As I turned around, I could see him through the crowd. He merely stood among the people, watching me. Smiling when I saw him, he began to make his approach toward me.
I extended out my arms to him: I needed a hug from him, only him. Fear swept over me again, as it had done continuously for the past three months. Fear had caused me to push him away as this day approached, but now I knew I could not survive without him and wondered how I had for the previous few months.
Embracing him, I cried into the shoulder of his UCONN jacket and crushed the diploma in my right hand into his back. I held him so tight, sobbing as I realised that soon, I would be forever ripped away from my wonderful friend.
"I'm sorry!" I whispered. "I am so sorry!"
His silence prompted me to say more.
"I thought you were not going to come, but here you are. Here you are. I do not want to leave! I do not want to go to college!"
"Then don't," he replied softly. "You don't have to."
Releasing him from my grasp, I stepped back. "I can't."
"Why not?" his eyes reflected concern.
"Give me one reason to stay!" I challenged him with the question that had run through my head so many times. "Just one reason!"
He paused, then said slowly, "Well, you don't want to go..."
"But I have to!" I fell back into his arms again. It felt great to have a friend, finally. It would be hard to get used to being alone again.
"Go to college with me," he spoke. "I'm only a year behind! I'll be going to college next year."
"You want me to wait for you?" I asked. "So do I! So do I!"
My mind began thinking of other fears but ceased to dwell upon these matters as he took my arm and lead me across the street, to my home. I knew, from that point onward, that he would be my life long friend.
Nothing material, such as college, careers, or money mattered any more. Love reigned finally within me.
Long Live the King!
By Kellyanne Lynch
5/20/1996
