Graduation

     "It went so quickly. I felt like I'd hit the fast forward button. were we supposed to march quite that fast? and then Eric was speed talking in his nervousness, the words and phrases running together so they didn't make sense anymore. Principal Greene started calling names, one after the other without a long enough pause between; the front row in the gymnasium was rushing to catch up. Poor Ms. Cope was all thumbs as she tried to give the principal the right diploma to hand to the right student.
     I heard Mr. Greene call my name and I rose from my chair, waiting for the line in front of me to move. I was conscious of cherring in the back of the gym, and I looked around to see Jacob pulling Charlie to his feet, both of them hooting in encouragement. I could just make out the top of Billy' headbeside Jacob's elbow. I managed to throw them an approximation of a smile.
     Mr. Greene finished with the list of names, and then continued to hand out diplomas with a sheepish grin as we filed past.
     "Congratulations, Miss Stanley," he mumbled as Jess took hers."
     "Congratulations, Miss Swan," he mumbled to me, pressing the diploma into my good hand.
     "Thanks," I murmured.
     And that was it.



I felt this passage was appropriate, because this is my last week of high school, and also my last dialectical journal entry. It feels really weird, because I thought I would be glad high school is almost over, but actually, I'm really going miss it. Bella describes her graduating experience as if she could care less, as if the whole ceremony is awkward and pointless. I understand her apathy, because she had fellow friends experiencing graduation with her. I will be alone. It's weird for me, but that's how it is. I wish I could've graduated with the high school, because I'd be surrounded by people, instead of surrounded by eyes. Either way, I"m excited and impatient.