Page 108 of Going the Distance
Chapter 26
EPILOGUE
The sun blazed overhead. There were even birds singing somewhere. The sky was as blue as his eyes and there wasn’t a cloud in sight, and I felt lighter than I had in months, like I hadn’t known just how much was weighing on my shoulders until now.
Lee and I had our arms wrapped around each other, both of us jumping up and down, out of sync for once, my head knocking against his chin and shoulders.
It kind of hurt, but I didn’t care.
I was delirious.
People were calling out, laughing, crying, trying to talk to everyone and anyone.
“WE DID IT!” a voice screamed, and then Cam threw himself on top of us. “We’re done! We’re going to college!”
“College!” Lee yelled back.
“College!” I yelled.
“COLLEGE!” Cam yelled again. There was a lot of yelling. And we weren’t the only ones.
Lee and I let go of each other—Cam had already run off, probably to yell “COLLEGE!” at more people—and, just when I thought the hugging was done, Lee slung an arm around my shoulder and kissed the top of my head with a loud smacking noise.
“This is it. The beginning of a glorious, golden summer, the kind they make indie teen movies out of, and then we’re thrown into the soul-sucking pit of college.”
“Collegesowon’t be soul-sucking.”
“How do you know?”
“Well, how do you know itwillbe?”
Lee just laughed. “You’re right. It’s going to be so great. It really is.”
“Don’t jinx it. I don’t want to end up with some awful roommate. What if my roommate is someone like you? Oh, God, just kill me now.”
Lee laughed again; he sounded as delirious as I felt. It was beautiful. Everything was so beautiful.
Right now, I felt high on life, and I didn’t ever want this feeling to end.
I got into Berkeley. So did Lee.
He didn’t get into Brown.
I looked around for Noah. I’d heard him cheering so loudly for me when my name got called—and when Lee’s name was called. (He’d also sent a balloon bouquet to me at school when I got my SAT results, the big softy.) I hadn’t seen him since before the graduation ceremony started, though, getting lost in the crowd of graduation gowns.
Just as I was thinking about him, Noah slid up behind me, putting his arms around me and turning me to face him, his touch sending a thrill through me. He kissed me firmly on the lips before saying, “Congrats, Shelly. Officially a high school graduate!” Then he glanced up and smoothed down my hair. I’d taken the time to straighten it to sleek perfection this morning, but I bet I had some hat hair going on after wearing the graduation cap.
“Thanks!”
The last six months hadn’t exactly been easy. Not that we’d had any more arguments, but I just missed him so damn much—and I knew how much he missed me, too. He’d surprised me with a visit home for Valentine’s Day so we could celebrate together, even bringing me a giant teddy bear in a Harvard sweatshirt and cap.
But we’d done it. We’d managed the long-distance thing since Thanksgiving, and it was all completely worth it now that we were standing here, the sun warm on my cheeks and my fingertips playing with the ends of Noah’s hair, and his lips were on mine.
“All right, you two, break it up,” said my dad. I heard June laughing and buried my face in Noah’s shoulder for a second before turning to our parents. “Come on, we want more photos. I’d rather not have to get my daughter’s graduation photo from a selfie on her Twitter feed.”
Noah stepped aside, and I fixed my hair before holding up my crisp high school diploma and smiling for the camera. My dad had barely snapped the photo when a blur in graduation robes barreled toward us, stopping short when he noticed the camera, arms spinning for balance and almost falling flat on his face.
“Sorry! Sorry! Did I ruin the photo?”
