“Hold on, Mom!  I don’t even have a bra on yet!”  I ran around my room, frantically getting dressed as the minutes ticked away—I was already late.

“I can’t help it!  I want to get you in this graduation robe so we can take some pictures before the ceremony.”  My mother had the robe in one hand and a camera in the other.

“The pictures you’re taking right now are ones that only Anton will see!”  I slid a bra over and covered my breasts before the flash went off again.

“What’s his email address?  I’ll send them over.”  She smiled and quickly snapped one of me sliding the robe on.

“Mom!”  I pulled the robe down and glared at her.

“There we go.  See, the camera motivated you to get dressed in record time and now we’re ahead of schedule.”  She motioned for me to follow her down the stairs so we could get some family portraits.

My parents had been rather shocked to find out I was dating Anton.  My brother didn’t show much emotion towards it.  There was some tension in the beginning with my parents, but once they saw how much I loved him, they agreed not to stand in the way of our relationship.  It was a good thing they didn’t try, because I wouldn’t have let anything keep us apart at that point.  We didn’t tell them that he was temporarily the Principal at the school, just that he was Mr. Thorne’s twin brother.  The age difference worried them, as did the fact he was an ex-con, but they softened to him the more he visited.  He didn’t try to hide from his past or sugar coat it.  He told them what he did, why he did it, and how much he wanted to change.  In his own words, I was a major part of that change. 

After Anton got a job, he started volunteering at the homeless shelter, and I came by to help him when I could.  His heart was definitely in helping others and it gave him the opportunity to do that while earning some bonus points with his parole officer—some of which we were going to have to cash in soon if we were going to get permission to leave the state for our honeymoon.

“Hold your hand up, Bethany.”  My mother motioned towards me.  “I want the ring in the pictures so they can double as your engagement photos.”

“Seriously?”  I rolled my eyes and moved my hand so that the ring was visible in the pictures she was taking.

“No, but one day when you tell our grandchildren that you were pregnant when you graduated high school, they can at least see that you were engaged.”  She smiled and took some more pictures.

“I’ll be married long before the baby is born.  I’m not even showing.”  I held my robe tight against my stomach.

“Wait, hold that pose—the first picture of our grandchild.”  She quickly snapped a picture.

Anton was overwhelmed with emotion when he found out I was pregnant.  We had never taken any steps to prevent it and we fucked every chance we got, so it was only a matter of time before it happened.  The fact we were five months into our relationship before I missed my first period was a miracle in itself.  I knew Anton was my eternity long before that, and I couldn’t have been happier to be carrying his child.  My parents weren’t completely thrilled with the news in the beginning, but after they had some time to sleep on it, they went into excited-future-grandparent mode.  My mom had already filled one of our rooms up with more baby stuff than we would ever be able to fit in Anton’s apartment.  Once the preliminary photos were done, we headed to the school and I took my place in line after sharing a brief kiss with Anton. 

***

“BETHANY LEWIS.”  MR. Thorne leaned into the microphone as he called my name to walk across the stage.  “Finally...”

The crowd erupted in cheers when he added the last word and I shot him a glare when I got my diploma in my hand.  We did the traditional pose to get the picture and then I hugged my unborn child’s uncle.  The news of his resignation had shook Grantham University, especially since he had maintained most of the progress Anton made.  I did my part, pointing out things that he could improve, and he even asked Anton for advice a couple of times.  None of the people in attendance knew the truth about the transformation except for a limited few. 

The school was already busy trying to find a replacement, and Sloane had already secured himself a position at another school teaching, which was where his passion was anyway.  It was also his true calling in my opinion, because I was standing on the edge of the stage holding my diploma thanks to his tutoring.  I definitely had to pull my own weight, but he helped me catch up on things I missed before I decided I needed to turn things around.

“We did it!”  Amy ran towards me and we hugged as I made it to the side of the stage where the graduates had gathered.

“We did!”  I smiled and hugged her tight.

“I’m sad though, I lost my drinking buddy.  I’m going to have to do keg-stands on my own in college.”  She put her hand on my stomach.  “Now you’re all adulting and shit.”

“Give me a year—I’ll come visit you.”  My hand rested on her arm.

“Yeah, right.  You’re getting married and popping out kids until you’re forty.  By then, I’ll be ready to settle down myself.”  She laughed and pulled away from the embrace.  “I still can’t believe you’re marrying Mr. Thorne’s brother!”

“He’s a good guy and he’s the right one for me.”  I looked over and waved to him in the crowd.

“This is usually the part where I ask if the hot guy you’re marrying has a twin brother, but...”  She grimaced.

“Sloane ain’t so bad.  He won’t be your Principal anymore after this year, so you never know...”  I nudged her ribs with my elbow as I teased her.

“Hmm.”  She looked up at Sloane and then over to me.  “Maybe...”