10: Graduate

Graduation caps were thrown in the air as cheers broke out all around. The smell of fried chicken drifted in from somewhere nearby. Students in blue robes gathered for photos, smiling and chatting under the tents with their friends and families.

Tasha stood among them. She looked truly radiant.

Her curls framed her face beneath her mortarboard, and her smile was so wide it hurt. After years of late nights, group projects, and carrying Rupert's emotional weight like a second degree, she had done it. A Bachelor of Science in Accounting. Top five in her year. And an internship already lined up at Jamaica National Building Society.

She should've felt like the main character in a movie.

But something about the moment still felt incomplete. Her heart tugged with an old ache she tried to ignore. She hadn't heard from her father in years. Sure, the wire transfers still came in like clockwork, ten thousand U.S. dollars every three months, but no amount of cash could fill the silence that followed their last real conversation.

He had promised her that he'd be there to lift her onto his shoulders when she graduated. His voice had been full of pride. She remembered laughing then, imagining it, believing it.

Now the stage had come and gone, and the only thing she felt was the weight of his absence.

Her mother fussed with the zip on her gown, while her aunt caught the whole thing on video, narrating like it was a documentary. Her younger cousins ran around squealing and blowing into party horns.

Still... her best friend was missing.

Debby.

They hadn't been close for months. Ever since Tasha got engaged, everything between them shifted. It wasn't just distance, it was the tension. Debby disapproved, and she made sure to let everyone know. And Rupert? He had become harder to read. His phone always locked, his voice clipped when Tasha asked too many questions, his excuses grew thinner each day.

And today, of all days, he wasn't here.

But then, like a scene straight out of a drama, Tasha saw them.

Debby and Christopher.

Tasha froze.

"Debby, you're here!" she gasped.

Debby smirked. "Suh yuh surprise?" (Are you surprised?)

Tasha rushed into her arms. "I'm just... happy you came."

Christopher handed her the roses. "You look like a whole boss lady. Big up, graduate!"

Tasha laughed, wiping her eyes. “Debby, are you teaching him patwah?”

“Yes, I am,” she giggled.

“Did I say it right?” Chris asked.

“You did great,” Tasha laughed. "Y'all have no idea how much this means."

Christopher was already snapping photos, crouching low, shouting directions like he was on a photo shoot.

Debby shouted, “Turn sideways—yes! Gyal, look pon yuh bouquet like it's money!"

Tasha struck pose after pose, grinning, twirling, lifting her certificate like a trophy. Her mother joined in, then the cousins, then even a professor who came over to congratulate her. For a moment, it felt like the old days, no tension, no secrets. Just love.

They sat under a tent sipping Ting and munching on patties, when Debby leaned closer.

"So... where is he?"

Tasha looked away. "Rupert?"

"Who else?"

"He... had to work," she muttered.

Christopher raised an eyebrow. "Did he know that today was your graduation?"

"He said he tried to switch shifts. Something with the church. I don't know."

Debby's lips tightened, but she said nothing. Just took a long sip of her soda.

They stayed for another hour, taking photos with faculty and friends, signing each other's caps, posing near the stage. Christopher practically turned the day into a photo album. He caught everything—Tasha wiping sweat from her brow, Tasha laughing with her mother, Tasha staring off with pride in her eyes.

By late evening, the crowd began to thin. Tasha insisted they go back to her mother’s. She didn't want the day to end—not yet.

They piled into Christopher's car, the white Range Rover with the AC blasting and dancehall pumping through the speakers.

Debby stuck her head out the window like a teenager. "Mi cousin is a free woman today! Just like me. I member how college wuk use to stress mi!" (My cousin is a free woman today! Just like me. I remember how college assignments used to stress me.)

Tasha giggled. "Speak for yourself. I miss the library already."

They reached the house as the sun was about to set. Inside, her mother had left a "Congrats Tasha!" banner strung across the living room and a chocolate cake in the fridge. The smell of vanilla and spices lingered. Her mother ran a bakery and since it was graduation season, after Edith saw her only child walk the stage, she had to quickly head back to work.

Christopher set up his phone on a makeshift tripod and snapped more photos of Tasha cutting the cake, feeding Debby a messy slice, pretending to toast with Red Stripe.

"I swear I'm starting a blog for you," Debby said. "Tasha the Boss. Or Miss Tingz International."

"Yuh serious?" she laughed.

"Dead serious. You ever seen a more photogenic accountant?"

By nightfall, the air cooled and laughter faded. The three of them lounged in the huge living room, lights low, AC running. Christopher stood and stretched. "Ok. I think I should leave now. Early shift tomorrow."

Tasha hugged him tight. "Thank you for coming. For everything."

"Always," he said. "You deserve it. You want me to take you to your apartment?"

“I guess I could take the ride,” she nodded. “Could you give us a minute?”

“Sure.” He stepped outside, leaving the two cousins alone in the soft quiet.

Tasha turned to Debby. Her heart beat heavy in her chest.

"You never answered me, yuh know," she said, fingers curling around her glass of water.

Debby looked up. “About what?”

"What I asked you... months ago. About being my maid of honor."

Silence fell like a stone between them.

Tasha added, "I still want it to be you. It's always been you."

Debby's face crumpled, just slightly. She set her cup down and looked at her cousin with open, aching honesty.

"Tasha," she began, "I love you. You're mi sister. We've been planning each other's weddings from we used to cut out magazine dresses and draw stick figures in copybooks."

Tasha smiled weakly. "I remember."

"But mi sorry," Debby said. "Mi can't do it."

Tasha blinked. "What?"

Debby looked her in the eye. "I can't watch you walk down that aisle and marry that man."

The words hit like a slap.

Tasha stood slowly. "So... what are you saying?"

"I'm saying... not only can I not be your maid of honor, but mi not coming to the wedding either."

The room went silent.

Tasha swallowed hard. "Debby..."

"I can't sit in a church and watch yuh marry someone who doesn't see your worth. Who lies to yuh. Who hurting yuh even when you pretending he's not."

Tasha turned away, blinking back hot tears. "You think I don't know things aren't perfect? But people change. Relationships take work."

Debby shook her head. "Tasha, this not about work. This about peace. And I can’t celebrate a union that stealing yuh joy and making yuh thin like Olive from Popeye."

Tasha's breath caught.

She wanted to scream. Cry. Defend him. But no words came.

Debby reached for her hand. "I love you. Always will. But this... I can’t do it."