A New Beginning

“Fuck off you little whore!”

“Seriously, I shit you not. Look, here’s a picture to prove it.”

I handed Lexi the picture of my real family. She turned it over to read the message that was written on it. Glancing back up at me her eyes became little slits as she glared at me. I tried to stifle my laughter because her jealousy amused me. It’s not like I could help I was born into the Seward family. Throwing the picture back at me, she crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. Knowing I was about to make her even more pissed I pulled out the message that Jimmy gave me last night. Her eyes went wide as she looked at me in disbelief.

“How the fuck did you manage all of this in one day? I can’t stay bitter at you for this considering that you’ve had an uber crush on The Rev for the longest time. All I can say is leave Synyster Gates to me.” She laughed.

“Trust me, he’s all yours. Something tells me that you to would get along quite well. All you would have to do is bend over and he’d melt in your hands Lexi.”

“Chicka chicka yeah, I’ve got Gates I’ve got Gates!”

She smiled at me and laughed, completely forgetting that she was suppose to hate me. I hadn’t told her the part about me leaving after graduation. Ever since we were little we had this dream of lounging around home for years while we became a pair of those crazy cat ladies with plastic flamingoes dotting our front lawn. Maybe she could visit me out there every now and then. We walked down the hall together as the bell rang. Our first classes of the day were right across from each other so we waved goodbye as we parted. I sat down and prepared myself for the worst class of the day, Resource Management. Learning how to balance a checkbook and other stuff was not my top priority. The other reason was I had to sit next to a douche bag that thought he was the shit. He started talking about all the parties he went to over the weekend, oblivious to the fact that I was not paying attention. The one thought that went through my mind was that I had another month of this place.

ONE MONTH LATER

The past month had been excruciatingly painful for me. Days seemed longer and people seemed more unbearable. The only thing that passed the time for me was talking to the guys over the phone or spending as much time with Lexi that I could. A friendship that came out of left field was from Matt. Jimmy had given him my number because Matt said that Jimmy was hogging me. He would ask me how my day was and he would always listen to my complaints. To cheer me up he would tell me stories of when they went on tour. My brother really was a dork.

“Hey Johnny, I really have to go or I’ll be late for my own graduation.” I laughed.

“Ok Layla. Once again, I’m sorry that we couldn’t make it to see you, but there’s always tomorrow.”

“No prob bro. See ya then.”

I closed my phone and ran my brush through my hair one last time before I donned my cap. I looked at myself and laughed out loud. I look like a huge cherry. I went down the stairs trying not to trip over my red gown and out to my car. When I arrived at the school all my fellow graduates were starting to line up. I spotted Lexi in her spot and took my place behind her. She gave a look that said it was about time I showed up. I just rolled my eyes and laughed at her. The band began to play Pomp and Circumstance and the line slowly moved through the doorway. To my displeasure I had to sit through the usual speeches from the valedictorian, salutatorian, and all the class officers. The principal began to call people up one at a time.

“Alexandra Theresa Todd.”

Lexi walked up to the guy and accepted her diploma. She turned to all the people watching and threw them the “shocker”. The whole class started laughing and only a couple of the parents frowned. Now those parents were aware of the time.

“Layla Rose Townsend.”

I stood from my seat only to hear a bunch of screams come from bleachers on the wall. As I walked forward I glanced around until I found where the cheers were coming from. All five guys from Avenged were yelling congratulations. Zacky started to rip his shirt off and then the other four followed suit. Each of them had a letter painted on their chest, spelling out LAYLA in green letters. They spun around quickly to reveal that they had also painted the word ROCKS on their backs. I was laughing hard at this point because all the letters were crooked because they were different heights. Johnny totally ruined the letter spacing. The principal gave me a weird look as he handed me my diploma and I just shrugged. I smiled at the guys as I went back to my seat. They totally just made this ceremony ten times better. The band started to play the recessional march and I left the gym along with the rest of my class. I waited a bit until I saw the guys leave the gym and scan around the foyer. I ran up to Johnny and jumped on him.

“Meanie! You lied and said that you weren’t coming.” I growled.

“I wanted it to be a surprise and we definitely did.” Johnny laughed.

“LAYLA ROSE!”

I turned around and I eventually found Lexi staring at me surrounded by the guys. She looked like a deer in headlights so I ran over and pulled her into the group.

“Guys, this in Lexi, my bestest friend ever!” I giggled.

“Hi.” She squeaked.

“Thank God, for a second I thought my sister had no friends.” Johnny said then got her in a big bear hug.

The other four soon joined him and for a moment Lexi was lost in a sea of rockers. They pulled away to uncover a disheveled Lexi.

“Thanks for the welcome guys, I feel loved.” She said as she smoothed out the wrinkles in her gown.

Mom and dad eventually found us and spent half an hour taking pictures of all of us. Lexi made her mom take one of her and Brian. Brian definitely was getting comfortable around Lexi and she ate up the attention.

“Boys, you are more then welcome to join us back home for a little cook out. We would love to have your company. I’m sure that Lexi has already been invited.” Mom offered.

They all nodded vigorously and left for their SUV to meet us at the house. Lexi opened the passenger door of my car and sat down dreamily.

“You have to be the luckiest person ever.” She said mesmerized.

“Don’t I know it.” I lauged.