BrookLyn's Journey (45 page)

“Well, good luck and I hope you land at whatever college you wanted.”

“Me too, and congrats on Harvard.”

“Thanks.”
He
smiled and
walked away
with a wave
.

BrookLyn
smiled
too,
thinking about
her
journey as
she
gathered
her
things to go to
her
next
class.
She
hadn’t noticed
,
but maybe Morgan was right. Life had a way of doing things
,
even after subtle changes.
She
wasn’t sure of where
she
was going after graduation
but
she
knew
that
like Morgan
was
,
she
would be
taking the new
er
version of
her
self
along
.

Chapter
Twenty

June
t
wenty-seventh arrived quicker than
she
could’ve imagined.
Graduation day.

BrookLyn’s
brother and sisters flew into Stewart Airport
the day before.
Gabby and
BrookLyn
let them stay with
them
instead of at a hotel.

When they
had
first arrived
, BrookLyn
was both nervous and excited. It had been awhile.
She
knew Ebonee, who couldn’t hold water,
had
spilled the beans to Jayde and Peyton.
But she
was glad she had because it saved
her
from having to do so.

Now, she stood with her
brother
and
sisters in the middle of the living room and
they
hugged.
None of
them
knew what happened to
their
parents
,
but all
of
them
hoped they
wouldn’t
show up today.

Ebonee and Jayde were both wearing
c
apri
pants
and white blouses. Jayde’s
c
apris were brown and Ebonee’s were blue. Both
had run
off earlier to get pedicures so they could wear sandals. They stood
,
looking as beautiful and happy as ever
, their
long braids styled in a similar way. They weren’t twins
,
but sometimes looked like it.

Peyton was as tall as
BrookLyn
remembered
,
and
as
handsome as ever in his khaki pants, light blue shirt and navy tie.
She
looked at
her
family and was proud that
they
all
had
made it.
Their
parents tried a lot of tricks to hold
them
back but
they
all
managed to rise
above the madness.

BrookLyn
couldn’t believe that
she
w
as
getting ready to walk across the stage later today.
She
was going to check off the very first thing
she
wrote in crayon in kindergarten.
BrookLyn Scott
was graduating high school. It was even more special because Gabby would be walking across the stage too.
She
was overwhelmed with joy because
her
sisters and brother would be there cheering
them
on.
She had been
afraid to share
her
life with them
,
but when
she
became honest, they embraced and accepted
her
,
and Gabby
,
with open arms.

Gabby and
BrookLyn
stood together in
their
room after
they
got dressed for graduation.
BrookLyn
wore a pair of black pants, a white blouse and sandals. Gabby wore her True Religion jeans with a button down shirt and blue sneakers. Gabby refused to dress up
,
despite the requirements Principal Lasko discussed.

They
hugged for a long time without saying a word.
It was a
monumental moment.
They
’d
made it
, and
were proud that
their
relationship survived as well.

Ebonee took so many pictures of Gabby and
BrookLyn
in
their
caps and gowns
, BrookLyn
thought she’d never stop. This moment was almost surreal.

They
drove to
the
high school’s football stadium
,
beaming with pride.
BrookLyn had
never heard Peyton, Jayde
,
or Ebonee laugh so hard. Gabby and
BrookLyn
walked over to line up with
their
classmates and
her
brother and sisters went to their seats
.

To
her
surprise,
BrookLyn
was the
v
aledictorian.
She
didn’t think
she
was even in the running after all
she
had been through.
Toward
the end
she
was doing just enough to get done. Evidently
she
had done a lot more than that over the years and it
had
paid off.
She
hadn’t told anyone what colleges
had
accepted
her
,
but Principal Lasko told everyone when he introduced
her
.

He said, “Our valedictorian, BrookLyn
Scott
, was accepted to all twenty schools that she applied to
,
receiving a full ride to each one.” The audience stood on their feet
,
cheering loudly
.

BrookLyn looked to Gabby before beginning her speech, and she was smiling at her with a look of pride. She
read
her
speech,
Never Give Up
,
to
her
five hundred classmates,
their
families, teachers
,
and everyone else. With every word
she
thought of how far
she
had come.
She
felt like
she
was living a dream
, after not giving up
on
her own life
.

After
she finished
,
the choir sang and the music teacher and band played a song. It wasn’t long before
they
stood up to have
their
names called.
BrookLyn
was screaming and yelling with everyone else.
Her
heart was beating in
her
ears.
She
had seen this day in
her
dreams for the last twelve years
—she
could hardly wait until
she’d
hear
her
name
. She
looked over
her
shoulder and saw Gabby
.
This is our moment.

When they
called Gabby’s name
,
she
screamed as loud as she could with all of their
classmates.
BrookLyn
looked at her
family and they were screaming too. Max, Tiffany
,
and
Alex
a
managed
to sit directly behind her
family
. They were
all
on their feet. Gabby
had been
accepted at some of t
he
same
schools BrookLyn had applied to as well. Thei
r plans were set.

When Gabby w
alked off the
stage, BrookLyn
saw her ocean
-
blue eyes beaming with pride,
as she smiled at her. BrookLyn’s
heart smiled back
.
Gabby’s
glow had finall
y come back, filling up the ceremony
, and she
welcomed it.

It was her turn next
,
and
she
was shaking where
she
stood. And then
she
heard it
.
“BrookLyn
Scott
.”

Her
brother and sisters screamed with all of their might
,
and BrookLyn
cried as
she
walked down the steps with
her
diploma in hand.
She
kept opening and closing it
. It
didn’t seem real.
As she
looked out into the crowd
, she could have
swor
n
she
saw
her
mother.
She
closed
her
eyes
,
wishing her away. When
she
opened
them
again the woman was gone.

Then a
ll of a sudden,
Morgan ran off the stage and jumped into
her
arms. He didn’t have his pen protector tonight. He looked rather handsome in his navy shirt
,
sporting a pink tie. He even had contacts in and
now wore
two separate eyebrows. Morgan said, “Pinch me
,
please
,”
and they
both laughed.

When graduation was over
,
Gabby and BrookLyn
hugged each other
tight
.
Not as lovers but as friends.
BrookLyn
was still on her journey of self-discovery, and was only comfortable with her
closest friends an
d family knowing. In public, Gabby was her best friend. They
were having a party at the house after graduation
even though there
was an all
-
night p
arty at the school
—
they
preferred
to be comfortable
at home
.

On
the
way out of the school
BrookLyn
thought
she
saw
her
mother again
,
standing off to the side
,
alone.
She
moved
her
self further into the circle of people and walked with them toward the parking lot.
She
never looked back.

***

They
went back to the house ready to share this moment with those
they
loved. Gabby
had
decided to rent her house to some of her cousins once
she and BrookLyn
left
for school
. Max would take care of things so
Gabby
wouldn’t have to worry. She didn’t want to sell it because it was the last thing her mother had given her.

They’d be
leaving for North Carolina in a few weeks.
They
had both been accepted to the University of North Carolina in
Charlotte.
BrookLyn
was enrolled in their engineering program and Gabby was in their counseling program.