Graduation was a fairly simple affair. Bleachers were set up on the school’s football field for the students to sit and wait for their names to be called once the principal and valedictorian had given their speeches.

Keeley could faintly make out her father in the fifth row of the stands because he had held his arm over his head and given her a thumbs up when he arrived.

Lydia and Jeffrey were both behind her somewhere since their last names started with P and R.

Keeley was squished in between a very rigid Aaron and a girl named Jessica Holiday that she had shared a few classes with over the years. They weren’t exactly friends but they were on decent terms after doing a project together once.

It was incredibly boring sitting through the speeches so Keeley got a bit fidgety and accidentally kicked Aaron as she adjusted the position of her legs.

“Sorry!” she whispered. It was the first word exchanged between them since her birthday.

“It’s fine,” he said with a heavy sigh.

Geez, what was his problem today? His usual cold demeanor was tinted with despair.

She knew him well enough to tell that he was seriously upset about something. This was supposed to be a happy day; what was there to be upset about?

Her stomach tightened when she remembered how his parents hadn’t attended his graduation the first time. A quick scan of the stands told her that they hadn’t shown up today either. That would put anybody in a bad mood.

She felt a sudden surge of affection for her own father, who never missed any important events in her life. He tried to make up for her mother’s and brother’s absence by being extra present. Though Keeley always missed them, she never felt a lack of familial love.

Aaron had everything in the world but a loving family. In all her years as part of the Hale family, she never saw a single warm interaction between any of them.

Roslyn was too busy being a high society wife to pay her only child any mind and Alistair was even more glacial than his son. Keeley couldn’t imagine him caring about anything or anyone outside of his empire. It was no wonder Aaron turned out the way he did.

It was a sad situation but she couldn’t feel too sorry for him. He had the choice not to continue the cycle of coldness in his own family but didn’t follow through.

Keeley was even more miserable and isolated than Roslyn, who turned to her social circle for comfort. She didn’t have that since she never fit in no matter how hard she tried.

Somebody that emotionless deserved a loveless marriage to a socialite that would benefit his business. They never should have been together in the first place.

This time he would surely end up with Lacy or some other high society doll and they could be cold and distant together with their money. Good riddance.

That’s what she tried to think but a very small part of her felt sorrow that any kid didn’t have anyone to celebrate their graduation with. He may seem to have been born an adult but he was still seventeen. His parents’ absence probably hurt him.

There were only fifty-three students graduating from Westwind Academy this year since private school class sizes were so much smaller than public school ones. Calling the names for students to walk across the makeshift stage didn’t take long at all.

“…Angela Bailer…Marianne Burton…Braxton Collins…Emily Costa…Michael Davis…”

It took less than five minutes for all the students with last names up to G to walk across the stage.

Keeley prepared herself to get up and walk without tripping in her wedge heels as she heard “…Jared Gilmore…Landon Green…Aaron Hale…”

She was up.

“Keeley Hall!” the principal announced and reached out to shake her hand as she walked up to him.

He gave her the same congratulatory nod he showed everyone and handed her a diploma. She did it. She was free!

Keeley beamed as she looped back around to her seat.

She flipped open the diploma cover. There it was a fancy font: Keeley Hall, Westwind Academy class of 2006. The bottom was stamped with the school’s insignia. NYU, here she comes!

She shut the cover and hugged the diploma to her chest. Finally. Finally, she can move forward and live the life she was always meant to.

The ceremony ended about fifteen minutes later following a few closing remarks from the vice principal.

Gleeful students scattered around the football field to find their families the second they could escape the bleachers. It took Keeley a few minutes to locate her father amidst the confusion but once she did he swept her up into his arms and spun her around.

“Way to go, honeybun! I’m so proud of you!”

She laughed in exhilaration and hugged him tightly. “Thanks, Daddy!”

He set her down and insisted on taking a bunch of pictures of her holding up her diploma. Keeley wanted a couple of pictures with her dad in them but didn’t see anyone nearby that she knew well enough to ask for a favor.

As the scanned the field, she spotted Aaron off to the side on his own. She was going to regret this but…

“Aaron!” she hollered into her cupped hands like a megaphone.

His head swiveled around at the sound of his name and surprise flitted across his face for a split second before he resumed his blank expression. He hesitated before coming over.

“You called?”

“Could you take pictures of my dad and me? We’ll return the favor and take some of you,” she offered.

Nothing owed. This would be a mutually beneficial transaction; everybody else she knew was busy somewhere with their own families and he had no one to take pictures of him.

He gazed at her with an unfathomable expression before holding his hand out for the camera without a word.

She gave it to him with a smile and hugged her dad from the side with a silly grin on her face. They took a few more pictures where she was either kissing her dad on the cheek as he wore her graduation cap or where they were standing more formally to display the diploma.

“Thanks! Now we can take some of you on your phone,” she said cheerfully.

Her father did the honors and after snapping a few photos he suggested, “Why don’t we get one of you two together?”

Keeley’s smile froze on her face. She should have seen this coming when she called Aaron over. Stupid!

“Uh, Dad, we’re not actually that close so—”

“Sure,” Aaron cut her off before looking at her expectantly.

She sighed. There was no arguing with them. She didn’t want another lecture from her dad about being nice.

She moved next to him, keeping a reasonable distance. He moved closer and wrapped his arm around her waist.

“It won’t be a good shot if you’re too far away.”

She scowled at him. Of course he would take advantage of the situation. It was easier not to put up a fuss and get this over with.

Keeley smiled for the camera but Aaron’s face was neutral as ever as they held up their diplomas. She stepped away once the picture was taken. Their time together was officially over.