[Centre][h1][colour=seagreen]Johnny Baxter[/colour][/h1]
[img]http://cinemajudgementday.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Ruby-Sparks.png[/img][/centre]
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[b][colour=seagreen]"I guess you've just gotta find something you love to do and then... do it for the rest of your life. For me, it's going to Content High School."[/colour][/b]

Johnny swore at the beginning of his time at high school that these would be the first words he utter on the day he graduated. That morning, he was content that at least one thing went according to plan. He smiled as he spoke, oddly happy in the moment. He knew by the afternoon he would be mourning the end of an era, but for now he was proud he'd made it through to today. Making it through today was a completely different ballgame, however. Mainly because his parents were expecting him to go to Avery Henderson's party. Spending the night with the football star and his frat-boy friends was not the way he wanted the day to end.

Rolling over, he spotted his to-do list that he wrote for himself lying to him bedside table. Fumbling with his reading glasses, he reminded himself of what he had to do that morning: [I]Wear something smart, get a sandwich from mum for lunch, get to school ASAP, don't screw up![/i] He brightly trudged into the bathroom, putting on his khakis, a light blue shirt and a grey tweed tie. He looked himself over in the mirror as he combed his hair. Not too shabby, indeed. Plus, he wouldn't need to change before the ceremony.

He calmly walked downstairs, the smell of pancakes invading his head. His parents were sitting around the kitchen table, hurriedly eating their breakfast. Johnny coughed quietly to announce his entrance. They both looked up immediately, beaming. [B]"Well, good morning Mr Top-Five-Percent-Of-His-Class."[/b] Said his father, puzzled at his son's seeming apathy as he calmly nodded. Clive Baxter expected his son to be bouncing off the walls by now. [B]"Aren't you excited? You're graduating today! Isn't that great?"[/b]

[b][colour=seagreen]"Pop, of course I'm excited. I mean, I'm actually graduating today! I'd be dead inside if I wasn't excited. It's just weird without..."[/colour][/b] Johnny stopped himself before he brought up Max. Four years ago, he couldn't have envisioned his graduation going any other way than hanging out with his closest friend in the world. But it wasn't going to be like that. It simply couldn't. He was alone today, as he had been for two years. The thought of his old boyfriend would eventually break him to pieces into a weeping wreck. Today would not be that day.

His mother quickly picked up the conversation, not allowing her son to be sad on the biggest day of his life. [b]"Clive, I think we need to leave. We're going to be opening soon. Johnny, darling, have a great day. We'll see you this afternoon."[/b] His mother gave him a kiss on the cheek before bundling out the door.

[b]"Son, there are some pancakes left for you on the counter. Can't wait to see you in your cap and gown."[/b] His father patted him on the shoulder and left. Johnny sat alone, wolfing down his breakfast and bolting out the door with his gown.

When he reached campus, he slowed down a little. This, it occured to him, was the last time that he would enter this building. He took in the sights. The place wasn't as drab as he thought when he looked around. Sure, there were students running helter-skelter all over the place, but it was tranquil in its own way. The buildings had become so familiar he wondered how he would do without them.
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The ceremony went well. Everyone was so excited, Johnny wondered if they too could sense the sadness permeating the atmosphere. This was the last time that they would be together like this. Still, this wasn't the end of school quite yet. Johnny still had the hope of joining a university and learning to make films they way he always dreamed he could. He meandered down the street, taking off his gown and stuffing it in his satchel. Now he had to stay out long enough for his parents to believe that he went to that horrible-sounding party.

Then, of course, after that he was going to the Lovely Sounds Music Festival in an old van with a group of people he didn't know that well. The festival sounded like good fun, the road trip did not. It was only because his parents told him to that he was going. What he really wanted to do was hang out with his cousins back in England. They were a friendly bunch. He sat down on a bench in the park by Plum Hill Lake, eating the lunch his mother made him, contemplating where he should spend the evening.