Chapter 2. Pre-Graduation Heartbreak

“Oh my god, finally! We’re graduating tomorrow!” Shirley couldn't contain her excitement as everyone clapped their hands at the end of the baccalaureate mass for the high school graduates. This was the tradition at their school—to hold a holy mass for the graduates before the actual graduation day.

As the other students were already leaving the auditorium with their parents, Savannah, together with her group of friends decided to stay there a little longer and let their parents go home already so they could take some pictures—and, of course, decide where they were going to eat.

“Time really flies so fast…” Savannah suddenly became sentimental. She put both her arms around Sandra and Shirley’s shoulders—her left arm around Shirley and her right around Sandra—and looked around the place as if it were her last time seeing it—and not like she was coming back tomorrow for the actual graduation ceremony. “In the next five months, we’ll be entering our college life!” she added.

“Yes! We are graduating tomorrow… so I think it’s time for your unrequited love for Trevor to graduate too!” Sandra raised her brows multiple times—a facial gesture she usually did whenever she was teasing someone. She was teasing Savannah, but her tone of voice was serious.

Shirley rolled her eyes and sighed. “How can that unrequited love graduate if they’re going to the same university?!” She shook her head and looked directly at Savannah, who wasn’t even reacting to their half-meant jokes and teasing.

“What? Did I hear that correctly?” Sandra glared at Savannah, who pretended that she didn’t hear her. “Why didn’t you tell me, huh?!”

Savannah laughed and hit Sandra’s arm. “Sands, you’re overreacting! It’s… it’s still not sure. Trevor’s still waiting for the entrance exam result from his dream university—a university I didn’t even take an entrance exam for. If he passes, he’ll enroll there, so… we won’t be together,” she explained.

It was clear now that both Sandra and Shirley no longer supported Savannah’s hopeless crush. Yes, back then, they had supported it… but as years went by and they saw that there was really no progress—and saw how Trevor clearly only treated Savannah as just his best friend—they decided to stop encouraging her and tried to prevent her from keeping her hopes up.

There were times when Shirley would comfort her with kind, softened words, but Sandra was the total opposite. She always shut down Savannah’s inner monologues and feelings, which often led to misunderstandings between the two. To put it simply, both of them were already getting tired of Savannah’s unrequited and hopeless love for Trevor.

“Can we… can we take pictures already?!” Savannah shifted the topic, and the two followed, bringing out their digital cameras and taking some photos.

As they were taking pictures, Seth, one of Trevor’s friends, walked up to them and asked, “Do you want to go with us?”

The three girls immediately looked at each other, and for a few seconds, it felt like they were having a wordless conversation just by staring at each other’s eyes. It was clear from Savannah’s expression that she wanted to go with them, but the other two didn’t—because they both knew Savannah just wanted to go because of Trevor.

When Savannah was about to open her mouth, Sandra quickly covered it, and Shirley responded for the three of them, “We already have a different plan for today, Seth… sorry…”

“Yeah… we need to go somewhere important…” Sandra backed Shirley’s statement.

As Sandra removed her hand from Savannah’s mouth, Savannah tried to speak again, but she wasn't able to because Sandra immediately pinched her arm—hard—just to stop her from saying anything.

“Okay…” Seth laughed and nodded, then walked away. A few seconds later, he told Drake and Trevor, “They said they won’t come with us… they already have plans.”

“Huh?” Trevor’s brows furrowed.

As Trevor walked toward the three girls, Sandra whispered to Savannah, “You’re the most martyr girl I know—and I don’t like that, because you’re hurting yourself! If you agree to go with them, Sav, I’m telling you… you will lose one of your best friends—and that’s me!”

“Sands… you know this makes me happy, right? Trevor makes me happy…” Savannah pouted.

“He also makes you sad… and I hate seeing one of my best friends sad!” Sandra then looked at Shirley as if she was telling her to back her up just so they could stop Savannah from chasing after Trevor again. Sandra was really against it because she knew that the more time Savannah spent with Trevor, the deeper her feelings would go deeper… and the harder it would be for her to move on.

“Just support me, Sands, please…” Savannah whispered, looking like she was about to cry.

Since Shirley wasn’t saying anything, Savannah turned to her. “Shir… didn’t you say you felt like Trevor’s also developing feelings for me? Why would I give up if it’s already like that?”

Sandra rolled her eyes and glared at Shirley again.

Shirley wanted to explain to Sandra what she meant when she told Savannah that—but Trevor was already near them and they couldn’t talk about it anymore since this was still a secret among the three of them.

“I thought you three were going to come? You said earlier that you would…” Trevor asked Savannah.

Because Savannah couldn’t risk what Sandra had just said—that she might lose her as one of her best friends if she decided to still come with Trevor and his friends—she didn’t answer. Instead, Shirley was the one who answered for her.

“They need to accompany me somewhere private. It’s urgent… and an emergency, so… sorry…” Shirley lied.

“That’s sad… they won’t get to meet your new girlfriend from our neighbor school!” Drake called out from a distance.

Savannah’s brows furrowed when she heard what Drake had just said. When Sandra noticed the reaction, she immediately squeezed Savannah’s hand tightly—as if she was telling her to brace herself, to stay composed, and not to react in a way that would make Trevor notice her true feelings. Shirley then put her hand on Savannah’s back and started to rub it subtly in comfort.

“Gi… girlfriend? You… you have a new girlfriend?” Savannah fake-laughed and raised a brow at Trevor. As she fake-laughed, her lips quivered and her vision began to blur. She pretended to yawn and subtly wiped her eyes so the tears wouldn’t be seen.

“Yup…” Trevor answered with a big smile.

“Your best friend’s such a flirt, right?!” Seth added, shaking his head, and Drake laughed with him.

Savannah tried to copy Trevor’s big smile to show that she was happy for him. But as she did, her eyes filled with tears again. When Shirley noticed, she quickly grabbed Savannah’s arm and pulled her in the opposite direction from Trevor and his friends.

“I’m… I’m going to be late for the urgent and emergency meeting… we’ll meet your girlfriend another time, Trevor. Bye!” Shirley said, waving goodbye to the three boys, and Sandra did the same, trying not to make it obvious that they were trying to pull Savannah away from them.

“Bye, bye!” Sandra turned to them for a second and waved goodbye, while Savannah didn’t—she couldn’t face the three boys anymore because of her crying.

The three girls decided to spend the afternoon at Haven Café, a small but cozy coffee shop just three streets away from their school. Savannah cried her eyes out there, and the girls were just watching her weeping silently. They didn’t say anything because they knew that comforting words would only make her cry more.

The girlfriend they were supposed to meet was already Trevor’s third. And this was also the third time Savannah cried like this—as if her whole world was crashing down.

Well… who wouldn’t be this deeply hurt seeing the one you love most love someone else—but not you?

When Savannah finally tired herself out from crying, Shirley and Sandra began to speak. As usual, the two said things Savannah had already heard many times—and Savannah replied with things they’d also heard before. Specifically, she said again that she’d try her best to move on from Trevor for real this time… but they both knew that once Trevor broke up with his new girlfriend, Savannah would get her hopes up again—and go right back to square one.