Stoneybrook Ayr

That's it, they've GRADUATED!

The students sat in their seats, playing with their navy and white caps and gowns. Some turned to wave to friends and family, some whispered with classmates sitting near them, and some slouched in their chairs, ready for the ceremony to start.

It had taken four years, some felt like the time had passed in no time at all, others felt it had dragged out forever. All the winter lodge trips, boy toy auctions, homecomings, proms, dances, parties. The trips to Disney World, California, Australia. The hook ups, the break ups, the scandals. This class had been through a lot together, and this was it. The end. Graduation.

Cokie wanted to stab herself in the eye.  With a rusty fork.  Repeatedly. 

Being ten days overdue was akin to torture.  She was never comfortable, she still couldn't stand the baby's father, and she was sick of being as big as a cow.  But maybe the day had finally come.  After suffering through excruciating contractions a better part of the day, she telephoned her mother who was rushing home to take her to the doctor.  Taking a deep breath as another contraction subsided, she made one more phone call.

"Can you meet me at the hospital?" she whispered urgently into the phone.

Sunny had had to go to the A&P to get some random things -- the days that she had had to do the grocery shopping for her family had passed, but she still needed snacks -- and she had sort of been at least a little bit hoping to not run into Logan.

It wasn't like she didn't want to see him, it was more she didn't know how to deal with him. For all her trouble back in Palo, Sunny hadn't actually known anyone who had been pregnant or who had gotten a girl pregnant. It was just awkward.

Still, there he was, and she didn't want to be rude, so she smiled nervously at him. He was her friend after all.

"Hey," she said, softly. "How are you?"

It was right before lunch at Stoneybrook High School and like always, Mary Anne went to the restroom before she headed to the cafeteria to eat. And like always, Kristy was with her. It was their thing. They seemed to always head straight there after class.

Mary Anne opened the door for them and heard it close behind them with a small thud as they entered. Pulling her strawberry smuckers lip gloss from her purse, she applied some in the mirror. Then she smoothed out her hair a little. It always seemed to get a little mussed by the time she got to lunch. It was the natural wave she had in it.

"So," she started carefully, taking a sidelong glance at Kristy through the mirror, "are you looking forward to the trip?" Mary Anne was treading on it with a grain of salt. She knew Kristy was probably still frazzled over team captain.

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Despite the chilly temperature outside, Charlie had done nothing since Mia had gotten home from school but stand at the front door, pointing outside and saying, "Park." Knowing she probably wasn't going to be able to get anything done until they went, not that she was eager to start her homework anyway, Mia bundled Charlie up in all her winter gear and they headed off to Miller's Park.

The park was fairly empty, as Mia suspected it would be, but that was fine with her. She hated the way people smiled and told her she had a cute sister, only to have their smiles turn into looks of obvious disapproval when she explained that Charlie was her daughter.

Charlie had immediately taken off for the swings, with Mia following closely behind. It was more difficult to get Charlie into the seat-swings when she was wearing her puffy winter coat, but Mia managed without too many problems. She began pushing her, smiling at Charlie's laughs of delight. Looking around at the other park-goers, Mia's eyes landed on none other than Logan Bruno. A few weeks ago, she had absolutely nothing in common with him. Now, they were both teen parents. "Hi," she said quietly, when he caught her staring at him.

The time had finally arrived for Logan to tell Mary Anne about Cokie. He couldn't put it off any longer. But how did you tell your ex girlfriend and good friend who you still cared for, that you were marrying and having a baby with her old enemy slash the girl who tried to break you up many times? Everytime he thought about it, he felt dizzy. They both had a free period after lunch, and had agreed to go to the Rosebud for lunch. Logan looked across at Mary Anne, and cleared his throat.

"Um, so... How was your break?" he asked finally.

Cokie's mother had been on her case since she The Big News, as she insisted on calling it half the time.  It was frustrating to no end.  Finally, Cokie had had enough.  Throwing on her jacket, she grabbed the keys to her father's car and stood nose to nose with Mrs. Mason.

"I am sick to death of you telling me I'm not going to amount to anything!" Cokie said, shrilly.  Before her mother could answer, she was out the door and starting the car.

Without another thought, she drove to Logan's.  He was the only person who knew what she was going through.  Well, he kind of knew.  Sort of.

Pulling to a stop in front of his house, she sent him a text.

Hi.  Can I come in? 

Logan had picked up as many extra shifts at the A&P as he could, for two reasons. One, extra money for the baby, if Cokie kept it. And two, to stay out of the house and away from his parents. Apart from Austin, they were the only ones in his life who knew, and he couldn't stand to be around them for long.

But his shift was over, and as he took off his smock and badge, he knew he'd have to face them very soon. As he was heading out the front door, he came almost face to face with probably the one person he wanted to see less than his parents - Mary Anne.

"Oh, hi," he said, taken back by her appearance.

Logan hadn't told any of his friends about Cokie yet, because telling his parents had been bad enough. He knew that Austin was going through his own stuff, the whole school knew about that, and Logan thought they could both use some time to either discuss their troubles, or forget them. So he'd invited Austin over to play some games in the Den. He felt nervous, but he knew that if anyone knew about messing up, it was Austin.

He heard the bell ring, and took the stairs two at a time to beat Kerry to the door, because he knew she thought Austin was 'sooooo hot!'

"Hey man," Logan greeted his friend. It was a little strange, because he hadn't spoken to Austin much since the stuff came out about Sheila, but Logan didn't want to let that be an issue.

"It's now or never," Cokie mumbled to herself as her mother's car idled in Logan's driveway.  Cokie was grounded for the rest of her life, but she had 'borrowed' Mrs. Mason's car anyway.  She would have it back before she even knew it was gone.

Taking her phone out of her pocket, Cokie texted Logan hoping he was home.

I'm outside.  Need to talk.

Dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant http://waterfrontrestaurant.com.au/

Hyde Park http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde_Park,_Sydney

The flight from LA to Melbourne was long, but most of the travellers slept through the night. A full day was planned, which is an important step towards beating jetlag.

*

Logan had never been on a more confusing date in his life, then the one with Cokie. He'd thought they might fight, or something, anything other than have fun. She'd still pushed his buttons though, and he was wary of that. He found that when his thoughts weren't with Cokie, they were drifting in a direction he'd thought they would never go again... Which is why, much like a few weeks ago, he found himself sitting in his car outside a house. But a different house, and this time, he got out to ring the bell.

Logan had put Mary Anne and their run in out of his mind tonight for his date with Cokie. Cokie just seemed like the kind of girl who could sense when you were thinking about another girl. They walked into the Theatre, and Logan glanced up to see what was playing. He had no clue what they should see, everything about being with Cokie made him question everything he thought he knew about dating.

"What do you want to see?" he asked her.

After hanging out with Austin for a few hours, Logan was driving home when he remembered what he'd promised his Mom he'd do much earlier - pick up some stuff for dinner. Amazingly, she hadn't texted him to remind him, so he decided to just go and do it before she did. He turned back around at the next intersection, pulling into the closest supermarket. Not the A&P where he worked, but he didn't have time to go that way.

Five minutes later, he was almost done when he walked up an aisle and saw one of the last people he'd expected to see - Mary Anne. Just seeing her made him feel a whole host of varying emotions.

"Mare," he greeted, coming up behind her. He had no idea where they stood, having not really spoken in months, but just seeing her made him want to say hi.

Logan shut the drivers door to his Dad's car, and locked it. When he realised he wasn't working at the A&P, he'd texted Austin to hang out. He'd almost tried to get another shift at work anyway, because he needed the money to save up for his own car, but he really needed some advice. And Austin was the one friend he normally spoke to about girl dramas. Knocking on the door he waited, not even sure how to bring up something like what happened with Cokie.