I stood in front of the mirror in my room, adjusting his tie he uses for his student uniform. The look on my face was the look of fear, nervousness, and determination. The day I planned to meet her in the hallway to give the final confession. Mr. Scott would be around the corner, hearing the results and waiting until I give him the signal to come over. Layla was looking into the mirror, putting on her makeup. "Today is the day. I am finally graduating. With the look of excitement, she also knows she wouldn't have to see me anymore." She thinks that her life would now be easier without seeing me. However, the look of excitement also had the look of something. An icky feeling. Putting the makeup down, she put her arms onto the counter and looked straight into the mirror. "I won't let that guy ruin my perfect day." she sternly told herself.
Just as planned, I asked her in the morning if she could meet me outside the classroom hallway. Layla, hearing this request of mine, had a little feeling of disbelief. knows something is off, but doesn't understand why. She knows he always asks her in front of her desk whenever school ends. She accepted my request and we proceeded with the school day.
The final school bell rang, with the sun gleaming into the windows. I proceeded to go out into the hallway. I seen Mr. Scott and gave him a nod. He went around the corner as Layla went out of the classroom to meet me in the hallway. With a look of this is it, I proceeded to tell Layla. "Today is the day. We are finally graduating." "Yes, we are finally graduating." She said with curiosity in her eye. "I will ask you one last time." I paused with my hands shaking, trying to get the words out. Severely trembling, with my jaw shaking, my words shaking, my heart shaking, I proceeded with my confession. "I like you, Layla. I have liked you for a long time. I want to be with you for the rest of my life and make you the happiest girl in the world. Will you please give me a chance and go out with me?" Layla, hearing this, felt something that she hadn't felt out of all the times he had asked her. Something hit her today. Instead of saying yes, instead of anything, she proceeded to be upset, saying, "Why would I date you??? You asked me every day since I arrived here. I don't even know who you are. You have been bothering me my whole high school life with these confessions. I don't know why you never got the hint in the first place. A no is a no. I will never go out with you." I looked at her and then proceeded to look down in despair. Layla noticed this and was wondering why I was looking down, as she had seen tears falling to the floor. Looking up, she saw me with a face full of tears. The rejection hit me hard. Harder than any other rejection, knowing that our fates are sealed. I wiped away the tears with my arm. "Mr. Scott," I announced. A guy in a military uniform with papers came around the corner. He handed me a few papers. All of a sudden, everyone heard a click. This click to someone not knowing may think of no significance of the first click. But to me and Mr. Scott, it was the first click of pain. My hands were shaking as the pen approached the signature line. As I signed the papers, Mr. Scott looked with eyes of pity. He wanted to be the one to join me because he wanted to be a shoulder for my sorrows. We then hear another click. The final click. This click signified that my life changed forever. The path is edged in ink. I was hoping this time, Layla would remember, and we could tear up the contract. However, Layla was standing there, confused out of her mind. Not understanding what was happening. We then proceeded with Mr. Scott's arm around my back to make sure I won't fall into despair, leaving Layla just standing there in utter shock.
During the graduation ceremony, I was slumped in my chair with Ben looking at me with worry and pity. I just never focused on the ceremony, not caring about anything else. As I walked up with a military sash around my body to grab my diploma, my feelings about this event were not of a new me making it into this world, but a funeral of my past self, a funeral of the happy memories I spent with Layla before she left. The death of my effort that was all in vain. Wearing a fake smile for the camera, I then walked off stage and left with Mr. Scott back home.
Layla got home that day happy she graduated, but angered by the feeling she got from Jake's final confession. She didn't understand why I confessed like that. "I don't know this guy. Why is my body feeling like I did know him?" Feeling angered, she threw her medal into her closet. Then came a box that fell from her closet shelf. Aggravated, she got up from her bed and started picking things up from the floor and putting them back into the box. All of a sudden, something flashed in her eyes. A necklace she hasn't seen since the start of her middle school years. All of a sudden, her eyes widened. Memories of her and I came flooding back to her like a waterfall of footage. She then jerked open the door, ran out of her room, ran out of her home, and ran to my house. Running to his house, remembering everything that happened. She kept having flashbacks in her mind. The promise and the love they had for each other. She wanted it back. She wanted it all to come back. The walking and playing in the park. The laughter and jokes we used to talk about. The times she lay on my lap as she would tell her dreams and her problems. She was trying to reach me to say yes. To say yes to the promise. To make sure I would stay and not leave everything we had built behind. When she was approaching my house, she saw a bus in front of my house. Shouting Wait, as she saw me with tears in his eyes, get onto the bus, not noticing her. Layla continued even when the bus started driving off. She stopped at the front of my house as she saw the bus drive off. Layla then slumped to her knees in front of my house. Crying out why she hadn't remembered the promise, the boy she fell in love with back then, why she took off the necklace. She was on the sidewalk, crying with regret. Tiffany saw her and was in shock. This was the first time in some years she had seen Layla. Layla's mom would send Tiffany photos of what Layla had grown into, and would show me. With a face of surprise and confussion, Tiffany called out, "Layla???"