I've never tried this, but here goes. I'll start with a little background. Ania and I are Irish twins. That's what our parents always said, anyway, but it never made sense to me, because we were Polish and Lebanese. We grew up in a pretty typical household, with good income and a dog and a private education. We'd never been too close, because our interests were very different and our parents kept us both very busy with school and sports. The older we got, though, the closer we seemed to become. This was because we attended the same schools, except for the occasional one year overlap. I was a grade ahead of her, although only nine months older. We both attended Bridgewood Academy, and I remember the night of her graduation, exactly a year after mine, clearly, because it's where our story begins...
I shifted in my seat a bit, trying to get more comfortable. It had to be ninety degrees out, and I was sweating balls in this shirt and tie I'd bought a few hours ago. My parents were to my right, and my best friend Eric's parents were to my left, all seemingly fine despite the heat. I uncapped a water and chugged half before closing it again, but it was warm and didn't help much. I was here for my sister's graduation, and those things are always hours long.
"Andrea Covelli" the headmaster called, and some fine piece from my sister's class came strutting across the stage. I paid attention there, but eventually zoned out again until I heard my sister's name called. "Ania Danowicz," he announced, and she walked up the stairs and across the stage with her typical confidence, taking her diploma and flashing her pearly whites. See, my sister is like I am, a good looking person who knows it well. It got me pretty far, and I was positive it would do the same for her.
She went to sit with the rest of her class, and I paid very little attention for the two and a half hours of blistering heat that followed, occasionally clapping when someone I knew came along. When Eric's turn came, I applauded loudly, and his speech was fantastic. Eric was the valedictorian of his class, and got to give a speech, which I really did try to listen to. I swear. But it was hard. I knew it took a lot of effort to write and deliver speeches, though, because I'd had to give one as class president at my graduation the year before.
Eventually, things came to a close, and I found Eric and gave him a bear hug, wishing him the best and telling him I'd see him that night at Daniel's party. Daniel was graduating this year too, and since I'd known him from basketball he'd invited me to a house party he was having for graduation. forty or fifty people would be going, so I figured it'd be pretty chill.
I left Eric to be with his family, and moved over to see mine. Ania was in the process of being squashed by my mom, because she was the first woman to graduate in my mom's side of the family. My mom was straight off the boat from Lebanon, fluent in Arabic and all, and took massive pride in our achievements. My dad was a second generation American, but Polak through and through, and he valued hard work and achievement more than anyone I'd met to this day. He grabbed her too, and gave her a tight squeeze, slipping an envelope into her purse.
Finally, it was my turn, and Ania looked really happy to see me. She lit up and threw her arms around me, so I was the one responding to the hug. I pulled back and looked into her baby blues, pulling a strand of dark brown hair back from her face. "You did good, kid. You did good." She beamed up at me "Thanks for coming, Jake. It means a lot to me." She hugged me again quickly. "Are you coming to Daniel's?" I told her I was, and she seemed pretty excited about that. My sister was never huge on parties or anything of the sort, dedicating her time to volleyball, her studies, and softball in the spring. I, on the other hand, was no stranger to them, and she wouldn't be diving into things alone.
I told her it'd be fine, and put my arm around her as I walked her to my car. We were going to meet our parents at a crab shack fifteen minutes away for lunch, then I'd drop her at their house to get ready for the party later. I lived at college, about a half hour away, but having just turned 18 she didn't really need to get out of our parents house just yet.
Lunch was delicious, and we had a lot to talk about. Our parents left before we did, telling us they had some errands to run. Ania and I didn't mind, and we continued talking for another 15 minutes before we decided to grab some milkshakes and leave.
