"The Graduation Party"
The morning of the graduation party came around, and Brooklyn was excited. That may seem like a bit of a no-brainer, but the planning and preparation of the party itself was a venture filled with stress and anticipation. That was coupled with the high school baseball season approaching its climax, and the final year of high school coming to an imminent close. Through all of this, Brooklyn almost forgot to enjoy most of it. Thankfully, when she woke up that Saturday morning, she was in a good mood, and ready to see her friends.
The invitations indicated a sort of business casual dress code, one that the members of the various sports teams would be familiar with. Like many high schools do, the North Craggold athletes were obligated to wear business dress to classes on gameday. Brooklyn expected most of her teammates would be wearing the exact same fits they would wear to school, since that was probably the only semi-formal wear they owned. Even though she was a girl, Brooklyn usually wore a button-up shirt and slacks that matched most of her male teammates. This was mostly an effort to match, but she also did it as a point to prove that she was the same kind of player as the rest of them, despite the difference in gender.
For this event, though, Brooklyn would be a little flashier. It was her graduation party, after all. From the annals of her closet, she procured a sleeveless knee-high dress, colored a bright goldenrod yellow that matched Sadeg State’s colors. It even had a navy blue belt and trim to further complete the look. Brooklyn couldn’t remember when she’d gotten it, but it was probably for tagging along to some alumni event at State with her parents.
She even decided to do a little makeup, which was a rarity (unless you count gameday eyeblack, of course). The best part was that she didn’t need to really do her hair besides a simple brushing, since she’d be wearing a State hat to the party. It was the same one she’d put on at her fateful announcement stream nearly half a year prior. Had it really been half a year already? Was she really just one summer away from taking the next step in her career?
Now was not the time to think about all that. This was a day that one needed to live in the present. Isn’t that what parties are for?
“Is that my daughter?” Dustin Beck asked, when he saw Brooklyn stride out of the foyer all dressed up and ready for the party. “No, this is clearly some stranger. There is a grown-ass woman in my house, who isn’t my wife. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“Shut up!” Brooklyn stuck her tongue out. “Is there anything you all need help with?”
“Mom should be back with the cakes and stuff any moment now.” Dustin replied, looking around the kitchen. “Here, make sure the table is clear so she can set it down easily.”
“When is the pizza getting here?” Brooklyn asked as she moved a vase from the table to the kitchen counter.
“We have the order set for an hour after the party begins, but who knows how long the delivery will take,” Dustin rolled his eyes. “In the meantime, we’ll get the appetizer bowls going.”
“You’re gonna give a good tip, right?” Brooklyn narrowed her eyes.
“Don’t give me that attitude, you’ve never spent money that hasn’t come out of my wallet.” Dustin gave a half-joking glance. “But yes, I’ve got a good wad of cash for the poor bastard that has to fit all those boxes in his car.”
Elie Beck arrived a few minutes later with the dessert items. The centerpiece was a large sheet cake, featuring the North Craggold lettermark, the Sadeg State Skyhawk logo, and the words “CONGRATULATIONS BROOKLYN!” There was also an assortment of cupcakes, five sets to be precise. Each set had a different sport icon in icing on top, corresponding with the five varsity sports Brooklyn played at North Craggold.
“I just hope you’re mentally prepared for the basem*nt walls to have at least one brown icing smear by the end of the party,” Brooklyn giggled.
“See, this is why I wanted to have the party at the neighborhood clubhouse,” Elie sighed.
“At least we won’t have to pay a cleaning fee here!” Dustin countered.
“Well, you might not be paying with money, but you will be paying.” Elie raised her eyebrows.
Dustin grumbled, but he didn’t have a comeback.
The first guest to arrive was Grace Robbins, one of Brooklyn’s baseball teammates. She was one of Brooklyn’s closer friends, hence why she arrived right at the top of the hour. Grace was wearing a navy blue dress and a Sadeg State hat. It wasn’t the exact same type Brooklyn was wearing, but it was the same gold and blue. Of all Brooklyn’s teammates in high school, Grace was the only one that would continue to be her teammate in college. Not everyone is good enough to play at State.
“Grace! Hello!” Brooklyn said with a big grin when she opened the door.
“Heyy!” Grace was wearing a wide smile as well, and hugged Brooklyn as soon as she entered the Beck house. “You look great, Brook!”
“You too, girl!” Brooklyn motioned further into the house. “Come on in, you’re the first one here.”
Grace exchanged pleasantries with Dustin and Elie, grabbed a drink, and talked with Brooklyn for a little bit.
“Hey, let’s go downstairs, the Knights game is about to start,” Brooklyn suggested.
“Good idea!” Grace said, starting towards the basem*nt door.
“Not so fast, Brookie,” Elie said suddenly. “This is your party, you’ve got to stay up here and welcome people in. At least until there’s a decent crowd.”
“Fine,” Brooklyn sighed.
“We can stay up here awhile longer,” Grace admitted. Her attention turned to the living room TV. “Hey, is that a slideshow? We could look at that for a bit!”
Slowly but surely, more guests arrived. Brooklyn was moving back and forth frantically to greet them, bring them in, engage in some introductory conversation, and come back to whoever she was talking to before. Eventually there was a decent crowd in the house, some of which moved to the basem*nt at Brooklyn’s behest so she could watch the Knights baseball game in the background.
Brooklyn was relieved of her greeting duties right when the pizza arrived. Unsurprisingly, the ‘life of the party’ arrived two minutes behind the pizza delivery. Even though Brooklyn was downstairs, she still heard the doorbell upstairs being spammed thirty times in the space of eight seconds, and bolted up to the foyer.
Julian Gallagher, Mark Holmes, and Kevin Briggs had arrived. The rambunctious trio bombarded Brooklyn in the door, already in the middle of some uncouth conversation.
“Woah! I can smell the pizza!” Mark announced as he stepped into the house.
“It’s fresh! I’m getting first dibs!” Kevin elbowed past Mark, gave Brooklyn a bare-minimum pat on the shoulder in greeting, and raced towards the kitchen.
“Hello from all of us, I guess,” Julian grinned at Brooklyn, with a knowing glance.
“Thanks. Pizza is back there, if you can believe that. Help yourself.” Brooklyn motioned back towards the party, but paused when she looked at Julian’s face. Something was off. She realized it a moment later. “You forgot your hat, Jules.”
“Oh, uh, I didn’t.” Julian grimaced. He turned around and jogged back to his car, which had somehow fit all three of the guys on its way to Brooklyn’s house. He rummaged around in the trunk and returned, wearing an all-black cap with the ‘Sword-and-C’ logo of Cavsar on the front. Well, he was wearing it backwards, no doubt hoping to conceal the school it was for.
“You know it still says ‘Cavsar’ on the side, right?” Brooklyn pointed at the side of the cap over Julian’s left ear, with a teasing smirk on her face. “People will see it sooner or later.”
“Nahh, I was hoping I could just stand with my left side next to a wall for the whole party,” Julian shrugged, showing a sheepish smile of his own.
“Good luck with that.” Brooklyn leaned forward and snatched the hat off of Julian’s head, placing it back facing the correct way. “I’ll give you credit though, the black is pretty stealthy. If you got a maroon one, everybody would notice immediately.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
“Alright, enough stalling. Come on,” Brooklyn indicated for Julian to follow her. She cringed as she saw Mark and Kevin rush by, barreling down the basem*nt stairs with plates piled high with pizza slices. By her quick count, that was one box empty already.
With the real food there, a sizable crowd, and some lively people, the party was really starting to swing. Well, as much as a graduation party with no alcohol could swing. The boys from various teams were rotating rounds of ping pong (the baseball players were doing best), while a gaggle of girls stood around gossiping and jawing about summer and college plans. A mixed group, often including Brooklyn, casually watched as the Knights took an early lead behind the dominant pitching of Claire Kirkland. Individuals would invariably detach themselves from a group and wander around the basem*nt, admiring the sports memorabilia amassed by the Becks.
Brooklyn excused herself from the main group for a moment to head upstairs and grab a cupcake. A few parents had come and stayed, talking with her parents, and a few stragglers were watching the slideshow in the living room containing hundreds of photos with Brooklyn and her various friends and teammates. As Brooklyn devoured a cupcake with football icing, she heard a quiet knock at the door.
“I’ll get it!” Brooklyn said with a bite of food in her mouth. She swallowed and moved to the foyer, opening the door to reveal none other than Spencer Harrelson.
“Hi there. Sorry I’m late,” Spencer said simply.
“Spencer! No worries man, I’m glad you could make it!” Brooklyn’s face lit up, and she energetically beckoned Spencer inside. “Okay, there’s still some pizza left, or cupcakes and other snacks if you’d want those. There’s also a slideshow over there, but I’m not sure you’d care to watch it. Most of the party is downstairs.”
As if on cue, a round of raucous cries sounded from the basem*nt. Either the Knights had scored, or somebody had knocked a good winner at the ping pong table.
“I know you probably don’t know most of the people here, but if you’d like to mingle …” Brooklyn trailed off, tilting her head at the door.
“I can handle myself.” Spencer rolled his eyes. “Don’t you worry.”
“No need for the sass, bud,” Brooklyn narrowed her eyes.
With that, Brooklyn headed into the basem*nt, with Spencer following close behind. She had mostly invited him to be nice, and she was glad to see him, but she was worried that he would be awkwardly isolated while he was there. To her surprise, that wouldn’t be the case. Once she arrived at the landing of the stairs, a few heads turned to see who was there.
When Spencer appeared around the corner, a couple voices called out immediately.
“Yo! Holy sh*t, it’s Spencer Harrelson!” It was the voice of Kevin from one end of the ping pong table.
“Spence is here?” Mark turned to see, then raised his arm in greeting. “Yo Spence! What are you doing here, you crazy bastard?”
“Huh?” Brooklyn turned to Spencer, completely confused. “They know you?”
“You know them?” Spencer had a near sh*t-eating grin on his face.
“How do you guys know each other?” Brooklyn asked as Julian came up to shake Spencer’s hand.
“Oh, Spence?” Julian turned to Brooklyn. “He was at our table in language arts class. Got shuffled in with us three clowns, I felt bad for him, but he held his own. How do you know him?”
“He was my lab partner.” Brooklyn said quickly, trying to not say too much. She had said a couple rude things about him in the beginning of the year, before they got to know each other.
“Wait, he’s the fabled lab partner?” Julian cackled in laughter. “We’ve been chilling with him in class all year. I swear, this guy is the greatest sniper of all time. When we run fours on game nights he dominates every time.”
“Ohhh …” Brooklyn suddenly understood. When everybody got back from winter break, the trio of Julian, Mark, and Kevin talked about how they’d linked up with a classmate for their shooter games over the break and had a great time. Brooklyn wasn’t into video games, and definitely not of the shooting variety, so she was rarely able to tag along.
“Man, did you not bring a hat?” Julian pointed at Spencer’s head, which was bare.
“Ah!” Spencer felt his hair to confirm. “Yeah, I brought it, just left it in the car. I’ll grab it later.”
“Cool, cool. Have you played any ping pong before?” Julian asked, starting to walk back towards the table.
“I’ll keep score. My hand-eye coordination is limited to the controller variety,” Spencer chuckled.
As they walked to the other end of the basem*nt, Brooklyn just stood and laughed to herself. That was the last thing she expected.
The party went on for the next couple hours. People came and went. At one point, Dustin himself came downstairs and kicked ass for a couple rounds of ping pong. He followed that with a solid session of self-indulging and reminiscing about his awards and memorabilia to anybody who would listen (and there’s a fair amount of people who did).
At one point, everybody came upstairs to cut into the sheet cake, which also served as a moment for everybody to formally congratulate Brooklyn on her high school completion and beginning to her college journey. A large group of people trickled out once they’d finished off a slice of cake, but there was still a solid contingent left afterwards.
Spencer used that lull in the party to grab his hat. It was a green hat with a gray bill and a bolt on the front, which elicited some interested queries from people nearby.
“Ohh, is that Corinth City University?” Julian pointed at Spencer’s head.
“The Chargers! CCU!” Mark nodded, as if to echo Julian’s suggestion.
“Indeed it is,” Spencer nodded. “They gave me a full ride.”
“So you decided then?” Brooklyn smiled. She felt a subconscious tinge of sadness, but not enough to register it. “What are you gonna major in?”
“Biology. Maybe chemistry, it’ll depend on the professors I think.” Spencer shrugged. “CCU has a good enough natural sciences department that I should be good either way.”
“Hey, they’ve got a solid basketball team!” Kevin pointed out.
“Yeah, that’s what really swayed his decision,” Brooklyn shot back. “Known carer about basketball, Spencer Harrelson.”
“You know Brooklyn, that really hurt my feelings.” Kevin crossed his arms, trying his hardest to put on a serious expression. “There was no need for the sarcasm or hostility.”
“Oh yeah?” Brooklyn co*cked an eyebrow and crossed her arms in defiance. “How do you expect me to make it up to you?”
“You, me, ping pong, 1v1!” Kevin declared. “Your ass has been avoiding the table all afternoon. Get down there and fight me like a man! Or, uh, I mean-”
“Fine, you’re on!” Brooklyn roared, shooting down the basem*nt stairs to get there first.
Even being rusty and not getting much of a warmup, Brooklyn managed to take Kevin down to the wire and beat him, 21-18. She refused to take another match, but she stuck around to watch as most of the guys and girls left at the party took turns at the table.
Brooklyn laughed along with everyone else with the antics and competition. She was enjoying herself throughout, but when she checked her phone to see the party was nearly set to be over, she was overcome with a morose feeling. It was fun, being with her friends, messing around, just appreciating each other’s company. At the same time, this was probably the last time they’d all be together, at least for a long time.
Everybody had different plans for the summer, people were moving all over the place for college, not to mention that going to the same college wouldn’t mean that they’d see each other that often. Poor Julian was off to his exile in Cavsar. Spencer would be way down south in Corinth. Kevin and Mark were staying in Sadeg, but Mark was going to the University of Sadeg rather than State. So many of Brooklyn’s other friends both at the party and away were going off to the far-flung corners of Drawkland.
They may have the graduation ceremony, they may have some baseball games left, they may have some summer meetups that could work out. For the most part, though, this was it. High school was a wrap.
For a moment, Brooklyn wasn’t sure she was really ready for it to end.
