Page 53 of It Started with a Sunset
One of the cheerleaders had a microphone and she said, “Okay, I need everyone to give me the best drumroll you’ve got! So hit your hands on your thighs, stomp your feet, just make sure you’re giving us some noise!”
The arena erupted in loud, pounding, rhythmic sounds. And then the cheerleaders in a line between Summer and the line of ambassadors and students parted and Brock walked forward. Summer’s hands flew to her mouth, her knees weakening, causing her to bend over, slightly crouched. From the JumboTron, Avery could see that tears were streaming down her face.
Brock stopped about five feet in front of Summer, and the cheerleader with the microphone handed it to him. He looked up at the crowds of people in the stands. “Hello, Lake Baldwin State University students! All you freshmen, sophomores, and juniors out there—if you came on a campus tour or did the Aquamoose Tracks overnighter before becoming a student here, then you have met Summer Graham. In fact, you probably remember her playing a part in helping you make the huge, life-changing decision to come to Lake Baldwin State University.”
The crowd was so hyped up from the game and was so invested in what was happening that they were all cheering loudly. He waited for them to quiet a bit, then his eyes landed on Summer and he said, “She’s helped me make some huge, life-changing decisions, too.”
Then he got down on one knee, and the crowd erupted in cheers. Avery placed her hands steepled over her nose and mouth, pressing on her sinuses in an attempt to stop her own tears from falling, but they fell anyway.
“Summer,” Brock said, “if there’s one thing I’ve learned this school year, it’s that I want to be with you forever. Will you marry me?”
At that cue, all the ambassadors and students spread out in a line behind Brock held up their second big card, spelling out the wordsWill you marry me?
Summer batted at the tears on her cheeks with one hand, then said, “Yes! Of course I will!” Then she fell to her knees in front of him, grabbed his face, and started kissing him.
The cameraman zoomed in on the two of them, and nine thousand people gave a collective “Aww!”
Then Brock pulled a ring box out of his pocket and slipped the ring in it onto Summer’s finger. The speakers started blasting a song about falling in love and the crowd was all clapping, but all Avery could do was watch the joy that was emanating off Brock and Summer on the JumboTron. They looked so happy she could hardly stand it.
The cheerleaders waved their poms and Avery and everyone who worked in the Welcome Center directed the prospective students and ambassadors up the center aisle and back to the section where they’d been seated.
Once they were seated, Avery, along with everyone who worked in the Welcome Center and Brock and Summer, headed up to the row of seats reserved for them. Summer and Brock took their seats in the middle of all of them, looking at each other with such happy eyes.
Back when Summer and Brock had first started being interested in each other, Avery had noticed a change in their smiles. In looking at them now, she could see that their smiles now reached a whole new level. She felt like her whole body was smiling just seeing how happy they were.
As she watched them, she began to feel an ache deep inside her. She really wanted that for herself at some point. But she also knew, deep in her core, that if her life stayed on the same path it was on, she would never get it. She needed to make a big change. She needed to get on the path that would help her get there.
And she could also feel, deep in her core, that the first step was to contact her friend Nikolas and to set the trip into motion that was, hopefully, going to change everything.
She looked back over at Summer, thinking about Brock’s words about how many people Summer had helped to make life-changing decisions in their lives, and realized that her friend was helping her to make her own life-changing decision.
And she realized that she was ready to take that big leap.
* * *
