"Ahem."

Hearing someone clear their throat, I turned to see Casey Letter, Matt's crush but not so much mine, filming me with a grin on her face.

"Quite an interesting declaration." she said.

"Felt right." I said, not embarrassed by being caught.

"I bet. I would say the same if I was getting out of high school early. Too bad I still have a whole semester before I'm out of this hellhole."

"I'm sure you could've graduated early if you wanted to. Besides, more time here means more footage." I said, pointing at her camera.

"Well, that's true." she said, turning around to look at the school building, "This place is a gold mine for footage."

"Mm. Well, it was nice talking to you but I've got some errands to run, so I'll see you around." I said, turning to leave.

"Wait." she said, as I stopped and looked at her, "Do you have a crush on me?"

"Haha, someone's full of themselves today." I said, chuckling.

"No, it's just that I sometimes noticed you looking at me and there was a rumor that you did, so I was just curious." she explained, slightly blushing.

Taking a closer look at her, it was obvious that she was attractive by anyone's standards. Blonde and blue-eyed, standing at about 5'8", 172 cm for the non-Americans in the crowd, and she had a good figure. Not to mention, she was also a lot more interesting than any of the other girls in school since she actually had a dream she wanted to pursue.

"You are very attractive and in the past, I may or may not have had a crush on you, but I don't date high-school girls." I said, winking at her before leaving, "See you around, Casey. Good luck with your filming."

Getting in my car, I drove off the school lot for the last time. Unfortunately, I was not driving the Mustang I got from TWD seeing as I did not have a good excuse for having such a car. I also couldn't pass it off as something else since my dad was a bit of a car enthusiast and would sniff it out with just a look. But driving a '71 Chevelle wasn't bad either.

"Sir, you have a message from your mother." said Anivia.

As to why Anivia had access to my messages, it was because I had connected my phone to my watch, essentially using it like a smartwatch. I wasn't too worried about Anivia doing anything she wasn't supposed to because she couldn't thanks to her programming, and having her connected to my phone was too convenient to pass up.

"What did she say?"

"Go to the grocery store and pick up some chips, dip, and some beers." she said, reading out the message.

"Respond with 'Okay.'"

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"Of course, sir."

"Guess we're throwing a party." I mumbled as I course-corrected and drove to the nearest grocery store.

~

'The legal age to drink in America in this world being 18 sure is convenient. Also makes a lot more sense that Mom was so cool about me potentially drinking the day after I arrived here.' I thought as I looked at the wide variety of beer available.

The drinking age being 18 in America in this world was a surprise to me but a welcome one. Odd that at 18 you can fight for your country and die for it but you can't take a drink. Separation of church and state my ass.

Anyway along with the drinking age being 18 came bars. But in this world, bars were still mostly for 21 and older unless you got permission to be in there. It was to create a more adult atmosphere and not have a bunch of newly turned 18 years old ruining the vibe. Of course, that stipulation meant there were bars that allowed 18 years old but the vibe was more clubby than a bar which proves the point of the 21 and over for bars.

Anyway, I didn't have to look long to find the beer that both my dad and I liked to drink so I put 3 cases in my cart.

After paying for the things, I was exiting the grocery store when I saw a pair of people pass me by. Now in most cases, I wouldn't even give it a second thought but seeing them made memories of my past life resurface.

'Spencer and Carly from iCarly.' I thought as I recognized them, 'Interesting. This world sure is more exciting than my last one.'

~

Pulling up to my house, I could see that Steve's car was parked outside, along with a bunch of strangers' cars but my parent's car wasn't there.

'Ah, don't tell me it's a high school party.' I thought as I parked my car, 'Hate high school parties. Someone always stinks, throws up, and grinds up on you.'

"Anivia, call Mom." I said, hearing the ringing tone immediately after.

"Hello." she said.

"Mom, are you throwing me a high school party?"

"What? Of course not. Your father, aunt, and I are out for the night but you better not be throwing a party mister, or you'll be in big trouble." she said, clearly faking.

"Mom, you know I hate parties."

"And if there were a party to hate, not that there is, you should enjoy it while you can. Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop once in a while to enjoy it, you could miss it. Bye, sweety, have fun." she said before hanging up.

"Sigh. Let's get this over with."

"Sir, would you like me to anonymously inform the police about a potential disturbance at your home?" said Anivia.

"No, it's fine. Just have to face the music." I said as I exited the car and did three trips from my car to the front door so I wouldn't have to go back and forth once inside.

Opening the door, I was faced with a group of people all looking in my direction with Steve and Andrew, who had his camera and was recording me, at the front.

"Surprise!" they shouted.

"Whoa." I said.

"Congratulations on your graduation." said Steve, quickly hugging me before letting me go.

"Congrats, Matt." said Andrew, similarly hugging me, who by the way, looked a lot better and had filled out some. Being in a loving and caring environment where his mother was slowly getting better really rid him of his negativity and sparked his love for filming.

"Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. Help me bring in the stuff real quick, would you, Steve?" I said pointing at the beer and food.

"Sure." he said picking up the things before we walked to the kitchen while Andrew followed us like our own personal film crew.

As we walked to the kitchen, people would say congrats to me and thank me for the party while I would only nod in response.

"Look alive man. You're graduating!" said Steve, bumping me with his shoulder.

"I know, just don't really like parties is all." I said as we entered the empty kitchen and set down the things.

"Can't blame you. The last party we went to almost got us killed." he said with a smile.

"Haha."

"But this party is different." he said while opening the case of beers, "This party is to celebrate you being done with a big part of your life and being ready to enter the next. So let's celebrate and go all out today. Deal?" he said, handing me and Andrew a beer.

"Fine. Deal." I said with a smile.

"Good. So, here's to the future. Cheers." he said.

"Cheers." said Andrew and me as we all clinked our beers before downing them.