by Brian Rowe
Twenty minutes later, the entire student body rose to their feet and readied their caps for air launch.
I can’t believe I’m here. I can’t believe I made it.
Principal Reeves took to the microphone and shouted, “Congratulations, Seniors! You are now officially graduated!”
Everyone screamed with joy and threw their caps in the air. It was complete mayhem, and for a moment, I lost Liesel.
Where’d she go?
“Hey you,” she said.
I turned around. She had somehow switched sides.
“Hey! How’d you do that?”
“What?”
“You were on my right side not a second ago.”
She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and smiled. “OK, now you’re just being paranoid.”
I put my arms back around her. “Can you blame me?”
“Not at all,” she said with a snicker, planting another kiss on my left cheek.
We watched as the pandemonium around us became more insane, so much so that I wasn’t sure if we were going to make it out of this auditorium alive. I held onto Liesel tight, and she brought her eyes back to mine. She looked like she had something very important to say to me.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Oh, nothing,” she said, doing her best to look away from me.
“Spill it. Spit it out.”
She met my eyes again and smiled. “Happy birthday, Cameron Martin.”
I chuckled. “You remembered?”
“I remembered.”
“Yes. For real this time. I’m—”
“Eighteen years old. But I swear you don’t look a day over fifty.”
I playfully scowled at her. “You better be quiet.”
“Oh yeah? How’s this for being quiet?” She cleared her throat. And she started to sing. “Happy birthday to you… Happy birthday to you… Happy birthday dear Cameron—”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I planted my right index finger against her lips to quiet her.
“Enough,” I said with a knowing grin. “Enough with that stupid song!”
Then I kissed her. Liesel’s lips were soft and soothing. I closed my eyes and let the noise around us drown out. All the students hugging and high-fiving each other were hazy background images. It was just me and Liesel, completely in the moment. I felt so good, so lucky to be alive, so much love for this new person in my life, that I started to literally feel light as a feather, as if I were rising above the ground, as if I were—
I opened my eyes and tilted my head back.
“Uhh, Liesel?”
“Yeah?” she asked, slowly opening her eyes.
“Umm—”
“What? What is it?”
She turned and looked out at the crowd. I did the same.
The auditorium was suddenly, inexplicably dead quiet. Everybody in the audience stared at us, mouths agape. My parents appeared confused as ever. My little sister had her hands covering her cheeks. Mrs. Gordon and Coach Welch held each other tight, eyes bulging out of their sockets, staring at the two of us like we were supernatural Gods previously only found in one of Gordon’s library books.
I looked down. Liesel and I were levitating in the air more than twenty feet off the ground.
“Uh oh,” she said, a frown forming on her illuminated face.
I couldn’t help thinking, up high in the air, with hundreds of eyes staring at us, just what other spells this girlfriend of mine was going to toss my way in the near future.
I smiled, took her hand, and kissed her again.
The future.
# # #
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Brian Rowe is a writing fiend, book devotee, film fanatic, and constant dreamer. He's written nine novels, dozens of short stories, five feature-length screenplays, and hundreds of film articles and essays. He is one half of the blog Story Carnivores, where he reviews the latest in books and film. He is currently pursuing his MA in English at the University of Nevada, Reno, and is hard at work on his next novel.
ALSO BY BRIAN ROWE
Teen Fiction
Happy Birthday to Me Again
Happy Birthday to You
The Vampire Underground
The Zombie Playground
The Monster Apocalypse
Over the Rainbow
Adult Fiction
Slate
Townhouse
Short Fiction
Human: A Ghost Story
New Year’s Kiss
Six Scary Stories
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