AFTER YEARBOOK PICTURES WERE TAKEN, we were all asked to go to the auditorium. Each student was given a sheet with all the senior events that were happening today. Underclassmen were shuffling in the hallways and kept glancing at the students who were overdressed for a school day. I ignored all the catcalls from people who've ignored my existence until now.

I didn't have time to focus on the fact that maybe I should've brought a bigger jacket to hide in the big sized sleeves. My nerves were jumping all over the place already and I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings anyway. Ryan kept asking if I was okay but I couldn't answer him. I was nervous. After I took my pictures this morning, I checked my emails and saw three emails.

They were from the last three colleges I applied to.

We were headed for cap and gown measurements. After lunch, we had ring measurements to look forward to. This was making graduation real. We were on our way in when Grey pulled us aside.

I followed without saying a word.

"Julianna? Are you alright?" Grey waved his hand in front of my face to see if I was paying attention.

I nodded with eyes that were unfocused. I have emails of the colleges...

Ryan pats my head and I swat his hand away. I give him a warning by saying, "You know I hate it when you do that."

Noticing that got me out of my daze, Grey laughed. "What's the matter, Jones?"

"I got my emails this morning," I told him, looking at the dark screen of my phone.

"I have a meeting right now. I'm not sure if..." Grey nodded. "Come to my office after the assembly. Bring your lunch too." Grey lifted my chin up and told me, "Think positive."

I doubted I could but I nodded as Grey turned to leave.

I pointed at Ryan as I walked into the open doors of the auditorium where the people who were measuring us were waiting. "Ryan."

Ryan, who was fixing the tie Grey gave him, looked up at me. "What did I do this time?"

I blew my bangs over to the side while smiling, "Nothing yet. Do you need help? You look like you're struggling."

Ryan nods but keeps walking. "At lunch." He says as he introduces himself to the woman in charge of the graduation gowns.

I glance down at my phone. What if I didn't get accepted for any of them?

I was shaking while opening up the email app. Should I wait to be with Grey and Ryan? People usually open them while on Skype with their parents, right? If I open it now, it would be just like how I started: alone. Maybe I should wait until I am alone.

I put my phone away and walked up next to Ryan.

He raised his eyebrows as if he was asking if I was ready. No, Ryan, I am, in fact, not ready. I'm not ready to scream in joy or cry in humiliation. If I get into any of the three colleges that are left,  that means I did it. I passed. I.. I could leave Amy's house.

If I failed at getting in, what would I do? What would I do? Where would I go?

"Hey." Ryan tapped my shoulder. I blinked. "Don't look like you're about to cry. Graduation is not here just yet."

I pull on the cuffs of the jacket again. "I'm not crying. I'm worrying."

"Don't worry." He sings. "Be happy."

I give him a look. "Go get measured."

He points at me. "You go."

To prove a point, I stand next to the wall that has the heights listed. I stand up tall while the women in charge wrote down numbers in her notebook. She asked me to sign my name and homeroom number on the page along with my phone number.

I turn around to Ryan and curtsy. "My kind sir, I have been measured."

Ryan steps forward, signs his name, and smiles,"Have we now?"

I make my way back up to the cafeteria's exit. "Hurry up now, Ryder, before I leave to Patsy's without you..." I singsong.

Ryan runs up behind me and opens the door for me. "You can't leave me here. I have to give the girls the view they've been waiting for."

I nudge him and, seeing as to how I'm not tall enough to reach his shoulder yet, I basically tap his arm with my shoulder. Still, he gives me a little push in return. "You like girls staring at you?"

"Pretty ones like you? Heck yeah." was his reply, along with an ever so rare smirk. "This conversation sounds familiar, Julie."

I start to crack up, which was the opposite reaction to when we had this exact conversation when we first met. I shrugged. "I wanted to test your memory."

"Well," Ryan starts,"my memory remembers that after I told Unc to tell me about the project, a certain girl was eyeing my arms. She was checking me out. That does wonders for the ego."

I cough. "Well. Well. I-I don't seem to remember that."

"I said, 'certain girl.'"

I smiled his way. "I heard."

By then, we kept going back and forth, forgetting the car and walked ourselves to Patsy's. Somehow, we started talking about music. We were fighting about Fall Out Boy and Imagine Dragons as we reached our destination.

I loved how he already made me forget about the emails.

"I like 'Thunder'." I had told him.

"I like 'Phoenix'. 'Thunder' was good for Imagine Dragons, but I love 'Phoenix'. That's the only song from Fall Out Boy that I'd listen to on repeat."

"Okay. You can listen to it on repeat and I'll listen to 'Thunder'." I say.

Ryan leaned in close. "Oh, I'll show you 'Thunder' alright."

I turned away while opening the door. "Ryan, that sounded-"

"Is that her? It is?!? Julianna!" I heard someone scream as soon as I walked in through the door of the cafe.

A bunch of curly, red hair blocked my vision of anything and everything else. The person crushed my ribs into pixie dust. She, based on her voice, hugged me and whispered something over and over. I struggled to get out of their reach because I didn't have any friends, last time I checked, that would attack me like this. I mean there was Ryan but-

"I'm so glad I could finally meet you!" She laughed.

I took a step back and looked at Ryan. He seemed to be as confused as I was.

I looked back at the girl. She was waving over to someone who was behind the bookcase Patsy's had. She was wearing a floral shirt that was tied at the front. Her jeans were ripped and had paint splattered all over. I wonder if it was intentional. She turned to face me with a bright smile and I automatically smiled back. It's been a while since a stranger has smiled my way. It made me happy for some reason.

"I'm sorry." I started saying,"I'm afraid I don't remember who you are. What's your name?"

She pulls at the hand behind her and Nathan stands up from a chair from a nearby table with a little girl on his arm. "My name is Rosanne! I'm Ashlyn's mom. "

"And my super model wife," Nathan adds in.

She laughs and smacks Nathan's arm. "Nat."

"Awe." I smile.

Nathan smiles at his daughter and his wife before addressing me. "I told her you might come by today and she asked if she could have the day off to meet you. I didn't want to tell you, but after you gave us the donation, a few other customers started donating too. Just last week, the insurance sent us a letter saying they approved Ashlyn's surgery but, with the money we both raised, we had enough."

I started tearing even though I didn't want to because of the makeup I've had since this morning. "Oh thank goodness."

Rosanne hugged me again."I can't thank you enough, Julianna. When Nat came home that day, I was ready to beg his parents to pay for the rest. We still had a few hundred to go but I didn't want to ask his parents because-"

"I don't get along with them." Nathan finished.

Ryan gave me a small smile and I told Nathan, "I know the feeling."

A gurgle came from the baby in his arms and I cooed. "How old is she?"

"Ten months old. Want to hold her?" Rosanne asked me.

I could only nod. I carefully gripped the baby and smiled down. Ashlyn had the most beautiful green eyes I have ever seen. Her hair was blonde. She looked adorable. Then she smiled up at me and laughed.

"She has your smile, Rosanne." I tell the mother. "And Nathan's laugh."

Nathan nods and hands Ryan his phone. "Could you do us a favor? Can you-"

"Yeah. Sure. No problem dude." Ryan says before Nathan could finish.

I stand in between the parents and smile down at Ashlyn. "I hope your life is full of laughter."
I whisper to the baby. "Because something as beautiful as you deserves it."

Ashlyn laughed.

Ryan snapped the picture.