"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on." -Robert Frost

2 months later...

"Juliette! Our college acceptance letters came!" Eliza squealed, her black graduation gown dragging across the floor behind her as she opened the door to my bedroom.

I looked up from my vanity table where I was currently applying lip gloss and smiled at her. "Let me see, let me see!" I said, dropping the lipgloss into the desk and squealing. "Wait no, actually don't show me, I'm too afraid!" I said.

"Shut up, you literally are the smartest kid in our entire school, I'm worrying!" She said, what if I didn't get accepted into University of Massachusetts?" she said quietly.

"You will. And the you will be the best business and fashion major they will have!" I said, wrapping my arms around her as she did the same.

"Okay, open it together?" She said.

I nodded "like there was any other way we could have opened it"

We both looked at each other wearily, before looking at the slips in our hands, opening it carefully. We both delicately opened it and pulled the letter out of envelope. Skim reading the letter, I felt my heart deflate as I struggled to find any positive adjectives.

Until I went back to the first word and saw 'congratulations.'

"Juliette! I got in, I got in!" She squealed loudly "I can't believe I got in, oh my, god I'm hyperventilating, I can't breathe, I can't believe I got in" she squealed out of happiness before she looked at me. "Why aren't you happy, didn't you get in?" She asked, lowering the tone of her voice as she looked at me sadly.

"I did" I nodded.

"Then why aren't you happy?" She asked.

I slightly allowed my shoulders to slump "because I'm going to be so far away from you guys, you're all going to be in Boston and I'll be in New York, I'm going to miss you so much" I said, tears slipping down my cheeks, noticing that Eliza was crying too.

"What am I going to do without my best friend for the next four years?" She asked, hugging me.

"Your makeup is going to mess up" I said to her, laughing slightly.

She shook her head " I don't care Juliette"

"Well I do, it's graduation, you need to look as good as you do every single day" I instructed as she laughed.

"Says the girl who is still in her pyjamas!" She said scoldingly

I smiled, giving her an innocent grin "I'm sorry! I was doing my hair and makeup" I answered.

"Look at you, not even three months after prom and you're a full on girly girl" she teased as I rolled my eyes.

"Ha ha, all I did was straighten my hair and put on lipgloss and mascara" I said, laughing slightly. "Which is now ruined thanks you and your insistent desire to cry" I added, wiping the under bit of my eyes where there was no doubt traces of mascara.

"Hey, that was you!" She said. "Come on Miss Valedictorian, we have a graduation to get to" she said.

I stuck my tongue out to her before going to my closet, pulling out my favourite dress which was a strapless dark red dress, which had a high low skirt, along with a pair of Eliza's heels. I quickly ran to the bathroom and took off my pyjamas, slipping the dress and the shoes on before heading out.

Eliza stood in my room, holding my cap and gown in her hands as she handed it to me along so my gold sash thing for being valedictorian. I smiled at her, shrugging the gown in and placing the cap on my head.

"Come on" Eliza began, "mom's waiting to take pictures"

I smiled "of course she is"

We both went downstairs to see aunt Jen who was literally a crying mess, although she was dressed, she smartly decided not to wear any makeup. "My little girls have grown up so much, did you get accepted into your desired schools?" She asked. We both nodded. "Of course you did, you're both the smartest girls ever" she said, hugging us both, a group hug between the three of us.

"Let's get some pictures done" she said holding up her phone as both Eliza and I stood besides each other, grinning and posing. After several phone exchanges and sending of pictures, we all left to get to the graduation.

We all got into the car. Most people hired cars to graduation, and I'm pretty sure everybody would have found it weird that the school's valedictorian and Eliza Harte, were arriving to school in a best up rusty mom car. Even though aunt Jen said she would pay to rent a car, we told her that we didn't want anything apart from her car.

We finally got to the school at around eleven which was pretty much just on time. Aunt Jen had to take her seat with the rest of the parents outside where the ceremony would have been taking place , whilst we were ushered into the inside hall by some of the teachers who stood outside. When we got into the hall, we realised that the entire room was just patterned in people wearing black. Eliza and I glanced at each other knowing that we had practically no chance of finding Jordan and Levi on our own.

"Boo!" I heard in my ear as I let out a little shriek.

From besides me I heard laughter, causing me to turn my head and see Levi who was wearing the cap and gown with a tux underneath. "Hey beautiful" he said.

"Hi" I responded, wrapping my arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms tightly around my waist as he hugged me back, lifting me up off the ground. 

Once he released me and placed me back on the ground I found myself asking about his choice in Colleges. "Did you get into Boston?" I asked.

He grinned "I did, did you get into NYU?"

I sent him a small nod "I did"

His facial expressions softened slightly "why aren't you happy?"

"I-" I began before sighing, "I am, but you guys are all in Boston, and I'm in New York and I know it's not too far, it's only about three hours but I can't help but think I'll be missing out on everything" I responded.

He wrapped his arm around my side, kissing my temple "come on beautiful. It won't be that bad, we'll see each other every weekend and every holiday and I will FaceTime and Skype you whenever I can. I promise it won't be that bad" he said. "Oh, and if you're worried about me liking another girl, just know what I will always love you."

I shook my head and my own thoughts "you're right, it's not that bad"

"Introducing the class of 2016" The loud voice of our principle boomed through the speakers as I jumped slightly.

Levi chuckled from besides me "you better go to the front, alphabetical order remember Miss Hunter"

I rolled my eyes "of course I do Mr Knight" I smirked before joining Eliza in the line, it was a good thing that we both had second names that began with a h.

We were then all taken forwards by the teachers who had put everything into making sure that this graduation was perfect. The doors of the hall opened so we could orderly walk out and take a seat outside where the graduation ceremony was taking place. After a bit of shuffling and mixing up of the seats, we managed to all sit down in our rightful places.

The principle began by clearing his throat and talking about his fondest memories of our entire grade, which honestly must have been pretty hard for him to do considering all the damage our grade had caused this school.

"Now before we begin the handing out of the diplomas, if would could have our valedictorian Miss Juliette Hunter up on the stage please" the principle announced as around two hundred people turned to stare at me.

I got up from my seat, which was luckily at the end of the row, before walking up to the stage and going to the stand to speak. I had been preparing a speech for weeks now, ever since I found out about becoming valedictorian, so I had practically memorised it.

"I go to seek a great perhaps. François Rabelais" I began, staring into the audience of hundreds of people who were staring at me. "They were his dying words, and I stand here today, repeating the same phrase. I go to seek a great perhaps" I continued, locking eyes onto Levi's, who just sent an encouraging smile.

"Here and now, we all part our ways. We no longer rely on the safety these high school walls had held. We no longer rely on anybody except ourselves. And despite the circumstances being different between all of us and François Rabelais, I stand here to reiterate what he had spoke. Because despite the circumstances being different. The concepts are not. I go to seek a great perhaps. We all do. Thank you" I finally finished, applause erupting from everybody. Even Katherine who sat at the back, due to her last name being White, was clapping.

"That was a beautiful and inspiring speech, thank you Miss Hunter" the principle said  shaking my hand I nodded and quietly thanked him.

Taking a seat once again besides Eliza, I noticed she was smiling "that was a really good speech" she said.

"Thank you."

The rest of the ceremony was it's usual graduation ceremony. We then continued with the actual handing out if the diplomas which was painstakingly long, and even though Eliza and I were one of the first few to actually get out diplomas, it was just as agitating to wait for the two hundred other seniors in our grade to get their diplomas. After about an hour of just watching people get up and grab a piece of paper from our principle before heading back to their seats, we were finally done.

And by finally done, I meant we moved on to the giving out of special awards. This wasn't as tedious, considering there were only ten awards and I won two of them, but it was still pretty irritating for those who were glued to their seats.

"If all students can stand" the principle began after the handing out of the awards, all of us doing so. "Congratulations to the graduating class of 2016" he said as we all cheered, an array of hats flying into the air, and then proceeding to land across the entire place.

Chatter erupted between everybody as Eliza pretty much ran to Jordan. My eyes landed on Levi who was making his way towards me with things  in his hands.

"Congratulations book girl" he said to me, grinning.

"You too" I responded.

"I got you a graduation gift. Well two actually" Levi began grinning widely.

"You weren't supposed to get me anything! Levi I didn't even get you anything" I scolded, but I was still really happy.

"Just here," he began handing me an envelope first "open this first" he instructed.

I grabbed the envelope from his hands and noticed that it was addressed to 'Miss Juliette Hunter', I looked at him in confusion as he urged me to do it. Opening the envelope, I read the first sentence of the letter which said 'Dear Miss Hunter, we are delighted to inform you that you have been accepted into Harvard University' and that was all I needed to read before I literally screamed.

"I-I what?" I asked Levi who was just standing there grinning from ear to ear. "What I mean, when did this, I mean how?" I questioned.

Levi just chuckled "you have he best grades in our year, you have lead our school to winning the national debate competition! You tutored a student into going from a D grade to an A grade in his SATs. You are valedictorian. It was obvious that you would get into Harvard" he grinned.

"They have a 5% acceptance rate" I said.

"Congratulations on being one of the smartest people in the world" he grinned.

"You applied for me?" I asked.

"With some help from Miss Edmund and Eliza, but yeah pretty much" he nodded.

"I love you" I muttered, wrapping my arms around his neck as he lifted me up from the ground and spun me around.  "I think I want to change my course" I mumbled in his ear.

"Really?" He questioned, placing me back on the ground as I smiled the tiniest bit.

I nodded my head "I want to train to be an English teacher" I confessed.

His eyes sparkled in happiness "that's amazing! You're going to be such a good one" he said, wrapping his arm around my waist, pulling me close to him. "There's one more thing" he said, another grin appearing on his handsome face, his minty breath fanning my cheek.

"How can there be something else?" I asked in disbelief as I looked into his beautiful eyes.

He smirked, handing me a little box that was about the size of my hand. It was neatly wrapped with a cute little bow on top. I carefully opened it to reveal a key.

I looked at him questioningly.

"Juliette Hunter, will you move in with me?" He asked.

My eyes widened in shock "w-what?" I stuttered in complete and utter disbelief.

He nodded "our schools are five minutes apart, we might as well get an apartment together" he smirked.

"Who's paying for this?" I asked in shock.

"My family payed for the actual apartment. I will be paying the rent as soon as I get a job" he shrugged.

"No" I said.

"No?" He asked, extremely confused.

"We are paying the rent" I corrected as a grin formed on his face.

"Is that a yes?" He questioned.

"Of course it's a yes" I squealed "I love you"

"I love you too" he smirked before crashing his lips on mine.

In that moment I realised that everything was perfect and nothing could get better. Levi was there for me, and he would always be there for me. I was moving to the same place as my best friends. I was going to the school I would have never imagined to even be near. I was moving in with my boyfriend. And it's all because of  Levi.

There no wonder to why I fell for the arrogant bad boy.

Written: 29/11/15
Posted: 13/05/16