Chapter 8

 

Chapter 8

 

Two years went by, me and Laura never left each others side. Now we were inseparable and I had fallen deeply in love with her, I told her this everyday and she said it back to me every time. In a weeks time, I would have finished college, so me, Laura and Steve had been preparing ourselves for our graduation day. I had already made some arrangements for when I left college. Once me and Laura had gotten serious about a year and a half ago, I had announced our relationship to Nikki and my Mother. Now I asked my Mother over the phone whether I could move back in with Laura once I finished college. My Mother was delighted at this and said yes immediately. Before I graduated, I would be having my 18^th birthday, Laura, Steve and Nikki had all had their 18^th birthday. Nikki had met Laura and Steve during the previous summer holiday, and since then, they had become the best of friends. I now had a little circle of close friends. We went drinking together and went to places like the cinema together. I really enjoyed spending time with the people of whom I most treasured.

     I had reason to suspect that Laura, Steve and Nikki were planning a surprise party for my 18^th birthday. I suspected this because a few times I had came into my college room and found either Steve or Laura on the phone. I had managed to pick up a few words before they suddenly stopped speaking and hung the phone up. Usually I briefly heard them speaking about balloons or party poppers.

     My suspicions were true. Two days before our college graduation and the day before my birthday, I returned to my room and the room was in total darkness. I felt for the light switch on the wall to my left. Once I felt it, I flicked the switch and a magnificent sight greeted me. My Mum, Nikki, Laura and Steve jumped out from behind the beds.

“Happy birthday, Nick!” They squealed in unison. I could not help but give a very wide grin. Along the back wall above the cheerful people in front of me was a huge ‘Happy Birthday’ banner that almost stretched from one end of the wall to the other. There were balloons that covered most of the ceiling, only a few patches of white paint was showing. And after they shouted ‘Happy Birthday, Nick’ they all set of party poppers, then I went over to them to hug them all and kiss Laura, then I sank into the party mood and enjoyed every minute of it.

     The saying ‘Time flies when your having fun’ is 100% accurate, the party was over way too fast. After the party was finished, Nikki said goodbye to me, wished me a happy birthday, kissed me on the cheek and departed. She said that she had to go back to law school otherwise she would miss a class. My Mother had been cleaning up, even though I kept telling her to leave it, but you know how some Mothers can be. It is a sort of compulsion. Steve had left shortly after Nikki, he said he was going to get drunk, I gave a short laugh at this then he was gone. Finally, my Mother left after she had stopped cleaning, she had stayed to finish that and now everything was just as it was before the party broke out. That left just me and Laura alone. I took of my clothes except my boxer shorts, then I slipped into a white tank top. I looked at my watch, it was 6:30pm. I laid on top of my bed covers and began to watch the television. I heard Laura turn the shower on, I drew my head away from the television and looked over at the bathroom. The door was half open, the bathroom was beginning to fill with steam. Then Laura came slightly into view, she was completely naked, I was slightly taken aback, she probably knew I was looking but didn’t care. I saw her buttocks before she slipped into the shower and closed the curtain. I began to doze off, then the next thing I knew, Laura had come to lay next to me. She was wearing a very short nightdress, it was white and was made of cotton.

“Hey, birthday boy, how you doing?” She asked and kissed me.

“I’m really good. The party was really amazing, thanks babe.” I said and kissed her back. Then she French kissed me, then I was unable to resist her, her body was warm, she smelled of tropical fruits and her long hair was soft and reeked of strawberries. We continued kissing and I held her in my arms. Then we made love.

     Then came the magnificent day, graduation day!! I was extremely excited, as was Laura and Steve. Laura kept on talking about it and she screamed in excitement every time the subject arose.

     I consulted the student information board in reception to find out the details. At 2pm, graduating students must gather in the main lecture hall. It also said that the college shop would be open earlier that usual to give students their graduation robes and mortarboard hat. These would be free of charge, you just have to give your name to the clerk and she would give you your graduation clothes.

     After I had discovered this information, I went back to my room. Once I got inside, I saw Laura and Steve waiting for me to tell them what they had to do. I told them everything I had read from the student information board. I checked my watch and saw it was 10am.

“Look, shall we go and get our clothes now, there might be a big rush later?” I asked both of them. They both considered this, then they both nodded. Steve went to fetch his jacket that was resting on his bed. Laura came over to me, kissed me and left, me and Steve then followed her. We went to the next building to get our graduation clothes. As we approached the college shop I saw a middle-aged woman sitting on a stool. Her hair was in the advanced stages of greying and see wore silver rimmed glasses. She sat behind the counter, a newspaper in one hand and a ballpoint pen in the other. She was doing the daily crossword and seemed to be buried in it as she did not acknowledge our entrance.

     The college shop was full of pretty much everything. There were winter clothes and summer clothes, stationary, sport shoes and sport clothes all with the college crest on them. The three of us approached the counter and the crossword-obsessed clerk. I cleared my throat to get her attention but she continued to do her crossword. I tried again, this time a little louder. Now she came back to reality. She looked a little surprised but this look subsided. She put the newspaper and the ballpoint pen under the counter and then she got to her feet.

“Yes, dears may I help you?” She asked, her voice was low and gruff. I think she was a heavy smoker, not just because she had a gruff voice, but because she kept coughing badly. I cleared my throat ready to speak, Laura and Steve seemed to want to let me do all the work.

“Uh, yes. We would like to have our graduation uniforms if we can, please.” I informed her. She gave a brief nod, she reached under the counter and pulled out several pieces of paper that were stapled together. She then consulted the papers, I looked at them a little more closely and saw it was a list of names.

“I shall need your names, your dates of birth and your student numbers.” She said in that throaty voice. Laura and Steve now stepped forwards a tiny bit. Laura spoke first, in a softer voice than usual.
“Laura Brown, 14/06/1970, student number 008574.” Then the clerk flipped a few pages of the list then scanned a page.

“Ah-ha, yes. Laura Brown, that’s fine. Now you need to pick a size for your graduation uniform. Extra small, small, medium, large, extra large or extra-extra large?” The clerk asked.

“Medium, please.” Laura requested and then she turned her head slightly and smiled at me. The clerk went through a door behind her, then came back carrying a college-crested carrier bag.

“There you go, dear. Medium size and your mortarboard.” The clerk said and passed the bag to Laura. She took it and stepped backwards to allow me and Steve to get closer to the counter.

     Once the three of us had received our clothes we went back to our room and stored our newly received clothes in our separate drawers. After that we all went out for a drink, a sort of pre-celebration for our graduation.

     Then the joyful day arrived, I was so excited I thought all the blood vessels in my face would burst. I felt that after this day, my life could be anything. I could lead a bad life or a terrific life. Now, this was a fresh start and I felt like a superhero, I felt like I was unstoppable, as if I could do anything. I think that I felt like this because of the excitement, it was like another form of adrenaline. So, when I got out of bed at 11am, Laura and Steve were still deep in their dreams, I moved over Laura and kissed her on her forehead and stroked her hair. She stirred slightly but slipped back into her dreams. Then I went to take a shower, afterwards I felt very refreshed. Once I wrapped a towel around my waist I left the bathroom to discover Steve fully dressed in his graduation uniform. Laura was sitting up at the side of her bed, she was stretching and her hair was messy and her face was full of tiredness. I went over to her. I put my hand under her chin and lifted her head up slightly and kissed her.

“Morning, babe.” I said to her, and she smiled at me slightly.

“Hey, morning.” She replied thinly. I went over to Steve who was fiddling with his collar in front of a mirror. I stood behind him, his and my reflection staring back at me.

“Hey, buddy. You nervous?” I asked him.

“Yeah, a little. God, it’s great that we’re graduating but it’s seriously nerve-racking. What about you?” He replied, his voice slightly uneasy.

“Yeah, my heart’s racing.” I said, and this was true, my heart was beating really fast it felt as though my heart was going to break through my ribs and burst out of my skin. I was nervous because I thought of all the people who were going to be there. I mean, it wasn’t just students who were graduating but it was their parents and families. Then, I left Steve to continue with his nervous collar adjustment.

     I went to my bedside drawer and pulled out my graduation clothes and laid them on my bed. I then took some fresh underwear from the drawer and went back into the bathroom where I replaced my towel with my underwear. I came out and Laura was walking towards me. I smiled at her as she walked past me and went into the bathroom.

“I’m going to take a shower as well.” She said as she closed the door.

“Ok.” I replied. Then I started to change into my graduation clothes.

     Two hours later, the three of us arrived at the main lecture hall. When we went inside I found that a small, wooden stage that was supported by scaffold poles had been erected at the back end of the hall. A set of stairs ascended to the stage was about five feet from the floor. On the stage was a blue curtain backdrop and a row of six chairs rested in front of the backdrop. Then in the centre of the stage stood a podium. In front of the stage was about 100 fold-up chairs that were all in rows of about 15. The first five rows had started to fill up with graduation students, all of them in their black robes and mortar boards. After them, a few rows left vacant on purpose, the rest of the rows were beginning to fill with parents and relatives. I searched the rows and after a minute or so I saw my Mother and too my surprise, Nikki was sitting next to her. Then two rows behind my Mother and Nikki were Laura’s parents who I had met twice before. The first was an introduction. Laura had invited me to her parents home and all of us had a dinner to celebrate our relationship. Then I saw Steve wave to some people who I believed was his parents and relatives as I had never met his family. He had told me that they was coming from Birmingham and that his parents had moved there because his Father had got a new job just after Steve started college. 

     Then when we had sat down in the vacant rows we waited. I was sitting next to Laura and Steve was in the row behind us, the college wanted to filter the students as much as possible so that when the subject category was called upon it would be easier to give the students their diplomas.

     After the dean had spoke for ten minutes, the diplomas started to be handed out. Steve had already got his, he was in the first thirty that were awarded their diplomas. Steve had graduated in business studies and mathematics, Steve had told me that his dream was to have his own business and when he had enough money he wanted to start a chain of businesses. Then it was the biology students time to shine.

“Now, could all students who have graduated in biology, please form a alphabetical line at the bottom of the stage steps.” The dean asked. Me and Laura got to our feet, along with twenty-five other people. We did as instructed, Laura was near the front of the line and me just a bit past the middle of the line. Then the dean began to call the first few names out and one-by-one the students received their diploma’s and shook hands with the dean.

     Now, it was my turn. I took a step closer to the stage.

“Nicholas Irons.” The dean said, I was shaking slightly, my legs felt like jelly. I began to climb the steps, I walked over to the podium where my diploma awaited for me. The dean extended his hand, I shook it. I saw my Mum watching, tears falling from her eyes. Then I took my diploma, which was scrolled up and tied by a purple ribbon. That stage of my life was now over. It didn’t seem like two years since I left school. I had missed my Father more than ever, I know he would be proud, it broke my heart because he should have been sitting next to my Mother.