okay then we go." I said.

           "Great and when we bust this case we should..."Ethan started. "Wait!" Caleb held his hand up. "How long do you think this is gonna take?" He asked. "I dunno couple hours?" Ethan shrugged. "Seriously!? A couple of hours. Do you know what we have to do??" Caleb asked. "Yea bra just get the cops something concrete. Look you're always so uptight let's just chill k?" Ethan said. "No i won't chill. You need to take this seriously i know you want to get back here to work on your garage but this job paid for it so take it more seriously would you?" Caleb said.

         "No i wasn't trying to...i'm sorry you're right. Maybe it'll take longer than a few hours i really don't know." Ethan said. "It's okay i guess i'm just nervous i know what a tough mission this is going to be and i want everybody to be safe. You know this is so much more than just trying to do a fake drug buy. We have to find a way to sneak into the facility." Caleb said. 

           "you know actually i've been thinking a lot about that. Jake think you could order something for me." I asked. "Sure what do you need?" He asked. "Well i need a couple of gas masks and a LOT of tear gas." "Woah i see what you're thinking. We throw the tear gas into the compound and then you and i go into the compound i cover you and you hack into the computer." Jake said smiling and rubbing his hands together. "Tear gas..this is gonna be fun." He said. "I thought you'd like that idea." I said. "Wait you know you don't have a lot of time to get the info off of the computer." Liam said.   

           "Yea, but i have this program on this usb it'll just copy everything onto it. Then when we get back to the hotel room i'll sort through everything and just turn in what we need to the police." I said. "And you're sure they are going to have a computer there?" Asked Ryder. "Oh for sure. They wouldn't keep something with all of this information at home. It's to risky." I said. "And how do we even know they have incriminating information on it?" Caleb asked. I started to answer when the waitress sat our food down. "Do ya need anything else?" She asked. "No were all good,thank you!" Said Caleb. Once she was gone i finished my thought.

          "It's not rocket science selling drugs but this guy sells A LOT of drugs he needs to keep track of where everything is going. Big cities and such. Since i'm sure he doesn't do a lot of phone contact with his buyers he probably knows when to send what out i don't know look i have a hunch about this. Plus i plan on taking pictures of everything inside. were gonna hit em where it hurts." I said. "Works for me but how do we get in? I reckon there will be a guy at the door." Said Jake. "Maybe and if we just show up it might seem kind of odd." I said. "Then we just need to take him out." Jake said.

          "I have this thing I've been wanting to try out." Jake said thoughtfully. "It's this dart gun, won't hurt him it'll just knock him out a little." Said Jake. "Perfect, you've got the range. But Ethan you'll need to be on standby and also out of sight. We don't wanna get caught by these guys. I just need to figure out how to hide the car...."I said. "That's to risky we can't do it." Ryder said. "Wait." Ethan said holding up a finger. "What if we drive the SUV all the way to the compound. I've gotten my hands on a motorcycle. It's almost done. We can drop it off outside so you can make a quick get away then we'll ditch the motorcycle when we get to town just to be safe." Ethan said.

          "Yea that sounds like a good idea, i don't want them able to track us. If this guy is as scary as I've been told he is, jail won't stop him from doing something stupid." Said Caleb nodding. "I feel good about this plan, it's the best one we have and i think it'll work as long as nothing comes up." Liam said. "I agree." We finished our meal then headed home.