“John! Get up or you’ll be late!” Denise screamed up the steps. She then turned to Gwen, “He’s gonna miss his own graduation!” “Mom, chill! He’s eighteen, he can handle it.” Denise sighed and headed up the stairs to get changed. Gwen sat, finishing up her breakfast when John came down. “Gwen, can you tie a tie?” he asked impatiently. “Sure I can.” While tying his tie Gwen noticed how nervous he was. “How could I be the Saludictorian? I’m not that smart!” “Well, look on the bright side, at least you’re not the smartest person in the class!” Gwen giggled finishing up his tie. John then thanked her and headed out the door. “Hey!” Gwen yelled after him “Don’t forget your speech!” Gwen sat on her brother’s; thinking about the time she’d spent here. She was leaving tomorrow and she would have to leave her hometown again. Gwen hated saying goodbye, even if it lasted for a short while. Hey, you never know that when you see your best friend one time that it is the last time you will ever talk or perhaps see them alive again. At least Gwen hadn’t run into Don. But besides the whole Don ordeal, she had had fun with her friends. They had planned to fly down to Tulsa in June of next year and spend the whole summer with Gwen. Of course, their parents would let Amy, Bridget, and Cassidy go seeing how much Gwen had missed them. She had decided that she would not tell them that Hanson lived next door. It would be her surprise to them. And Gwen had planned to have all her friends from Tulsa over to meet her other friends and they could all do something together. And then she was excited about going home, to Tulsa. Gwen would get to see Keren, Ash and the guys. But what about Ike, Tay, and Zac? It seemed like she hadn’t seen them forever.
Gwen jumped to the sound of Zach and Jordan running down the stairs. She thought it was about time that she should get ready, too. Gwen went up to her room and put on her blue CK dress, her black platform shoes, and her mom helped her pull her hair back into a French twist. After putting on a little makeup, Gwen ran downstairs and yelled for everybody to hurry up. After much arguing and “Where’s my shoe?” kind of talk, the Williams family loaded into their van and drove off toward the Forreston High School. When they got there, the family walked into the school where a young man greeted them who led them to their seats. Of course, front row. They sat right next to the family of the Valedictorian and Gwen looked around at the surroundings. “Gwen, watch the kids for us. We have to go get some pictures taken with John,” said Ron. Right away, Zach and Jordan got involved in a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors and Madisin pulled out one of her million Barbie dolls. Gwen just starred off into space, heading right for La-La land. After about 20 minutes, the parents returned and the gym was full, about ready to start the ceremony.
Gwen watched as the principal gave his famous speech about the students moving on and presented the class of 1998. Then someone played on song on the piano and the seniors started to walk in the gym. Gwen noticed Don and one of the student council/cheerleader seniors in about the middle. She had missed him so much. Was she really away from him for 4 months? John and Allison Wateman, the Valedictorian, walked last behind the other 72 seniors. She saw him and smiled. After all the seniors were seated, Allison got up and also made a long speech about moving on. (At least it was more interesting than the principal’s.) Then they presented all kinds of awards to the seniors and their parents. Finally, John got up to the podium to make his speech. He started out by saying “Well, I’m probably just going to say exactly what Allison said earlier so I’ll just say this. We will never again walk these halls again, together, or “eat” the cafeteria food together or dance to ‘We Are the Champions’ at the homecoming dance together. We have shared so much together these past four years, from watching the seniors throw the new freshmen in the trash can to running up and piling on Clark after making the winning touchdown in last year’s homecoming game to spraying silly string in the face of the principal on his 55th birthday. Through all our joys and sadness, we have stuck together and made ourselves one hell of a great class. So I challenge all the underclassmen to stick together and enjoy your high school years as much as you can, the best years of your life. I’ll miss all you guys. I love ya! Thanks!” After his speech, John got a standing ovation and Gwen cheered very loudly. She was so proud of him and she would miss him, too. Then the high school chorus sang a song call ‘A New Tomorrow’. Gwen would never forget that song. During the song, she kept her eyes on John. She felt the tears come to her eyes and she swiped them away. At one point John looked at her and smiled and then looked back towards the choir. He looked like he would cry any minute, too. After the song was over, the principal asked the seniors to come up and get their diplomas when their name was called. As John came up and got his and since he was the last one, he screamed yes and did his famous toe-touch off the stage, and everyone else threw their hats into the air. Then, out of nowhere, a bunch of the football players pulled out squirt guns and nailed most of the seniors and a bunch of the faculty. It was so great!
After the ceremony, Gwen was the first one out in the hall to find John. After a couple of minutes of going threw the crowd of seniors and their parents, she finally found him. She ran right up to him, gave him a huge hug, and he kissed her head. “You were so great with your speech!” Gwen said. He was about to reply when out of nowhere, Don ran up and slapped him on the back. “We did it man!” he said. Then he looked at Gwen and gave her this heart-warming smile. “Hey, how are you?” Don asked. “Great, I missed you a lot!” Gwen said. He then gave her this big hug and she wished he would never let go. “Well,” John said breaking the silence “Gwen shall we go?” She shook her head yes and they left to find their parents. After John shook hands with everyone and said his good-byes, the Williams family went to the van and left for John’s house. They were to have his graduation party that night, something Gwen would never forget.
When they got there, Gwen went right up to her room and started to pack. It took her about an hour, and when she was done, she pulled out the letters that her friends had given her yesterday. They were labeled DO NOT OPEN UNTIL THE PLANE RIDE! She held them against her chest and closed her eyes, thinking about the past two weeks she had spent here. Then Gwen remembered that she was going to tell Don that she still loved him. She thought he would except it, seeing that he said he would wait for her forever. Gwen quickly ran downstairs to find a mass of people in John’s living room. She avoided as many relatives and friends as she could, frantically trying to find Don. After no such luck, she quickly gave up and went out to the porch to think. Gwen sat for about 6 minutes and then she heard some voices off in the distance. Thinking nothing of it she went behind a bush and saw two figures coming from a car. Finally realizing it was Don, she thought she would go right up to him. But then she heard a female voice and she sat back. They walked up to the porch and sat in the lawn chairs. She listened in closely as Don spoke to this mystery girl.
“So, where are you going to college?” the girl asked. “Oh, I’ll just probably go to some big university to play football. I’ve gotten a couple of scholarship offers.” Don replied. Now, softening her tone a little bit she asked “So, are you like seeing anybody right now?” After watching her twirl her hair for a few moments he replied sternly “No.” “Well, I thought you were dating John’s kid sister or something?” she asked. “Oh, you mean Gwen? No, No, we broke up 4 months ago. I had no intention of ever dating her again.” he replied. Then she leaned in and gave him this long kiss and Gwen almost gasped. She could not believe what she had just overheard. After a minute they walked in the house and Gwen ran off away from John’s house. She didn’t care where she was going, she just needed to get as far away from Don as possible. After running about 6 blocks in heels and nylons, Gwen slowed down to a walk and sat on a street corner. She let it all out now. She rubbed her eyes to find mascara all over her hands from crying so much. Why did she set herself up to be hurt like that? Gwen should of known how men could act like that. I mean, she was only14. Gwen couldn’t have understood. Gwen got up and walked a little further down the street. This would be the last time she would see these streets again because she was determined to never come back again. She wouldn’t, not even if something happened that would change her life forever.
The next morning Gwen’s alarm went off at 5:00 a.m. so she and her family could catch their flight at 7:30. She got dressed and put on enough make-up to cover up how much she had been crying the night before. Gwen quickly grabbed her stuff and ran out to John’s Jeep before her parents could say anything to her. The entire hour trip to Chicago, Gwen was absolutely silent and ignored anything that was said to her. After finally getting to the airport, they walked in quietly. They were running a little late so they quickly put their luggage on a rack and headed for their gate. Before going everyone hugged John except Gwen. Then, just before going on to the plane, Gwen turned back and gave John a big hug and said she would miss him so much. He said the same and they waved and Gwen stepped onto the plane. Hoping that she would not have to go threw what she went through on the plane over, Gwen agreed to stay in Coach and watch the kids again. Luckily, they were all still tired so they fell asleep right away. Just as Gwen was about to doze off herself, she remembered the letters and she got them out. She got out the first one from Amy and read it.
Dear Gwen,
I hate saying good-byes. I wish you could have stayed longer. This place will never be the same without you. Well, I’ll continue to write you and call. I can’t wait to see you next summer and meet all of your friends. I’ve enclosed my football picture and a pic of all of us when were kids that I dug up recently. I’ll miss you so much. See you soon.
L.Y.L.A.S.
Amy
Gwen looked at the pictures and quickly opened the letter from Cass.
Hey Gwen,
You’re probably sad about leaving and I am too but that won’t make me any less hyper. I’m so excited about next summer and I will be there, definitely. Make sure to keep in touch and don’t forget us. And since you live in Tulsa, be on the lookout for Hanson! You never know when they could walk right by your house! Luv ya much.
Your Sole Sister,
Cassidy
Laughing a little, Gwen opened the final one from Bridget.
Dear Harmony Gwendolyn,
You have been my best friend ever since we literally ran into each other and scraped our knees and ran home crying. (Remember?) I can’t imagine you not being my best friend so don’t ever act like you will be gone for good. I will try to keep in touch so you keep writing and calling. I left some pictures for you so enjoy them. Brian told me to tell you Hi. I hope you like him. I will be sure to see you next summer in Tulsa. Remember, there is no good-bye in my vocabulary.
Love and miss you much,
Bridget
Gwen pulled out three pictures from the envelope. One was one of her and Bridget in their cheerleading picture together. Another was of her and Amy, Cassidy, and Bridget in Washington on their field trip. The final one was a saddening one. It was one of Gwen and Don that Bridget had taken last summer. She was so overwhelmed. Gwen had never wanted to see his face again. So she just tore it right down the middle and dropped it on the plane floor. Gwen then put the letters away and quickly fell asleep. The next thing she knew Gwen was walking off the plane with her family and piled into their van. When Gwen got home she went right to her room and sat there staring at the ceiling. A few minutes later Gwen’s mom knocked on the door and said “There was a letter in the mail for you, sweetie.” and tossed it at her. Gwen opened it up to find a neatly folded letter and two tickets. Reading the letter it said:
Dear Gwen,
I know we haven’t talked in a while but that is because we have been so busy. I hope you had fun back in Forreston and that you didn’t get homesick or anything. Well, I’m writing to tell you that we are doing a show in town on the eighth of July. I’ve enclosed two front row tickets for you to go. You can take your sister or something. Well, we’ll be touring until the end of August so I guess we’ll see you then. We all miss you.
Sincerely,
Ike
Gwen was so happy to hear from them. Of course she would go. She just sat there in the moment, clutching the letter until her mother called her down for supper.
I Will Remember You
Go to Chapter 7
