Chapter 8

*Rowan's POV*

Me and Hariko were on our way to school and to my surprise Larisa was nowhere to be found, Hariko did a great job of covering her ears and tail so no one will look weird at her "After graduation you have to look for a job, you know that right?" "Of course I do Hariko, that's gonna be a hell of a task" I just hope this doesn't take ages because I really don't want to see the school anymore, it's just floods my head with unpleasant memories "The weather is nice, might as well buy you something" Hariko's hat moved and I chuckle lightly "Why are we feeling so generous?" "Because of the graduation and stop moving your ears" she rolls her eyes but she had a smile on her face "I want you to surprise me Rowan" "How about you just tell me what would you like?" she remained silent and I sigh.

We arrived in front of the school and the first thing I see is crowds of people, I assume they're parents? friends? in any case, they were over a thousand people "That's a lot of people, I don't remember graduation to be like this" "These are other times" we entered the school and tried to spot Larisa but she's still nowhere to be found, students were in the hallway talking, excited and bored "Finally showed up huh?" I turned back to see the English teacher smiling at me, she's one of my favorites teachers and she actually knows how to teach "Who is this, Rowan?" she suddenly gasped and I was getting a little bit embarrassed "Is this your girlfriend? oh my.. you're really going fast huh?" "N-No.. she ain't my girlfriend.." "No need to get red Rowan, heh. I must congratulate you, were one of my best students so you better take care of her" I look over Hariko and she was smiling, is she really not embarrassed by what my teacher just said?

"Anyway, head outside and you will see a stage, just go on the stage while your cute girlfriend watches you from the distance" she giggles lightly and walks off while I curse my days, she mocks me every time.. too bad that I'm not coming here anymore! "Why are you so red? I know she's fooling around so no need to be shy or anything" she doesn't even care that my teacher said we were dating, something must be broken inside of her "Anyway.. let's go outside" I grab her wrist and dragged her with me outside "Are you gonna hold a speech?" "No I'm not, a girl will hold a speech for all of us, that speech is gonna be 30 pages long or something" "Don't worry, you're not gonna die so that's good" "Are you sure about that?" she giggles and went into a crowd of people while I go to the stage.

The moment I was on the stage I felt someone hugging me tightly "Rowan~ happy to see you here! sorry for not coming to you but I was in a rush" I look down to see Larisa with a happy expression on her face "Are you ready for the boring speech?" "You find that boring too?" she nods her head and I sigh "I saw you talking to a girl, is that your girlfriend~?" "If you dare mocking me I swear it's not gonna end well for you" "Alright big boy, calm down" she breaks the hug and I gasp for air, moments after the headmaster came by with a microphone in his hand "This is it Rowan, get ready" I spotted Hariko in the crowd of people and she gave me a thumbs up, I smile and prepared myself not to die from boredom for the next two hours.

*Time skip*

Finally, the torture of studying late at night.. doing my homework instead of doing anything better.. the tiredness.. it's finally over, I was with the graduation diploma in my hand and it felt like I've won an war "Rowan? care to take a picture?" we already did the graduation photo with the entire class but I guess it wouldn't hurt to do another one with Larisa "Alright, come here" I wrap my arm around her should and we both smiled at the camera that one of her friends had "Do you remember the first day of high school? do you remember how cold I was to you? and look at us now, we're best pals" Larisa was practically squeaking in happiness, I cannot lie.. I was happy too but mostly because the torture ended "What do you say about a deserved trip to the beach? you can take your girlfriend too~" I sigh deeply but I couldn't be mad at her for longer than five seconds, she was so happy that she could die.

"Alright, we can do that.. we can't let this weather go on a waste can we? just call me when you're ready alright?" "Don't worry, I will call you as soon as I can and Joseph is coming too" I smirked at her but decided NOT to mock her.. yet "I know what you're thinking Rowan! but don't you dare make a scene out of it please! I just want to enjoy this day" I pet her head slightly ruining her hair "Don't worry, I won't do such a thing to you" I head to Hariko who was sitting at the entrance of the school with a smile on her face "Hello Rowan! where are you going?" "Home, we're done here" "Oh really? the day isn't over yet" "Oh yeah.. I forgot, let's go"

As we left the school on our way home Hariko was happy for some reason "I'm feeling generous Rowan~ and because of that I will give you a little reward at home, not until you surprise me of course" I look at her and immediately thought about her reward, what can she give me? "What's the reward gonna be?" "You'll see later, at night perhaps" I don't think she realized how weird that sounded.. I wonder if she did something while I was asleep "Anyway.. how about we go home.. relax a little.. then we go buy you some clothes and then we go to a restaurant?" She gives me a cheeky grin "Now that really surprises me, do you have money though?" "No worries, I'm a bank when it comes to money" she giggles and grabs my hand "Today's gonna be a big day isn't it?" "You bet" but still, what the hell reward is she planning to give me..?