A/N: For Beth. Congrats.

The End in the Beginning

By angellwings

Macy closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. She bit her bottom lip and chanted silently to herself.

"It's just graduation. It's not an end. It's a beginning. Not an end. A beginning."

Her grandmother's words from this morning weren't working like she thought they should. No matter how many times she mentally repeated them she just couldn't believe them. Of course this was an end. How stupid would she be if she didn't realize this was an end? It was the end of high school. The end of Horace Mantis Academy. For her anyway.

And Nick.

Speaking of Nick.

How often would she be seeing him from now on? Or his brothers? Or Stella! What was she going to do without Stella?

Why had she accepted an offer for a scholarship at a college so far away? Why? Ugh, stupid college scout. He made the place sound so awesome. Did she still have time to chicken out of higher education? It's not like she had to go to college. Right?

Her shoulders sagged. Of course she had to. She'd already accepted the offer, and Macy was NOT one to take back her word. She blinked back tears that threatened to fall. She would not cry. Graduation hadn't even started yet!

"Hey, Macy," Nick greeted her as he took his spot in front of her in line. She blinked at him several times before waving silently. "Are you all right?"

"No, no I am not all right," She said with a shaky breath. "Do we have to graduate? And if we do…did it have to happen so fast? Seriously, where did the year go? We have less than three months left before—before…"

He took in a slow breath, "You leave. I know."

"I don't want to graduate. I don't want to leave. I want everything to stay exactly as it was. Can we just close our eyes and pretend this isn't happening?" Macy asked desperately as her eyes fluttered closed. A lone tear slipped out from underneath one of her lids.

"Macy," Nick said softly. He couldn't resist reaching out a hand to wipe away that tear. "No, we can't. We may want to, but we can't."

"Yes, we can. We can! We can walk away right now and things will stay exactly as they are."

He smiled affectionately and shook his head, "No, they won't."

Her eyes opened and she pouted, "Party pooper. Couldn't you just pretend with me this once?"

"You can pretend all you want and it won't change a thing. Tomorrow morning when you wake up high school will still be over, you'll still have three months left until college, and we'll still have to say goodbye in August," Nick told her seriously. "That's not going to just go away."

"I don't want to leave."

"Not now you don't, and it may even be sad in August but you'll still be excited. You'll be ready to be in a new place and experience new things…with new people," Nick said. "You're going to love college, Macy. You will."

"Do you want me to go?" Macy asked worriedly.

"No, no I really don't. If I were able to be selfish nothing would change, and I wouldn't have to say goodbye to you in the fall. But I can't be selfish. I know you, Mace, you need to be active and challenged. You've faced all the challenges here already. You need new ones."

"Too much is changing. I don't like it."

"I know the feeling," Nick agreed.

A long silence stretched out between them as more and more of their classmates filled in their spots in line. The principal walked the length of the line and greeted several of them before leaving to do whatever it was he needed to do before the ceremony started.

"Nick?" Macy asked.

"Yes, Macy?"

"You have to promise something."

He chuckled at her demanding tone and smirked, "Oh, do I?"

She took a deep breath, "Yes, you do."

His smirk fell at the conflicted look on her face, "What is it, Macy? What's the promise?"

"That you won't change too much. I mean I know we're going to grow, and learn, and yadda, yadda, yadda, but during all of that maturing…you have to promise that you'll still basically be Nick."

He nodded, "As long as you promise to still basically be Macy."

Macy smiled and nodded and held out her hand for Nick to shake, "Deal."

Nick shook her hand and was not surprised when the handshake somehow turned into a hug. Macy's arms went around him and his arms wrapped around her, and they stood in line for several minutes with Macy's head buried in Nick's chest. People began to notice and stare but neither party cared. They were graduating and didn't know whether things would ever be the same. All they cared about…was each other.