"You know you have to come home at some point" Becky lectured Vanessa from the edge of the half pipe. Vanessa had been here at the skatepark since one in the afternoon and it was now nearly eight o'clock but she was still going.

"How many times can you practice the same trick anyway?" Becky questioned but her sister still gave no response.

"Come on Vanessa i can see you getting tired! You're going to drop and tomorrows a big day" Becky continued to nag and finally her sister came to a stop on the ledge.

"Exactly, tomorrow is graduation. At the end of this summer everything is going to change. I'm going into the air force, Gus is going into a different branch of the military, just about everyone is going to separate colleges!" Vanessa began ranting as she took off her helmet, revealing that the top of her head was drenched in sweat.

"Whoa, whoa who are you and what did you do with my overly laid back sister?" Becky sarcastically asked but Vanessa only glared at her.

"Every so often stuff gets to me" Vanessa admitted, knowing that she did not sound like herself.

"Ok but it's still going to happen. We're still graduating this time tomorrow and nobody is ever truly ready but when the moment comes, it'll surprise you how ready you are" Becky advised and Vanessa smiled.

"Where did you learn that?" Vanessa joked causing her sister to laugh

"I made it up but i learned that kind of thinking from you" Becky admitted and she didn't point it out when Vanessa blushed with a smile.

Joslyn was laying awake in bed, she was too anxious to sleep. It was well past midnight and so obviously she wasn't expecting it when her door creaked opened.

"Joshlyn" Her little cousin's voice called, messing up her name as usual.

"Brandon? What are you doing up?" She asked the little boy as she propped herself up on her elbow. They may live in a two family house but there was a hallway which connected one side to the other and it wasn't uncommon for Brandon to wander over to Joslyn and her mother's side, however it was uncommon for him to do it in the middle of the night.

Instead of answering his cousin's question Brandon just hurried into the room and tried climbing up on her bed. Joslyn sat up to help him and moved over to give him room before laying back down with him.

"Brandon what's wrong?" She asked him in concern, if he had a nightmare wouldn't he go to his parents?

"Mom, mommy says dat you're gonna, you're gonna weave soon" the three year old whimpered as his older cousin adjusted her position some more.

"Oh don't worry, i'm not going until the end of summer and i'm not going far" Joslyn said, trying to calm her cousin. She really wasn't going far, only a city away at the nearest state college.

"But you arew weaving?" Brandon asked, Joslyn kissed the top of his head.

"Yeah but i'll come visit all the time, ok?" She tried to reassure and Brandon sniffled as he nodded, Joslyn could tell that he wasn't ok with it but he was ok enough to save this discussion for another day, a day closer to her leaving.

"Alright, now should i bring you back to bed?" Joslyn asked, she sort of wanted to bring him back but if he wouldn't go then she wouldn't bother, he would only come back and she knew that her aunt wouldn't be too concerned if she noticed Brandon gone, he had come to Joslyn in the middle of the night before.

"Mmm mm" Brandon responded shaking his head no, Joslyn let out a sigh.

"Ok" she said.

"Well Vince we made it, the last day of school" T.J. commented that morning, emphasizing the word last.

"Yup, hard to believe" Vince commented as they walked through the halls of the school waiting for first period to start.

As they walked the two boys couldn't help but notice that every so often they would spot a broken crayon laying abandoned on the hallway floor left over from Friday's prank.

"It's been a long road Vince my friend but we graduate tonight" T.J. said with a grin, he was in a pretty good mood considering that after tonight school would be over.

Sure there was still college and sure he had heard that would ten times harder than high school but even so they had worked nearly their whole lives to graduate and tonight it was finally happening.

"What's your deal?" Joslyn questioned Gretchen at lunch as her friend scribbled something in a note book.

"Huh?" Gretchen asked looking up from her writing, she hadn't been paying attention to Joslyn.

"Why are you so stressed?" Joslyn asked

"Seriously i don't know what you're writing but it's graduation day, chill out and enjoy it" Joslyn continued but Gretchen sighed.

"I know it's graduation day, i'm supposed to give a speech tonight and i still don't have a clue as to what i'm going to say" Gretchen complained, folding her arms atop the lunch table resting her head on them in frustration.

Joslyn thought on it for a minute

"Well what have you learned in high school?" Joslyn asked only for Gretchen to look up in confusion.

"Joslyn i was doing eleventh grade work as a ten year old, i haven't learned all that much" Gretchen commented

"No i mean like, as a person. None of us are the same people we were first day of freshman year. We've all changed, you included. So talk about that, i know the whole we've all matured so much thing is kind of cheesy but it works" Joslyn clarified and Gretchen considered this angle before smiling.

"Thanks Joslyn" she said to her friend who grinned.

"I can't believe we're actually graduating tonight" Gus said to Mikey as the two sat doing nothing in art class.

It seemed that nobody could believe that the day of graduation was finally upon them.

"I know it seems so unreal" Mikey commented, equally amazed that they had actually made it to the end of their school days; aside from college of course.

But still it didn't seem real to anyone and yet it was.

"So are you graduating?" Joslyn asked Butch during their final study hall.

Despite having gone to prom together the two were still nothing more than friends and each of them liked it that way.

"Yes i am graduating" Butch replied pretending to be annoyed that Joslyn had to ask if he had passed senior year but he knew she was only joking.

"Alright calm down" Joslyn giggled as a sly grin made it's way to Butch's face.

"Are you finally going to talk to your friend Nate tonight?" Butch inquired

"You know this study hall is one part of high school i will not miss" Joslyn commented but Butch only snickered at the comment.

"We've had some fun" he laughed causing Joslyn to roll her eyes.

"No you've had some fun. I've spent every day watching the clock" she explained which only made Butch laugh even harder.

"Fine i've basically tortured you all year but still you know i'm right" he teased

"I know" Joslyn muttered

"So do something about it" Butch encouraged, all laughter suddenly gone from his voice.

"I will" Joslyn blurted out

"I will" she repeated and she would, she didn't know exactly what she would do but she would do something before it was too late.

The assembly took place that night under the lights of the football field. T.J. and Ash were walking around and talking to friends like everyone else before they would have to take their seats. The couple was holding hands which was still earning a few jokes from some of their close friends but they didn't mind, and after all this time they definitely deserved some of those jokes.

Joslyn was standing alone in the crowd, she was avoiding both Butch and Nate. So she was looking around for anyone else she knew when she saw a face on the bleachers. Shaking her head she blinked but he was still there.

Her dad was still there.

At first she thought she was going crazy but the man she saw making his way towards the bleachers was real, and he was without a doubt her father.

"Everyone please take your seats" came Principal Prickly's voice over the loud speaker. It took about ten minutes and a few other announcements but eventually everyone was seated and everyone was quiet.

Taking the stage Principal Prickly cleared his throat

"Thank you everyone. It is my honor to stand here today and present to you the class of 2006. They have worked hard to be here today and i am proud of each and every one of them, even the ones who were responsible for Friday's senior prank" Prickly began which earned a chuckle from everyone, just about everybody in town knew about the prank.

"I've known many of these kids since there days as elementary school children and so to have been appointed principal of the high school during the senior year of many of my former students it was a joy see just how much each of them had grown. Now i am going to stop talking and welcome the president of the senior class, miss Gretchen Grundler" Prickly finished.

Applause was heard throughout the crowd as Gretchen nervously took the stage, she had finally worked out her speech but was still very unsure on if it were good enough or not.

"Thank you Principal Prickly" Gretchen began

"Fellow classmates, standing before you today i see the faces of friends old and new. Not a single one of us sitting here today is the same person they were walking into the school as a freshman, we have all grown. People always say that we are never going to need anything we learn in school in the real world but i find that is the biggest lie anyone could ever tell us. School has taught us more than geometry and science, it has taught us how to care. Without school some of us may have never met, some of us may never have learned what it's like to take a real chance, or how to open a closed spirit. We may never have known how it feels to break only for a friend to help pick up the pieces and some of us may never have truly experience freedom. We've all been through so much in our lives and without school we may never have met any of the good people who we have shared many of our most important moments with" with that Gretchen finished her speech and amongst the applause she took her seat once again.

There were a few more speeches from both teachers and students alike but finally, when the assembly felt as thought it had been going on forever, Prickly began calling students for their diplomas.

"Mikey Blumberg" Prickly called and with a grin on his face Mikey went and collected his diploma.

"Theodor Jasper Detweiler" T.J. went up to the stage with a grin, he wished they could've just called T.J. but he wasn't going to make a big deal out of that.

"Good job T.J." Prickly said as he shook hands with the teen who smiled

"Thanks sir" T.J. replied before he left the stage.

"Gustave Griswald" Gus went up to collect his diploma, and nearly tripped on the second step of the stage.

"Gretchen Grundler" Gretchen almost couldn't believe it, after so many years of preparing for this moment it was finally here.

"Vince LaSalle" Like for the rest of the players the entire basket ball team cheered extra loudly when Vince's name was called.

"Ashley Spinelli" Ash went up to the stage with a smile on her face and tried to ignore the fact that she could hear her mother in the crowd.

After every name had been called Prickly took the microphone once again.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present to you the graduates of the class of 2006" and with that cheers erupted all over the field.

The graduates threw their caps in the air and celebrated. Everyone was cheering and clapping, happy that after so long they had finally graduated.

T.J. picked up Ash and spun her around, both of them laughing.

Mikey was running around the field with Vanessa on his back, Gus and Becky did the same only they opted for walking around the celebration.

Then Joslyn and Nate came face to face. By this time both of them knew that they wanted to do something but neither knew how and so swallowing her fear Joslyn placed her hands on Nate's shoulder's and kissed him.

Initially Nate was shocked by this and pulled away but he only gave Joslyn half a second to process that before he pulled her back into him and kissed her again.

There were many pictures taken that night of the friends. Vanessa and Becky, Ash and Menlo and of course boyfriends and girlfriends posed together in their pictures. But as the celebration was breaking up and people began to leave Ash asked her mom to take one last picture.

T.J. stood with one are around Ash's waist and the other around Vince's shoulder's. Ash placed one hand on T.J.'s far shoulder and the other on Mikey's back. Mikey, making a joke that the height difference between him and Ash was more than a foot, he rested his hand atop of her head. Gretchen stood on the end next to Vince and Gus on the other end next to Mikey. A lot may have changed over the years but somehow these six friends were still connected in one way or another, and so before they all went their separate ways they decided to get one last picture of the recess gang.

Ok i know that this is a little late but i just want to say thank you to everyone for reading and for all of the great reviews! I really wasn't sure how many chapters this was going to last for but i'm glad to see it went as well as it did. Also i feel like i owe everyone an apology for the confusion with Spinelli's name being changed to Ash for the last couple chapters. As i'm sure many of you noticed there were a few chapters in the senior year which dealt with her becoming a little more girly and leaving most of her tomboy personality behind. I personally feel that the reason she ever went by Spinelli in the first place was because she was a tomboy and wanted to be seen as tough instead of being one of the Ashley's. So i chose to have her start going by Ash because i felt it represented the girly side of her as well as the tomboy side. I realize that i did not handle this as well as i could have and was informed that it ruined the story for some people. Again i apologize for that and i would like to thank everyone for reading, this is my longest story to date and it means so much to me that so many people liked it!