Away From the Spotlight (19 page)

Upon leaving
the restaurant
and saying goodnight to
my parents, I pulled Will aside and kissed him.  “Thank you,” I said simply.

“Why?  What did I do?”  He looked confused.

“They liked you
a lot
,” I smiled with pride.

We then headed to
Will’s
house
for
a more private celebration.

We met my parents
again
at their hotel the
next
morning for breakfast
since
we thought we might not be a
ble to have lunch or
at least
much of one
between all of the ceremonies.

Kelly
wore a navy business-like suit and heels and carried her graduation robe.  I had on a Chanel-type
black suit with gold and mother-
of
-
pearl buttons and high heels
,
and
I
carried my robe as well.  My parents,
Matt
and Will looked
suitably
nice for the occasion, but were a little more c
omfortably dressed.

After breakfast, we made our way in separate cars to campus.  Graduation was a mob scene.  As Will and I made our way from
the parking structure
to the
statue of
USC
mascot
Tommy Trojan
in the center of campus
where we were meeting my family,
Will
looked a little stressed.
 
Soon-to-be-
g
rad
uates
in robes were running everywhere and, due to the occasion, most
were holding
cameras
or camera phones
.  We were stopped at least twenty times so that Will could be included in pictures
and
,
on
a few of those occasions, the
girls
were
screaming
, calling even more attention to Will
.  Despite the fact that Will was holding my hand, I doubt most of the girls noticed I existed.  Will smiled and was a good sport about
all of
it, but I could tell he was a little embarrassed by having me see this side of his life.  The camera phone pictures and stares from afar I had seen
before
were very mellow compared to this.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized as we approached my
family
.

“Why are you apologizing?  It’s not
your
fault.  Besides, I was so proud of you.  You were so calm
and kind
amid all the chaos.  I don’t know how you do that.  How can you stand people pawing at you all the time?  I
’
d be very uncomfortable.”

“I’ve gotten used to it.  It was dis
turbing
at first, but that was years ago now.  I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without those girls so I guess I do it because, to some degree, I’m grateful.  I don’t like it when the
y’re
aggressive and grabbing me, but that’s just one price I have to pay.”

“
One
price?
 
Are
there others?
”

“Well, I already told you about the tabloids and the photographers.  That is
much
worse.  At least you won’t have to deal with that today.  But I
’
m afraid it will catch up with us sooner or later.”

Before I could ask what he meant, we arrived
at Tommy
Trojan
and
my parents approached to hug me
.

Kelly
’s two graduation ceremonies
ran
fairly smoothly.  We had a few intermittent screaming girls ask for pictures with Will, but not many.  People appeared much less
willing
to
approach
Will standing in a big group than when he was with me
alone
.  Will wasn’t completely spared though because
Kelly
had him
get
in pictures with a lot of her friends.
Will didn’t seem to mind this as much, probably because there was no screaming and pawing involved, and because I
was
included in the pictures
as well.

We grab
bed
something to eat quickly
at the Campus Center
before my ceremony started, but had to stand outside to eat as there wasn’t a
n available
place to sit anywhere.  When we were finished, I put on my
gown
that I had dra
ped over my arm most of the day and my cap, ensuring that the yellow tassel with the
USC
crest was on the pre-graduation side.  When I was ready, Will suddenly pulled me into a kiss with my family watching.  I blush
ed
.  He then whispered in my ear, “I’m so proud of you.”

My
graduation
ceremony
took place
at McCarthy Quad
.  I had to
line up nearby with my fellow graduates in advance
.  M
y family
,
Matt
,
and
Will
left me
to
secure
seats
after I received a quick kiss from Will.

The soon-to-be graduates
were seated
alphabetically s
uch that
we
weren’t necessarily s
itting
near
our
friends.  Consequently, there was a lot of noise as people were shouting at each other from afar.  It took a while to settle
down
the crowd to start the
90-minute
ceremony.

The
keynote
speaker talked about our duty to give back to the community in exchange for all the blessings of being gifted students and
having been
provided a top-notch education.  Like many others, I only half listened as I was finding it hard to believe I was actually done with school
forever
.

The graduates all got up one row at a time to receive diplomas on stage and have a photo taken shaking the Dean’s hand. 
With the graduation speakers
seated
in the front row
and a number of rows in front of me
since my last name started with a “
S,
”
it was quite a while before it was my turn to go onstage to receive my diploma.
  I was terrified that I would trip on
the
stage.  Coordination was never my strong suit.  I managed to get through it and heard
cheers and
whistles from my school friends
when my name was called. 
I looked
to the
larger audience
, but couldn’t
find
Will or my family in the large crowd
.

At the end
of the ceremony
, we all threw our caps in the air as was the usual case.  We then filed out
toward the reception area
, hugging each other and
a
waiting our families.

It was one of those t
imes
where you just spun
in place
because you would
let one person go
and
immediately
find someone else to hug.  There w
as
a lot of “See you tonight” or “See you at the party” as well.

Will made his way through the crowd more quickly than my family. 
As he did so,
Will didn’t get as much of a reaction from my class as he
had
from
Kelly
’s
.  M
y
close
friends already knew about
Will
and the rest had heard
the rumor that I was dating him.
 
Nonetheless
, a number of my classmates gawked as he picked me up, spun me around
,
and gave me a big kiss.

“Congratulations
!
”
Will
exclaimed
and he kissed me again.

M
y family
then
finally
reached us
. 
Will appear
ed
in some group photos
with
me and my friends
as well as photos with my family.

After
returning
my gown and what probably wasn’t my cap
having just grabbed one from the floor after they were thrown in the air
, we left my parents,
Kelly
and
Matt
,
and headed back to my place to change for the class party.

The graduation party
w
as
a casual affair and was
held at what looked like a currently unused storefront
on Melrose
that ultimately would end up being a restaurant.  It was an odd place
for the party, but it worked.

The glass windows
along the storefront
were papered over
.  T
here were temporary tables and chairs in place with a makeshift dance
floor in the far corner to the left and tables full of food against the back wall to the right. 
Loud
music was
playing
.  A few of the students
who
clearly
had
been drinking a while were high-fiving everyone who walked in the door.  The bar was fairly close to the food in the back and was manned by two bartenders.  We headed in that direction, waving and being waved at as we made our way.

“What’s wrong?” I asked when we got to the bar
and
I noticed
that
Will looked a little uncomfortable.

“I haven’t really been around your law school friends.  It’s a little intimidating.  I only went to
university
in England for a little over a year before I
was cast in
my first big movie.  I left
to do it
and never looked back
.  I feel a little out of place.”

“You
’re
fine with me
aren’t
you?
”

“You’re different.”

“No, I’m not.  Besides,
I imagine that most of them will be
far
more nervous around you
than you are around t
hem.”  I smiled and kissed him.

I had always
thought to be
the one to feel insecure as not measuring up as someone who deserved him.  It was strange to
see
that, to some degree, he felt the same way
when it came to
me.

Will perked up a bit when it soon became obvious that I was right.  A few of my friends stammered during introductions and others looked wide-eyed at him as we passed through the room.

Over the course of the evening, alcohol soothed the nerves of many of my friends and acquaintances.  By the end of the night, you would have sworn that Will was in the room with some of his best friends.
  A bunch of us
, including my soon-to-be summer roommate,
Carrie
,
ended up on the dance
floor with our arms around each other singing loudly and
with many of them
off
-
key.

“You have a great voice,” Will s
poke
into my ear
after
a song
that
came on with a female singer and all the girls started singing particularly loudly.

When the song ended,
we sat down at a nearby table for a rest.

“Too bad you didn’t meet me a few weeks earlier.  You could have seen m
y final performance.  The third-
year class puts on a show every year.  Two of my friends, M
indy
and Ta
nya
, sitting over there
, and
I were The Supremes.  We wore j
udge’s robes
with hot pink tights
and sang
Stop in the Name of L
aw
.  We had a really lame dance.  It was funny.”