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Chapter 18

Shadee breathed heavily and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her heart was pounding in her chest as if she had run a few miles without stopping. She was perfectly aware that she was overreacting, but she just couldn’t help it. Emotions almost reached the overwhelming peak, but she restrained the tears of both happiness and sadness.



Graduation! Prom! The moment had finally come! She had dreamed about this ever since ninth grade, she had witnessed three generations of students graduate and move on to college, and now it was her and her friends’ turn. She was finally letting go of childhood for good…she was moving on to “bigger and better” things, away from her grandparents house. A shrill ring made her start and turn her head hurriedly towards the door.

‘Honey, Dirk is here! Hurry up and don’t make the boy wait for you too much.’



‘I’ll be there in a minute!’ she gasped and approached a window. Dirk had kept his promise. Outside the house, parallel with the sidewalk, was a beautiful, shiny black limo.



She giggled insanely, bit her knuckles stifling an excited scream and returned to the mirror for the dozenth time before leaving the room.

Walking slowly towards the staircase, Shadee could hear her grandma talk to Dirk; she was very satisfied to realise that their chat was quite civilized and Gypsy seemed to have forgotten about the regrettable incident.



Shadee’s heels clapped audibly on the stairs and everything went quiet in the living room. She stopped for a few seconds, smiled to herself and continued to descend, being welcomed by admiring “oh!”s and “ah!”s. Even grandpa Menas and Caleb had gathered to see her. An old-fashioned camera was situated in the middle of the room, ready to snap pictures.



‘I seriously am the luckiest man on the face of Earth…’ Dirk muttered, remembering to shut his wide-opened mouth. He hurried over to the base of the staircase and helped his prom date go down the last few stairs.

The next twenty minutes were spent taking pictures of the couple in a series of different poses. Shadee found the whole thing quite boring, but her grandparents were of totally different opinions.



‘I still have the photos from my prom!’ Gypsy exclaimed matter-of-factly ‘Of course, back then I hadn’t even met your grandfather, but they’re still a nice souvenir… Anyway, I’m digressing! You two have fun at the prom, don’t drink too much and don’t do anything you may regret!’ she threw the couple a meaningful glance and ushered them out of the house.



‘Your grandmother is a really nice person!’ Dirk smiled after both of them were seated comfortably inside the black limo ‘We could have avoided the painful moments that happened in the past – you know what I’m talking about – had you introduced me to your grandparents!’

‘Oh, leave that!’ Shadee shook her head slightly annoyed ‘You met them now!’ she breathed deeply and looked out the window for a few seconds ‘I can’t wait to get there!’ she quickly cuddled at Dirk’s chest, avoiding creasing her dress.

Dirk was taken aback by her sudden change of mood and stroke her smooth hair lovingly. ‘Me too, Shadee…me too!’

‘I am ready.’ She whispered back barely audible and felt Dirk’s body tense up.

‘You’re ready? Are you sure? Today? After the prom?’ he made a pause to breathe ‘I can get the two of us a room upstairs at that villa! Fully equipped with candles and all!’

Shadee giggled, still unsure whether she had taken the right decision. There was no sense in waiting for a miracle to happen, a chance for Holly and Seb to fall out of love, so she could at least enjoy what she had with Dirk.