Bonus chapter suggestion by

Isabella:

I wake up thirty minutes before my alarm goes off which means I wake up thirty minutes before Lucas' morning call.

The sun streams through a gap in the curtain, casting my room in a warm summer glow. The muffled sounds of bird tweeting reach my ears as I sit up in bed, rubbing my eyes before I make a grab of my phone from my bedside table. Today is June 10th; our high school graduation day.

I had finally turned 18 only a couple of days prior and had spent the day with Lucas, my friends and my family at a barbeque on the beach. It had been a really nice day, with spring finally rolling into summer, the air had been humid but with a nice, cooling breeze.

I had spent the day lounging around on the sand and reading whilst ogling a shirtless Lucas as he, Dylan and Aidan swam in the ocean. The afternoon was then spent eating the barbecue that had been roasting and trying to save Dylan as he almost drowned by swimming too far out into the water. Lucas and I took a stroll along the beach where he gave me my birthday present and we all watched the sunset together into the evening, admiring the reflection of the orange sun lowering itself into the horizon on the water, wrapped up in fluffy beach towels and around a fire. It had been very beautiful. When we got back home, I snuck into Lucas' empty house in the middle of the night and we ended the day in a very special manner, if you know what I mean, winkity wink.

Now, 3 days later it was mine and the gangs' graduation. We were finally done with high school and as much as it was a relief, it was also quite depressing seeing as today marked the end of the past two years we had spent together. It also marked the next stage of our life - we were all splitting up for college with Lucas and I off to Washington, Mia at NYU, Grace at Ohio state and both Aidan and Dylan at Silicon Valley. We were all determined to make this summer the best yet, seeing as it would be our last together, and with lots of planning and yet another binder created from Grace and Mia, our days were going to be jam packed with hanging out with each other at every moment we got, starting straight after graduation with the party that was being held by Linh (Mia's mom) in Mia's backyard.

I climb out of bed, shoving my feet into my fluffy slippers as I shuffle over to the window, tugging the curtain open and simultaneously calling Lucas on the phone. I lean against the window ledge with a knowing smirk as the phone rings.

"Izzy," his low, morning voice rumbles through the phone a moment later, warming me up and sending a flutter through me. "It's 5:35 am."

"I know," I smile.

I hear a rustling as Lucas gets out of bed and watch as his curtain then tuggs open. He rubs a hand over his eyes lazily before he leans against his window ledge, mirroring my position, one hand still holding his phone up to his ear.

Lucas' hair is sticking up adorably in all directions and his eyes are puffy from sleep. He's shirtless and only a pair of black boxers hung low on his hips, the stupid window ledge cutting him off naval down.

"My eyes are not down there baby."

My gaze flickers up to his teasing hazel eyes. "I know," I respond, tipping my chin up defiantly.

He laughs and I bite back a sigh. Man that laugh in that voice. It should be illegal to sound this good this early in the morning. "Why are you calling so early?"

"It's graduation." I reply pointedly.

"So?"

"So, happy graduation Lucas! We're officially out of highschool wooo!"

"Woo," Lucas' woo is lame in comparison to mine.

I pout. "That's not a lot of enthusiasm."

"Should I reiterate that it's 5:35 in the morning?" I watch as he quirks an eyebrow. "You now owe me 5 extra morning kisses for waking me up 25 mins early."

"Fine by me," I shrug. "That's not the threat you think it is."

Lucas shakes his head and a strand of his hair falls across his forehead from the movement. "I like your pjs by the way," he says, shifting the subject and flicking his gaze down my body. "They're super cute."

"Why thank you." I grin and pretend to twirl. For my birthday, Lucas had gifted me a t-shirt with his face printed all over it and the t-shirt is all that I'd been wearing since I got it.

"Though I'm offended you're only wearing it to bed." He adds.

"If I wore it in public, people would cry in horror at the sight of your face."

"Or they'd fall in love with me and you wouldn't like that 'cos you don't like to share."

"I do like to share."

"Sure," Lucas replies dryly, "the tacos we ate yesterday say otherwise."

I stick my tongue out at him. Lucas merely grins.

"Alright, well, seeing as you woke me up I'm gonna jump in the shower." The smile playing on his lips grows devilish. "And seeing as I like to share, I'll extend an invite to you if you'd like to join me."

"No thanks," I decline, "if I shower with you how am I supposed to perform my interviews and reenact scenes from my fave tv shows?"

"I can re-enact them with you obviously." Lucas levels me with a look, his eyebrow raised.

I raise both my eyebrows back and there is a momentary pause between us. "You know what okay," I finally reply as a beat passes, "I think I'll take you up on that offer."

Lucas' face transforms into one of excitement "Huh, really?"

"Yeah."

"Woo!" He pumps his fist in the air, his cheer a lot more enthusiastic now. "Be there in 5!" With that, he ends the call and turns away from the window rushing toward his closet.

I snicker and put my phone on charge before I quickly brush my teeth in my own bathroom and grab a towel and a clean shirt and shorts.

I then slowly trekk past my mom and grandmother's room though at this point I don't need to. I am always at Lucas' house and he is always at ours and they both know that if I'm not home, I was with Lucas. Plus it's not like they're not aware of the certain activities Lucas and I are up to.

Despite my mom's desire of no-holding-hands-until-marriage, she had promptly taken me to the doctors to get a prescription of birth control last summer so that there aren't any ahem accidents.

When I reach Lucas' house, the door is unlocked so I sneak in and head upstairs. Lucas' parents are off on another business trip so they're not home, it also means that they're going to miss his graduation (no surprise there).

I spot Lucas in the bathroom brushing his teeth once I climb up the stairs. I sneak up to him quietly and poke the ticklish parts of his waist but he doesn't even flinch.

"Izzy, I saw you come in from the mirror." He states pointedly.

"You couldn't have at least acted surprised?" I pout as Lucas rinses his mouth and places his toothbrush back in the pot.

"Nope," he teases, turning around and bending down to kiss me, his back pressing against the sink. I melt into him as his lips brush against mine, my body fitting against his in a way that is so familiar and comforting now, like pieces of a puzzle.

Lucas pulls back a moment later, a content smile pulling at his lips as he brushes a strand of my hair out of my face. He then presses a chaste kiss on my cheek before moving away to turn on the shower so it can warm up.

I get out of my pjs in the meantime, my t-shirt dropping to the ground before I pull my hair out of the straggly braid it's in.

"Hey, give a bit more respect to my face Izzy," Lucas mock frowns, gesturing to the t-shirt with his face on it lying haphazardly on his bathroom floor. He clearly doesn't care about the top however, when I drop my shorts a moment later and Lucas is too caught up sighing and raking his gaze appreciatively up and down my frame.

I don't even shy away from his gaze. I have come a long way this past year, so much so that in the last check in I had with the doctor a month ago, she said I was doing extremely well with my recovery. I'm a lot more confident and comfortable in myself nowadays and although most of this growth I have done by myself, Lucas has also played a beneficial factor in my recovery which I was eternally grateful for.

I'm pulled out of my thoughts when Lucas steps out of his boxers and tugs my arm so we both step under the stream of his walk in shower. I sigh contentedly as the water heats my muscles.

Lucas grabs his shampoo and squirts a generous amount into his hands before proceeding to shampoo my hair. Well, by shampooing I mean he spends a good 15 minutes moulding my bubbly hair into weird designs before I have to smack him away so I can wash all the foam out.

He also soaps me up with his body wash and spends a lot of time soaping up two certain parts of my anatomy. All in all it takes half an hour extra, showering with Lucas, and by the time I'm done the entire bathroom is a fog of steam.

After I finish towelling myself dry and wrapping my hair up, I then lotion and moisturise my body and tug on a clean pair of shorts and one of Lucas' t-shirts seeing as he confiscates the one I brought over in favour of his. Then we head back to his room and I simply sit on his bed and watch Lucas parade around still in his towel.

After he (unfortunately) gets changed, he cooks us breakfast which consists of out-of-a-box waffles and we eat in the living room whilst watching tv.

The morning is spent just enjoying each other's company and around 10 I finally head back to my house. Graduation starts at 12 so I have about an hour and a half to get ready. I do my makeup light and curl my hair, that is so long now it nearly brushes my butt, before pulling on my new olive green dress and finally decking out in my gown and hat.

The doorbell rings at 11am sharp and as my mom opens the door, I come down the stairs.

"Oh look at you precious babies." My abuela coos as Lucas moves into the hallway, clasping her hands together as she flits her eyes from me on the stairs to my boyfriend. "I can't believe you guys are highschool graduates already!"

3 year old Sofia comes barrelling out the living room a moment later as I try to calm my ever emotional grandmother beginning to sob away and throws her arms around Lucas' legs.

"Lucas!" She squeals over the sound of abuela crying and my mom trying to find her phone so she can take a picture.

"Hey Sof." He ruffles her hair and lifts her up, peppering kisses all over her cheeks.

"Okay I've found my phone!" My mom finally lifts her cell up in victory and begins to usher me and Lucas in position. Sofia runs back into the living room where the TV is playing and Abuela grabs her trusty polaroid camera and the two of us pose a couple of times for the pictures.

I manage to steal one of the polaroid pictures from abuela, my favourite photo that we take, one where Lucas is pressing his lips to the side of my forehead, so that I can hang it up in the treehouse which has sort of become a little tradition of ours.

After a bit of chaos trying to get Sofia into the car and mom finding her heels, finally we all set off towards my school where we will meet everyone else.

We briskly find our seats once we reach Lakeside high, say hi to all our friends and their families and then the ceremony begins.

When my name is called out, I walk across the stage to the sound of deafening screams, everyone's voices so loud that people sitting in front of my friends and family cover their ears in pain. It's the same deafening reaction for each of us; for Lucas, Aidan, Dylan, Grace and Mia.

The ceremony continues on, we listen to the valedictorian speech by a girl who had been in my homeroom class and a final speech from my principal before our hats are all thrown in the air and there are cheers erupting all around. After the ceremony we take pictures with everyone and there are a lot of tears as I hug all my friends and family.

Ivy even approaches me as I'm taking a picture with my History teacher and offers me a parting hug which is somewhat awkward but kind of nice at the same time and then we're all off to our respective cars where we'll meet up at Mia's house for the grad party.

Lucas and I clamber into the back seat of my car and he laces his hands through mine as the car sets into motion and we peel out of the car park. "I can't believe we've graduated," he shakes his head in disbelief. "I also can't believe we're off to Washington in a couple months."

"Don't remind me that I'm gonna be separated from you babies again," Abuela begins to wail from the passenger seat, dabbing her teary eyes as Sofia laughs at our grandmother's state. "Stop laughing at me evil child," abuela curses Sofia which only causes her to laugh harder.

Lucas and I snicker in the backseat as Abuela begins to bicker with the 4 year old before he leans his head closer to me so I can hear him over the racket my family is making once my mom joins in to stop the argument.

"I'm so proud of us," Lucas whispers, lifting our conjoined hands to kiss the top of my hand.

I smile, my entire face softening. "I'm so proud of us too."

━

AUTHORS NOTE:

i gave Izzy the same bday as me cos the best people are born june 7th, i don't make the rules :D also wow i forgot how comforting it was to write about lucas and izzy :') i love you guys sm and miss you all sm - Mai x