Goodbye

The last bell rang, signifying school was indeed over. To Sam it was the shrillest, loudest, most sweetest noise in the world. Not only did this mean she didn't have to listen to boring teachers, do tedious classwork and eat God-awful cafeteria food, it was the end of it all.

This was the last day of school. 12th grade was over. Life was good.

She looked at her empty, naked locker just as it was the first day of school. She had torn off the magazine cut outs featuring bacon, ham and various salted cured meats. Gone were the crock pots, mini grills and microwaves, still dripping the remnants of a once delectable in-between-class snack. Even the school books were taken out, dusty and unopened as the day they were checked out to her. She smiled to herself.

The rusty hinge squealed as the locker door swung shut and sent an echoing crash down the tile hallway.

"There it is."

Freddie had somehow appeared behind her, caring a box of his own, filled with the guts of his own locker.

"There what is?" She didn't wait for an answer, instead she picked up her small box of stuff, held it against her chest and walked away. Freddie hurried his steps after her and the two walked side by side down the long tile Ridgeway hall.

"Did you say all your goodbyes?"

"Nope," she murmured, and if he had looked, would have seen her scowl.

Freddie tilted his head her way. "Why not?"

"I hate goodbyes."

He didn't offer a retort. Instead of analyzing yet another Sam Puckett axiom, a sure-fire way to enrage the girl, decided to offer his side of the question. "I mean, we're parting ways with people we've known the majority of our lives. Sure there's email, Splashface and Twitter but it's not the same. Most of these people we'll never see again."

She didn't say a thing. A straight still expression was all that was shown.

"I said goodbye to everyone: the jocks, the emo kids, my av club, even Principal Franklin and most of the teachers. Things got really emotional. A lot of people cried..."

His sentence sputtered in a realization. It was only then did he know what was bothering her. She didn't hate goodbyes, not really. She hated being left behind. She hated the emptiness that remained. She hated the emotion it can force out of her. But more importantly, she hated feeling vulnerable and exposed, like a proper goodbye does.

They made it to the door. In front of them was the empty parking lot containing Freddie's car, the only one left in the whole place. Together they peered back into the school one last time and went down the steps toward his vehicle.

"I'm not saying goodbye to you, ya know."

"Shaddup, Freddie."

He continued regardless. "You won't be one of them. The ones I'll only see at reunions and exchange meaningless messages on the internet with."

"Stop talking."

"You mean more to me than that."

"I'll break your arm."

He reached out and touched her shoulder, in a way she had to stop. Just to let her know he cared, just to let her know she would never be alone, just to let her know she didn't have to worry, just to let her know she was special and loved, he drew her in with a one-armed hug and kissed her on the forehead. He left her skin just quick enough to see a single tear escape her shimmering blue eyes and a smile broken through all the mounds of apathy and repressed sadness.

"There it is."

"There what is?" she whispered back.

"Your smile," he said warmly, and made her smile once more.