I want to thank everyone who reviewed my last chapter and all my chapters before. You guys rock! Please note that I edited some of my previous chapters.

I hope you enjoy the last chapter of The Academy.

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Chapter 20

"Parting is such sweet sorrow" – William Shakespeare.

In some cases, it is being separated from your family the first time in your life that is painful. You wish you were back with them in a familiar setting, a more comforting atmosphere.

In others, it is saying goodbye to your friends when they and their families are moving to a different city, different state, or even maybe a different country that is heart-wrenching; seeing the person that probably understood you the most, gone from your life.

And then there is graduation, the supposedly happiest time of your life. The time when you finally break free of your parents' shadow; freedom. But then as you think about it more, you realize you and your friends are going to different schools, making new friends, separated and maybe never seeing each other ever again. Sure, you'll try to say in touch, but with all the work, who'll have the time? And they'll change, as will you, and as you all transform, you and your friends will grow further and further apart. And happiness isn't the true feeling of graduation, it is sorrow. Sorrow for losing your friends, sorrow for leaving your family, sorrow for departing from your school.

Just sorrow…

"Welcome parents, relatives, and friends to the graduation of Redding Academy's class of 2003!" Mr. Carl Siegel, the principal of the school, told the enormous audience sitting before him.

"Please welcome the student body president and the valedictorian for the class of 2003, Meredith Grey!"

Meredith slowly walked to the podium from her seat on the stage. She was nervous as hell. Soon she would have to speak in front of hundreds of people.

"First, I would like to thank everyone who came today, to live the experience of us graduating, with us. To share the memories of this joyous and a bit sad day." Meredith said. "The last 13 years here, at Redding, have been fantastic. When I first moved here from Seattle, I did not know a single one of my fellow students from this school. But this one boy took me under his wing and introduced me to all my wonderful friends that I have now.

Together we faced many challenges and hard times, but we got past them and we ended up here, now." Meredith paused to take a breath and for it all to sink it. "We've all known each since when we were little. We all grew up together, we shared secrets together, and some would say we were all attached together at the hip. We all grew up from that adorable little kid to the young adults we are today.

We have learned a lot over the years. We have learned to lean on each other through difficult times. We learned that when worse comes to worse, that we would always be there for each other. We've learned to help each other when help was needed. There were so many memorable events that happened in the course of the years that I've been at this school, some enjoyable, carefree times with my friends, and some not as good, but will be just as remembered as the happy times.

I will say these last parting words; we've made it to this day from our first day of this school, more or less in one piece. Through that period of time, many challenges were in our way, but here, today, we were able to best them and graduate as Redding Academy's class of 2003!" Meredith concluded her speech. A loud roar of applause erupted as Meredith's fellow students and the rest of the people in the audience stood up to give her a standing ovation for her moving speech. Many faces in the audience could be seen with water in their eyes, who which later to blamed it on something that they had something in their eyes from the wind. (There was no wind in the auditorium, which is indoors.)

"Thank you, Meredith, for that aspiring speech." Mr. Siegel said, while clapping. "As much I'm sure these students would like to stay with Redding, it's time for them to graduate. I'll turn over the microphone to Mr. Benjie Achtenberg and Ms. Molly Hunter so we can begin."

"Will advising 12a, please rise?" Benjie and Molly said.

All of advising 12a stood up from where they sat in the audience. They walked up to the stage in single file and in alphabetical order. Each person walked up the stage's stairs and across it, as they received their diplomas and shook the hands of their advisors.

"Kate Austin…"

Kate was always the most cheerful and upbeat of her friends. Just her smile could brighten anyone's day. To some, her cheerful attitude was annoying, though those were few and little. However as she grew, her father and mother divorced. Her mother remarried a man she despised with all her being, Wayne. That had sent her into depression for a while. Then another bad thing happened, her childhood and current best friend at that time had dropped the bombshell on her, he was moving to a different city. That devastated her even further.

But her senior year was the best year of her life, well at least so far in her life. Ever since Jack had kissed her at his party near the end of 11th grade, they have been dating. He was, and always would be, the light of her life. He was the only one who could pull her out of any funk she was in, he would listen to her complain about her stepfather and make her feel better after she finished venting. Jack Shepard was her rock, her stable part of life. He was her soul mate.

"Emily Brown…"

"James Ford…"

Sawyer cringed when he heard his name being called. He didn't like being called by his given name. The wounds were still fresh, despite the fact that it happened years ago.

In spite of being a loner for most of his years at Redding, he still made a few close friends. As much as he sometimes wanted them to go away, they were always there for him. The pain of his parents' death was lessened by his friends, but it's always still there.

He never thought that he would be able to complete high school, let alone go to college, which is where he was heading to after his graduation, a little college down in the south.

"Lucy Freemen…"

"Meredith Grey…"

A roar of applause exploded in the auditorium where Redding Academy's class of 2003 was graduating when Meredith Grey walked across the stage to receive her diploma. Ever since Meredith had arrived at Redding Academy, she had steadily gained popularity among her peers. She was never that close of friends with Kate and Jack again, but they still remained friends throughout their years in school. Her dating Derek Shepard had made herself some enemies, but she had enough friends so that all the bad willed people against her were unable to harm her.

She grew very close to Izzie, George, and Cristina after drifting apart from her friendship with Jack and Kate. They were her inner, tight circle of friends that were there to support her.

She shook her principal's hand and received her diploma. Then she walked over to her advisors and gave them both hugs before she walked off the stage.

"Elizabeth Hamilton…"

"Hurley Hugo…"

A polite applause arose from the depths of the audience. "WHOOO! GO, HUGO!"

Hurley looked down from the stage blushing as he spotted his brother cheering him on.

He stood there tall and proud for the cameras as he shook his principal's hand. With the right exercise and diet, Hurley transformed from the little cubby kid to the captain of the basketball team. He made many great friends and stayed in great shape because he was surrounded by such a great support group.

"Alexander Karev…"

There were many things that Alex did in the past 18 years of his life that he regretted. He lost the one girl he truly loved, by a mistake that he stupidly did. He had cheated on the girl he really only cared about. Izzie…

His pigheaded ways cost him one of the most precious things in his life. He lost her to George O'Malley. He lost her to that wimp! Even after a year, he glared at George whenever he walked past him. He felt a pain in his heart every time he saw O'Malley's arm wrapped around Izzie's waist or shoulders.

That was just one of the many actions of his life that he could not take back. If he could only turn back time and make things right again. He knew he blew his chance with the girl of his dreams and all he could do now was to either move forward and get on with his life or live in his regrets and wallow for the rest of his life.

He had to move on. He would always have the pain in his heart, reminding him of the girl he lost.

"Matthew Lee…"

"George O'Malley…"

George timidly walked across the stage to receive his diploma. Over the years that he was at Redding Academy, he had grown a lot from that shy kindergartener who wouldn't speak to any one to the person he is now. The guy who was surrounded by, and dated, one of the most popular girls of the whole school.

The experiences of his life shaped and molded him in a better, stronger person.

He raised his fist in the air as he exited the stage to show as a sign of victory. A light laughter arose from the audience followed by a wave of applause for him.

"Charles Pace…"

After studying aboard for two years, England during the first year and Australia during the second, Charlie developed an accent both a mix of both British and Aussie. Although he was overseas during his freshmen and sophomore years, he came back during the holidays to the states.

Charlie was the type of person who could be friends with anyone and anyone would love to be friends with him. Those were the exact reasons why he was able to be friends with Jack and Meredith, who were in different social circles than him. The clique that he most likely belonged in was musical group, not that he was in any clique.

Charlie had a gift when it came to musical instruments. He, his brother, Liam, and a couple of their friends were the band, Driveshaft. They started out as a band practicing in their garage, but over the years since they started, in Charlie's junior year, they've managed to land a few major and minor gigs. A recording agent had heard them one day, and offered them a record deal. Because he wanted to focus on the band so they could make it big, Charlie didn't plan on going to college.

"Jack Shepard…"

As a major jock and one of the smartest people in the school, Jack's popularity could rival his brother's. Everyone expected great things from him when he got older because the only ones who could rival his genius were his older brother, Meredith, and Cristina.

For many years he dated Sarah, but after he broke up with her last year, he had been going steady with Kate. He has never been happier. Although he lost Meredith as a really close friend because they drifted apart, the two popular students still remained friends with each other.

He was set to go to UCLA in the fall. Kate was not going to go there, but they promised to keep in touch, and they were going to try to make a long distance relationship work.

"Isobel Stevens…"

Izzie probably had the hardest life out of everyone that attended Redding. She went there on a full scholarship and her family lives in the trailer park just in the outskirts of Seattle. She was going to go to college on scholarships, money she saved from her summer jobs, student loans, and her modeling job.

Not only had she had it hard financially, she had to go through the fear of losing her friends three times. Although Cristina was alive and well, her childhood best friend was not so lucky. Nathan had died in a car crash that killed his whole family. No person should go through what Izzie went through with her friends, especially not at such a young age as she was when Nathan died.

To this day, she missed him. Izzie often wonder how he would look like if he were here today and how he was doing in heaven with his family. She hoped that he was proud of her, proud that she graduated as one of the top students of her class, proud that she had been strong like she promised him.

As she descended down the stairs attached to the stage, she whispered, looking at her well earned diploma, "This is for you, Nathan."

"Kai Thompson…"

"Cristina Yang…"

Although she did not have the best grades, Cristina was, in fact, one of the smartest people in Redding Academy. Her eagerness for competition and bold personality made her a loner when she was a younger age, but she gradually warmed to people and steady gained friends and popularity among her classmates. If truth be told, the fact that Cristina was friends with the most popular girl in school gained her more popularity.

At the end of 10th grade, she fell ill with a tumor. Then, in 11th, she was an almost fatal victim of a car accident.

Cristina probably suffered more obstacles than anyone during her years in high school. She had to fight for her life more than one time in 4 years. The challenges in her life were harder than anything anyone could imagine. But she over came them with her strength that all her friends gave her and her knowledge that she had so much to live for in life.

The 13 years that was spent at Redding was finally over. They had made out in one piece. They made friends and enemies over the years. No one came out unscathed, but they made it out with good friends by their sides' and all their body parts.

The rest of the graduation flew by them in a blur. They sat in their seats after receiving their diploma, thinking about their past and future.

After their graduation, they stood outside of the auditorium and exchanged last hugs and good byes. They swore to keep in touch with each other during the course of their college years and beyond and wished each other the best of luck.

Each walked away from the school that they spent the last 13 years in, in their own direction, towards their future.

But once you look past that sorrow of moving on, you can begin to start living again.

Moving on to the future, leaving the past behind, but yet never forgetting the friends from your past.

It is the only thing you can do; you have to move on from the good times and the bad.

The End.

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Alas, all good things must come to an end, like this story. Granted it wasn't a very well written story but you get my point… XD

This story that I've been working on for over a year is over, finished, done with. I hope you've enjoyed this journey of the casts' (Grey's Anatomy and Lost) lives. You've read about them at their best, and at their worse, hopefully, you've learned more about the characters, themselves (well mostly what I thought about how the characters were).

A big special thank you to my editor. Thanks, Thurston! You've helped a lot. I also want to thank all my fans for encouraging me to continue and finish this story. You guys are awesome!

I bid you adios,

Fanficaddict