The Lunacy Fringe

On graduation day, I woke up early because I could hear someone in my room. I tried to ignore it, hoping it wasn’t Billie coming to wake me up bright and early. I buried myself deeper in my blankets and inwardly groaned. And then somebody dumped something on me. I thought it was water, but it wasn’t wet. I jumped up, gasping anyway.

“What the hell?!” I said. My dad was standing beside my bed with an empty bucket.

“Good morning, grad!” he said. I looked down at my bed and found myself buried in small pieces of candy, like a Halloween haul.

“Why—did you dump candy on me?”

“It’s a graduation tradition. Be grateful. I got candied oranges.” He stood up straight and lowered the bucket. “Friendly reminder that I grew up on an orange grove. Candied oranges weren’t exactly special.”

“Right—I remember.”

“You should get up and get ready. Billie’s downstairs.” I sighed. Of course she was.

“How would I get back to sleep with all this candy in my bed anyway?” He set the bucket on my chair, so I could dump all the candy in it.

When I finally got to the bottom floor, I found Billie watching TV with my dad. She was leaning on the arm of the couch, feet tucked under her, completely absorbed and at home.

“Do you really think that guy did it?” she asked. My dad shook his head sagely.

“Absolutely not. They always try to throw you off at first.”

“Who do you think it was?”

“The maid. One hundred percent.”

“What’s her motive?”

“Money.”

“Wow.”

“Hey, Bill. Having fun?” I asked. She waved me off but didn’t take her eyes off the screen.

“Shh,” she said.

“Fine. I’m going to take a shower. I’ll be right back.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She turned back to my dad. “I think she was sleeping with the son,” she said. My dad nodded as he considered this.

“That’s definitely something I didn’t consider,” he said.

While I was in the shower, I got a strange clenching feeling in my stomach. I was thinking about Felix. Not in a perverted way. Mostly just about our future together. Everyone (the adults, anyway) said that our relationship was doomed. Not because we didn’t love each other but because we were so young. And we were apparently headed in very different directions.

I wanted to say they were wrong. We loved each other a whole heck of a lot. But Felix didn’t have the best track record for keeping in touch. Even if Pacific Records didn’t sign the band and they didn’t leave to record an album, he’d be going to school in a different state. We’d likely only see each other on holidays. And as much as I wanted to believe we’d grown strong enough to make it through—I wasn’t positive that we would.

When I came back downstairs, he was in the living room with Billie and my dad. Now all three of them were absorbed in the same TV show.

“What are you guys doing?” I asked, plopping down beside him.

“Shh, we’re gonna find out who did it,” my dad said.

“I knew it!” Billie shrieked a moment later. It was, apparently, because the maid was sleeping with the son.

“Hot damn, Kid. You should be a detective,” my dad told her. She beamed.

“Don’t give her any ideas. She already thinks she’s the next 007,” Felix remarked. She tossed her hair over her shoulder.

“I’m just that good,” she decided. Then she turned to me. “Are you ready now?”

“I should ask you the same question. You sure you don’t want to finish the episode?”

“I’m good. I already figured it out.” She got up and climbed over Felix’s outstretched legs. He had his feet up on the coffee table like my dad. “Let’s go pick out an outfit.”

“I think she’s lying,” I heard Felix say when we climbed the stairs. “I still think it was the money.”

“Hmm. Maybe,” my dad agreed.

Billie picked out my outfit for me. She decided to wear something casual since it would be covered by a gown for most of the day. But she ended up choosing an uncomfortably short skirt. And then she took off to go home and be with her family.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out with family and friends, visiting different houses, and taking thousands of pictures. Then, finally, we got to the ceremony and lined up. Quinn and I messed around until we were told to stop goofing off. Then we stood there, bored out of our minds.

“Why is that Felix guy giving me dirty looks?” I heard the girl behind me ask.

“I don’t know. Maybe because you’re standing in front of his girlfriend.” I turned back around and smiled. Felix was a ways behind us. When he caught me looking back, he began to make faces at me.

“What a weirdo,” the girl said, turning to look at him. I laughed.

“He is. But I love him.”

“Didn’t you used to go out with that Jake Froud guy?”

“For a little while.”

“You know he’s between you and him, right?” My eyes immediately found him in the next line. He was gazing off in a different direction, glaring. We hadn’t run into any trouble since that last argument. But I’d avoided him and his friends at all costs. So I didn’t really know how he was feeling these days.

“Yeah, I’m not exactly his favorite person.”

They called the E’s, and we moved out. I found Felix again, and he made the shape of a heart with his hands before Quinn, and I lost sight of him.

Our family waved from the stands when we were finally in sight of them. We were outside on the football field in the warm summer heat. They began to cheer when Quinn’s name was called. And then mine a moment later. We got our diplomas and then headed to the seats, where we were instructed to watch the rest of the ceremony.

When Felix’s row was called out, his eyes immediately found mine in the crowd. Then he began making faces at me again.

“Oh, for the love of God,” the girl beside me said.

“What a fucking dork,” Quinn agreed from my other side. He was. But that just made me love him more.