In Too Deep

Max grimaced at his reflection. “My masculinity has officially been destroyed,” he stated, turning his head to Scooter, who nodded in agreement.

Their graduation gowns were purple… shiny, royal purple, with matching caps and gold tassels.

“I think we all look great!” Lexi said from where she sat daintily on her boyfriend’s bed, fixing her hair.

“Yeah, you’re a girl,” Scooter muttered as he fixed his cap.

“Why are you in here anyway?” Max asked rather rudely. Jeffrey, who stood on the other side of him, stifled his laughter.

Lexi glared at Max. “My boyfriend asked me to come, even though now he’s ignoring me,” she snapped.

Scooter sighed and faced her. “Don’t be like that, Lex. I’m just stressed because I have to give the senior speech.”

“How did that happen again?” Jeffrey asked. “Because usually intelligent people give the speeches.”

Scooter aimed a kick at him, which Jeffrey skillfully avoided. “Ms. Magaña is always in charge of graduation, and she picked me. I don’t know why.”

“What are you going to talk about in your speech?” Lexi asked.

“You,” Scooter replied instantly, smiling.

Lexi beamed. “Really?”

“Of course. She told me to talk about my positive experiences at JA, and you are definitely a positive experience.” He winked at Lexi, making her blush.

“So, you’re talking about us too, right? Your best friends?” Jeffrey asked.

“I guess I could squeeze you in… at the end. If there’s time. But don’t get your hopes up.”

“Dude, we’ve been roommates since sixth grade,” Jeffrey said. “You better mention me and Max a couple of times, or I will throw my hat at you while you’re giving the speech.”

“Okay, okay… sheesh,” Scooter muttered.

“So… are you going to leave now?” Max asked Lexi. She opened her mouth to respond angrily, but Scooter cut her off.

“Stop being bitter just because I can talk to my girlfriend anytime I want and you can’t!” Scooter yelled.

Max sighed in frustration, knowing that he had been irritable the past couple of weeks since he and Jackie stopped sneaking into each other’s rooms at night. True, both of them were receiving regular amounts of sleep and their grades had improved, but neither one was particularly happy. They had barely seen or spoken with each other in several weeks. In addition to not being able to make out with her on a regular basis (which, as a teenage boy, he could admit to being an enjoyable activity), Max missed not being able to talk and argue with her. Whether they were having a regular conversation or fighting over which gangster movie to watch (Jackie liked The Departed while Max preferred The Godfather), talking to Jackie had been in Max’s life since sixth grade, and this sudden cut-off was maddening.

Jeffrey’s cell phone rang and he answered it, breaking Max away from his confused muddle of thoughts. “Hello? Oh, hey Mom. Yeah. Cool. Okay, I will. Love you too. Bye.”

“What’d she say?” Scooter asked.

“She just said that they’re sitting in the third row on the left, and that I have to look for them when I get my diploma so that they can get a picture,” Jeffrey answered, rolling his eyes. “She said she’s sitting by your parents, Scooter.”

“And mine?” Max asked, almost already knowing the answer.

Jeffrey just shook his head. “She didn’t say anything about them.”

Max stood still for a moment before heading for the door, stuffing his hands in his pockets and allowing the graduation gown to billow out behind him.

“Where are you going?” Lexi asked, frowning. “We’re supposed to be in the atrium in fifteen minutes.”

“I want to be alone,” Max said monotonously. He slammed the door on his way out.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Jackie adjusted the purple cap on her head, staring at her pale reflection in the mirror. Stella came up next to her, fixing her own hat.

“I can’t believe we’ll be leaving this place,” she said softly, looking at Jackie in the mirror. “Graduation day has always seemed so far in the future, and now….”

“It’s here,” Jackie said, fingering the gold tassel.

Stella smiled. “Are your parents staying in the city?”

“Yeah, they flew in yesterday,” Jackie answered, grinning. “They said they’d come to Paris and help me move into my dorm a few weeks before the semester starts so we can spend time as a family.”

“Do you think Max will help you move in?” Stella asked, smirking.

Jackie just shook her head. “He’ll already have left on his journalism tour.”

“Do his parents know about that yet?”

“I don’t know,” Jackie answered. “I haven’t exactly talked to him recently.”

Stella cringed. “Sorry,” she said quickly. “I didn’t mean to bring it up.”

“None of this is your fault,” Jackie said, smiling at her friend. She decided to change the subject. “I can’t believe Lexi ditched us to get ready with the guys.”

Stella laughed. “Seriously! Scooter is following her to NYU… it’s not like she won’t get to see plenty of him. But I’ll be at Berkeley in California and you’ll be in Paris while she’s here in the city! There are like five hundred billion and a half light years between each of us!”

“Video chats. Emails. Texts. Calls. Snail mail. Everyday. Got it?” Jackie said, raising her eyebrows at Stella.

“Of course.”

Jackie smiled before glancing at the clock. “Oh, we should get going. We need to be in the atrium in a few minutes.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The JA atrium was full of purple-clad seniors, eagerly awaiting their entrance into the auditorium where their relatives already sat waiting. Ms. Magaña and Dr. Barrie stood at the end of the atrium, overlooking everyone.

“After today… we’ll be high school graduates!” Lexi said dramatically, after she had joined Jackie and Stella in the atrium. “We’ll be in college! We’ll be looked upon as mature, responsible young adults, eager to immerse ourselves in a new world of knowledge… ready to leave behind the childish, awkward days of adolescence and open the door to adulthood!”

Jackie stared at her. “What the heck?”

“I don’t know, I was having a moment,” Lexi answered, shrugging.

“You should have written Scooter’s speech for him,” Stella said. “Although I doubt he could pronounce anything beyond two syllables…”

The girls laughed and glanced over to where Jeffrey and Scooter stood, but they were surprised to see the two boys frowning and looking around anxiously. Lexi motioned for them to come over.

“What’s up?” Stella asked as soon as they were near.

“Where’s Max?” Jackie demanded before they had a chance to answer.

“We don’t know,” Jeffrey answered. “He said he wanted to be alone and he never came back to the room. I think it’s because his parents aren’t here….”

The group grew quiet, knowing about Max’s problems with his parents. Jackie bit her lip, eyeing Dr. Barrie and Ms. Magaña. She leaned closer to her friends and said in a low voice, “If anyone asks, I left my cap in my room.”

Without waiting for a response, she darted around another group of seniors, keeping her eyes on the two teachers, and quietly made her way through the doors leading to the classrooms.

The halls were deserted, seeing as all other students were attending the graduation, so Jackie had not problem sprinting in her purple gown, one hand placed on her head to prevent her hat from flying off.

She knew exactly where she was going.

It was no surprise to Jackie when she opened the door to the newsroom and saw Max sitting silently at his old desk, his graduation cap laying on the abandoned on the surface. He glanced up when she entered, and his eyes widened in surprise.

Jackie moved into the room, shut the door, and leaned against it. They were both silent for a moment.

“I’ve missed this room,” Max said finally, staring at the floor.

Jackie nodded, but didn’t say anything, and neither did Max. It was another moment of silence later that he spoke up once more.

“I can’t do it,” he said quietly, now staring directly at the cap on his desk. “Not without them here.”

Jackie finally spoke. “How badly do you want them here?”

“I don’t know,” Max admitted, running his hands through his hair. “I guess if they were here it would mean that maybe they care about me a little. And I mean, how am I going to tell them I’m not going to college? It’s one of the few things they will care about.”

“After all this… you still care what they think?” Jackie asked softly.

Max closed his eyes. “They’re my parents. I just… they’re my parents.”

“That’s not a reason, Max,” Jackie said, gazing at him intently. “That’s a relation.”

“Why aren’t they proud of me?” Max asked, his voice cracking.

“They should be,” Jackie said, taking a step forward from the door. “There’s so much about you worth being proud of.”

“Yeah, well they don’t see it,” Max said harshly, staring at the wall. “And neither do I.”

Jackie took another step. “Because you refuse to.”

“No, I’m not just not good enough to be a Leopold son.”

“You don’t have to be a Leopold son,” Jackie said, moving closer to his desk. “You just have to be Max.”

“Just Max is a disappointment,” Max said dejectedly. ”A disappointment who shouldn’t even be graduating.”

Jackie was right in front of his desk now, and she reached out to pick up his graduation cap. She leaned over the desk, placing one knee on the surface, and set the hat softly on Max’s head, brushing her hands down the sides of his face and cupping his cheeks.

Max sighed. “We agreed not to do this, remember?”

Jackie shook her head. “Screw it,” she whispered, and she lowered her lips to meet his.

Max had forgotten how much he missed this.