some 'disclaimers'

a) lely high school is a real school, but i believe in real life it is about 4 hours away from orlando. how do i know this? my old band director(stein-dog lol) moved to florida to teach there(well, not for that reason, but he got a job there and the reason why is too long). he came to visit us when we went down to florida, and he told us it took him 4 hours to get to orlando

b)any of the kids names are based off of kids in my grade. even lenni...partially lol...i needed a last name close to mclean alphabetically, so i looked in my junior yearbook(we dont get the new ones until october of the next school year, grr) for an m name hehe.

c) dr. deree was my principal....in elementary school lol. he retired this year, so i guess it goes out to him? lol

d)the events of graduation(robe colors, flowers, almamater on the back of the diplomas lol) are based off of my graduation this year. and just so ya know, lely's colors are gold and maroon i think, so these colors are not the real ones hehe.

Chapter 29

~June 1999~

By now, things were going great in everyone’s lives. The boys were ruling the U.S. pop charts. Nick was still going out with Amanda, even though everyone else he knew disapproved of her. AJ now had his own house, but Felicia was a frequent visitor, along with visiting the other boys’ houses. That is, when they were home. They were currently on their Millennium tour, and Felicia was worried that they wouldn’t be able to schedule a certain day off; her graduation.

Felicia and Lenni had finally made it. Today was June 1st, and in a few hours, they would be graduating from Lely High School. Felicia hasn’t had a boyfriend since Ian, but she didn’t care. It’s better than having another broken heart. But, it being their senior year, which included their senior prom, both of them wanted to go with dates. It helped that the boys had yet to start their tour. Kevin, Howie, and Brian were too old to escort them (the school had a rule saying no one older than 21), so Felicia went with Nick, and both of them convinced AJ to go with Lenni. Both couples were going as friends. Felicia managed to make all of her past tormenters, including dear old Ian, shut up when they came in with two of the Backstreet Boys. A few juniors came up to ask for autographs, which the boys obliged to sign, but other than that, it was a peaceful evening. Well, as peaceful as it could be for a party. But that was behind them now.

Neither of the girls were going to college. If they wanted to, they could. Both were in the top 5% of their class, graduating with honors, and both apart of National Honor Society. And both girls were on the dance squad. But dance was the reason why they weren’t going to college. Lenni was offered the chance by Fatima to be a dancer for them. She accepted, and after two weeks of practice, she would be joining them on the Millennium tour. However, Felicia wasn’t offered a chance to be a dancer. She was offered the chance to be Fatima’s assistant; a co-choreographer if you will. Felicia was ecstatic. It also meant that if another girl got sick, she would be able to fill in for them, whether it was for a performance or for a video shoot. And when Felicia wasn’t dancing, she would be helping her mom with management work.

“Can you believe it?” Lenni squealed, hugging Felicia as she came in the doors of the theater where the ceremony would be held. Their class was far to big for the gymnasium or the school auditorium, so the school rented out a theater in Orlando for the event..

Felicia hugged her back. “I know! I can’t believe we made it!”

Lenni pulled back and playfully slapped her arm. “Come on. You? Not making it? Miss National Honor Society President, goody too-shoes, dance squad lieutenant, show choir pres-“

“I MEANT” Felicia cut Lenni off, laughing. “I can’t believe we made it without going crazy!”

Lenni laughed. “And don’t we make these white gowns look oh so snazzy?” she asked twirling around.

Felicia laughed. “Oh, we do. We do. Dear god, I think we are FINALLY cracking” She started to cry, partly from laughter, partly because she was getting emotional.

Lenni hugged her again. “Why you crying girl? We made it. Just a couple of steps to get our diploma, and then we are free from this prison.”

Felicia gave a small laugh, trying to wipe her eyes without messing up her makeup. “I don’t know….a bunch of stuff really. I guess mostly I wish that my parents could be here.”

“I’m sure they can see the whole thing,” Lenni said pulling away, smiling.

Felicia smiled. “Thanks. It doesn’t help I’m nervous as all hell about tripping on the stage.”

“Just pretend that instead of walking, your performing your senior dance at the recital. Or you could pretend Nick is naked,” Lenni said, raising her eyebrows.

Felicia blushed. “That would NOT help. It would probably make my chances of falling down even greater” she giggled. “ Great, now I AM going to think of him naked. Do I look like I’ve been crying?” she asked.

“Nope, not at all. Your clown nose went away,” Lenni said.

Felicia laughed. She tended to get a red nose whenever she cried, even just for a millisecond, and it usually took forever to go away. “Come on, we should head to the back room so we can line up.”

“We have 20 minutes! Did I mention you were also Miss Punctuality?” Lenni joked as they headed to the room.

The orchestra played Pomp and Circumstance as the graduates made their way down the aisles towards the stage. Boys were in Blue, and girls were in white, holding a red rose. With no one in between Felicia and Lenni alphabetically, they were going to sit next to each other on stage. “Remember, no goofing off,” Denise told her before they left the house. As Felicia was walking down the aisle, aside from looking over to the other aisle to make sure she was walking with someone in step, she was also looking to see if the boys were there yet. They were coming in from Texas, and she was extreamly worried they wouldn’t make it in time.

“Yeah! Go Felicia!!” she heard someone yell. She looked over and saw all of the guys in disguise, cheering silently. Well, except for AJ, who she realized was the one who yelled when Denise smacked him playfully. Felicia just shook her head slightly and rolled her eyes, concentrating on not falling while she walked. Pretend it’s the dance recital…. pretend it’s the dance recital…. Pretend Nick is naked. NO!!! Don’t think that. Damn you Lenni for putting dirty thoughts in my mind. Well, it helped. Before she knew it, she was standing next to Lenni in their row, waiting for the ceremony to start.

“Thomas Matthew Liston,” Class President Carrie Forgione announced. Lenni and Felicia were standing up, waiting for their names to be called.

“Lenore Ann Marks.” With that, Lenni walked across the stage to shake hands with the school board president, receive her diploma, and shake hands with the principal. Oh god, I’m next, Felicia thought, getting nervous all over again.

“Felicia Anne Mclean.” Felicia made her way across the stage, the same way as Lenni. I can’t believe this is happening to me. Please AJ, don’t embarrass me. Felicia made it across successfully, without any interruptions from a certain family member. When Felicia and Lenni made it back to their seats, they were the last two in the row, so the whole row was allowed to sit down. Felicia looked over at Lenni and smiled. Lenni smiled back and they waited for the rest of their class to accept their diplomas.

“Jessica Marie Zucker,” Carrie said. The last student received her diploma and made her way all the way to the back of the stage. “Graduates,” Carrie said, turning around so she could see them and still talk into the microphone. “Please stand and move your tassles from left to right.”

As the graduates did this, the audience erupted with applause.

“Yeah Felicia! Yeah Lenni!” This time, Felicia’s five brothers were yelling and screaming for them. She didn’t mind this time, as it was happening to everyone around her. Felicia also saw Denise, crying happy tears. Carrie went back to her seat and Dr. Deree, the school principal, came up to the microphone.

“Please stand, and sing along as the Class of 1999 leads us in the school Almamater.”

Felicia looked around and had to choke a laugh as she saw every single senior, no, graduate, look at the back of their diplomas to see the words to it. You’d think the school would have the time to teach it to us.

As they were singing, both Felicia and Lenni started to cry. They saw each other and wraped an arm around the other, still singing. Once the Almamater was over, the band played the recessional. Felicia and Lenni were only in the second row, so they were out the doors of the building very fast.

“you know what this means, right?” Lenni asked as they headed to a meeting spot.

“No, what does it mean?” Felicia asked, holding her cap so it wouldn’t blow away.

“Paaaaartay!”