Teach Me to Dance

Chapter 24

The Last Day

Namixas

The hearts start breaking as the year is gone, the dream's beginning and the time rolls on.

It was night time at the Alexander household. Naminé was typing away on her computer, when a female voice called out.

“Naminé! Are you awake?”

Naminé looked up from her computer and checked the clock, 10:31 PM. Her mom was finally home from work. The screen of her laptop was covered in paragraphs of words.

“Yeah!” Naminé called back, saved her work, and shut down her computer. Then she ran all the way to the living room where her mother was.

“Welcome home Mom!” Naminé hugged her mother tightly.

Even though Naminé was already almost an adult, she couldn’t help but feel really excited to see her when she got off work. Sometimes she got to be home a lot, but lately it’s felt like her mom’s been getting off work later, and later.

“I’m glad to be home sweetie.” Her mother responded back, hugging her daughter back as well.

“It seems like you’ve been getting home later than usual, mom.” Naminé said, after the two had let go of each other. Her mother just gave a quizzical look, before realizing the problem.

“Oh didn’t I tell you? I’m taking longer shifts so I can have your graduation day off.” Her mother explained simply to her daughter.

“Oh! Well, that makes sense.” Naminé smiled. The two went to sit down in their respective recliners in the living room. Her mother sitting crossed legged in the armchair, while her daughter took a more comfortable pose by sitting in the larger armchair where her legs hung over the sides of it.

Her mother began the routine that she always did, by removing her jewelry one by one and setting them the coffee table in the center of the living room. Next were her shoes and pantyhose, once off, Naminé’s mother tossed them aside. Now in the best comfort, the two began to talk about their day.

“So tomorrow is your last day isn’t it?” Her mother said thoughtfully.

“Uh-huh…” Naminé replied back. Her mind began to wonder a bit at the thought. Tomorrow was going to be the last time she would wake up and make the journey over to the school early in the morning. The last time she would use her locker, the last time she would be in her favorite classes.

Tomorrow was going to be full of many lasts.

“It’s really odd to think about.” Naminé added, after thinking a bit over that subject. For so long it seemed so far away that wouldn’t have to worry about it any. Now, all of a sudden, it’s here.

“Are you finished with the speech?” Her mother asked curiously. Naminé just shook her head no.

“No, but all I need now is to make a conclusion. I’ll finish it before I go to bed tonight.” Naminé explained to her mother. The two stayed up for a while longer, before her mother said that she was getting tired.

After saying good night and kissing her mother on the cheek, Naminé returned to her room, flipped open the top cover of her laptop, and turned it back on. Opening the program she had open before her mother come home, once again the paragraphs of words came to view.

“This is it, huh…” Naminé thought sentimentally to herself before getting back to work. She had promised herself that the speech for graduation would be done by tonight so she could properly enjoy all of tomorrow without worrying about anything else.

Naminé worked well into the night, until at last after proofreading her work for the umpteenth time, it was finish. Finally satisfied, Naminé gave a contented sigh as she printed off her speech unto white pieces of paper so that she could read it from the big podium that is going to placed in front the crowd of people waiting to hear from her…

The entire thought was very taunting, but Naminé knew deep down that once it was done, she was going to feel so very glad that she did it. After the pages were printed, Naminé shut off her computer for the last time that night and quickly drifted off to sleep.

“Naminé, wake up. It’s your last day.” Naminé could barely hear her mom waking her up that morning. She was still very droggy from lack of sleep the previous night. As the seconds went by, Naminé steadily grew more aware of her surroundings. Suddenly, a wonderful smell invaded her presence.

Do I smell waffles?” Naminé asked her mother as she was finally opening her eyes. At first the room was a bit blurred. Yep, her eyes were definitely a bit dried out from staring the computer screen for so long. After a couple of seconds, the room came into focus as Naminé watched her mother open her curtains to let in the sunlight from outside. Which, incidentally, blinded Naminé once again.

Uh-huh! Now hurry up so you're ready when Roxas gets here.” Her mother said. She had a smile on her face, with an added wink for Naminé had the mention of Roxas's name. Naminé felt herself blush slightly and look away from her mother. Naminé's mother gave a soft chuckle before leaving Naminé's room and closing the door before.

Naminé took a moment to stretch out her arms and legs before getting out of bed. The first thing that had to be done was to take a shower. It was important to be all clean for the graduation tonight. After doing so, she dressed herself in a white skirt with a light blue top. Her favorite combination. Next was her hair. She had to dry it completely before curling it. Today was extra special, so Naminé even put on some make-up. Finally, all that was left was breakfast. At the thought, Naminé felt her belly grumble. Hurrying downstairs to eat, Naminé found her mother already eating at the table.

Hey, you didn't wait for me!” Naminé complained childishly. By the time she got there, her mother had already almost finished her waffle.

You took too long sweetie!” Was all that replied with, as she received a look from her daughter. But the aroma of the waffle didn't keep Naminé angry for too long because her hungry was beckoning her to eat.

As if in perfect harmony, as soon as Naminé’s fork hit the plate with a 'ping', the doorbell outside rang signaling Roxas's arrival. "That was good timing." Namine's mother commented as Naminé quickly put her plate and silverware away into the dishwasher and kissed her mom goodbye for the day.

"Bye mom! See you after school!" Naminé bid farewell to her mother and opened the door to reveal Roxas waiting on her doorstep. Roxas greeted her with a smile, as he always did.

"Good morning, Naminé." He greeted.

"Morning Roxas! Ready for our last day?" Naminé asked, to which Roxas gave a slight nod. With that, the two friends went on their way towards school.

"Good morning Naminé! It's our last day!" Kairi greeted her loudly as they met her and Sora along the way to school. Sora and Roxas greeted each other too, but much more quietly than Kairi did. Naminé couldn’t help but smile at Kairi’s behavior. It was so very much like her, and she would definitely not want her to ever change the way she was.

“Yeah. Do you think the world is ready for us graduating seniors?” Naminé winked towards Kairi. It was good to see the graduating process in a happier light than to see it as a bad thing. They were going on to bigger and greater things, and that was an exciting thought.

“There’s no way the world can be expecting me!” Kairi exclaimed loudly, causing both of the girls to laugh for a while. Kairi was definitely never going to change. Even when other things change around her… Naminé noticed Sora looking over towards his girlfriend with a smile, waiting for her to come back to him. Apparently, it seemed like Kairi somehow and walked back over to him and grabbed his hand pulling it forward with hers.

“Let’s go!” She said happily, walking towards the direction of the school with Sora taking off with her. Naminé and Roxas glance at each other, giving at smile at their best friends’ behavior and followed after them. Once they reached the school, they saw Hayner, Olette, Crystal, and Riku standing outside the doors seemingly waiting for them to arrive.

“There you guys are! We’ve been waiting.” Olette greeted everybody. She glanced over at Hayner who flashed her a grin. Then the two looked over toward Riku who was standing right beside the door.

“Are you ready?” He asked everyone. Kairi, Sora, and Roxas all seemed excited and ready for this. Seeing their faces, especially Roxas’s, made Naminé decide that she was ready too. They all nodded towards Riku, who by the cue opened the door. The last day had officially arrived.

That day had gone by fast. Much faster than Naminé would have liked. In her mind, she wanted to take her moment and savor the memory of her feelings and attachments for the near past. To be able to just stop time long enough to take everything in, but sadly that really isn’t how life seems to work out.

Of course, the day was a good one in many ways. She took every chance to experience everything possible that day and stayed with her friends the entire, getting to enjoy being with them just like they all those years before. She didn’t regret not doing or experiencing everything she wanted to, for she definitely did do everything that she ever wanted. The only problem was that the fact that, more than anything, she wanted to press pause a least for moment. Wishes like that, however, are impossible to grant.

When the bell rang for the final time that day, many shouts of joy followed it. Even more so then before, the students filed out the classroom faster than usual, not even bothering to glance behind. Except, for one. Naminé just stay seated at her desk, unmoving. She felt herself blink unwillingly when the second hand on the clock reach the twelve, as if, if she didn’t see it, it wouldn’t happen.

Everyone else met together after school fairly quickly. Naturally, because it was the last day of school, there weren’t any after school activities or duties they had to fulfill. They all met outside the school, just as they had this morning. Fairly quickly, it became noticeable that Naminé wasn’t coming.

“I was sure that I told her to meet us out here after school this morning before going to class…” Kairi mentioned out loud to everyone. Roxas’s brow were beginning to furrow, which was also noticed by everyone.

“Maybe she needs some time alone. You know she wouldn’t skip out on us if it wasn’t important.” Riku muttered thoughtfully. His girlfriend Crystal smiled at his side, nodding in agreement. Sora seemed to think about it before seemingly coming to a decision.

“Yeah, that’s true. Okay, we should go ahead and go then.” Sora decided.

“I don’t know… I feel like someone should check on and make sure she’s okay…” Olette said with a worried tone in her voice. Kairi almost made a motion to go and check on her until she saw Roxas.

“I’ll go, check on her.” Roxas said, turning around. He opened the doors to the school back up and disappeared from the view of everyone else once the doors closed. Everyone else knew exactly what was on Roxas’s mind at the moment and knew it was best to let him to this.

With that, they walked on leaving the school behind them.