This Is So Not Happening (35 page)

“Why? What’d he say?” Shannen asked, twirling her gradu-ation cap between both index fingers.

“He said, ‘Four hours ago, we were still in high school,’” I mimicked, pitching my voice low.

“God. Who knew the ‘coolest guy in class’ was actually a dork?” Annie chided. She still had her graduation cap on, and tugged the tassel down in front of her face, crossing her eyes to look at it.

Jake’s face reddened and he yanked me toward him, so hard we both staggered backward in the sand.

“I’m just saying, thank God it’s over,” he announced.

The Idiot Twins cheered and lifted two champagne bottles they’d already swiped from inside Faith’s house.

“Hey! Some of us still
are
in high school,” Quinn complained.

“And we feel sorry for you,” Hammond replied.

Quinn shoved him away from her and he chased her, making her yelp as they kicked up sand on their way down the beach. We’d all driven down to LBI together in a long caravan as soon as all the picture-taking had been done and the parental tears had been dried. Chloe and Will meandered toward us through the sand, still in their graduation gowns, their fingers entwined. Faith was inside her house, opening windows and airing the place out.

Two years ago, if anyone had told me that I would be standing here, on this beach, in front of these houses, with these
people, I would have told them to have their prescriptions checked. Yet here we were.

“So. What do we do now?” Shannen asked, leaning her elbow atop my shoulder and staring out at the water.

I blinked, fully realizing for the first time that there was no school tomorrow. For real. School as I knew it was over. No papers to write, no tests to study for, no practices to attend. There were also no babies to worry about, no prom to plan, no wedding to stress over, no scouts to impress, no SAT to take, no applications to fill out. I had nothing I actually
had
to do, and the parents wouldn’t be arriving for another few hours.

Never in my life had I felt so free. So happy. And so exactly where I was supposed to be.

I turned around, my white graduation gown, open over my light blue dress, billowing behind me in the breeze. Jake squeezed my hand and I felt the endless possibilities of summer unfolding in front of us like a huge, warm beach blanket in the sun.

“We do,” I said with a grin, “anything we want to do.”

I can’t believe the trilogy is already over! It seems like I just pitched the idea of Ally and Jake and the world of Orchard Hill, and now here it is, drawing to a close. A lot of people helped this little trio become what it is, so I’d like to take this opportunity to thank them.

First of all, for helping me make this particular book all it could be (which is something I rather like), I’d like to thank Zareen Jaffrey, Julia Maguire, and Jenica Nasworthy. To those who believed in
She’s So Dead to Us
and its sequels from the very beginning—Justin Chanda, Emily Meehan, and Sarah Burnes—thanks for EVERYTHING! And to Paul Crichton, Lucille Rettino, Elke Villa, Krista Vossen, and Logan Garrison, you guys kind of rule (but you knew that).

Big thanks to my family and friends—especially Matt, Mom, and Erin—for letting me bounce ideas off of you and listening to me go on about my fictional characters. And thanks to Jeff Palkevich for sharing my books with your friends.

As always, I want to thank all the fans of the He’s So/She’s So Trilogy for keeping me inspired and letting me know you’re with me. Whether you’re a Facebook friend, a Twitter follower, a librarian, blogger, teacher, or a few of the above, I so appreciate your support. I hope you guys like this last installment and will check out whatever I come up with next!

Finally, I have to thank my little guys, Brady and Will, for making everything worthwhile.