Chapter 54: Graduation Day

The grand day of high school graduation arrived in late May with the oppressive, heavy heat of a genuine Texas summer bearing down mercilessly on the crowded football stadium bleachers. Sitting together in rows of identical red caps and academic gowns, James and Lily caught each other's eyes across the massive sea of graduates whenever a speech dragged on too long. When their names were called sequentially, they walked across the stage to polite applause and flashing camera bulbs, stepping off the other side straight into the rest of their lives.