The girl in front of the line walked across the stage and Liz moved up a step and was now in front.

'I’m next', Liz thought nervously. She then imagined the last step in front of her as a boundary she was about to cross, a boundary that gave no clue as to the future that was beyond it. Liz looked down and noticed her hands were clenched in tight fists at her sides and she immediately forced herself to relax.

“Liz Parker”

'This will be over in seconds, not a big deal' Liz thought but still hesitated slightly before she moved over the last step. She thought she felt a slight resistance in the space she’d just past, but simply reasoned that she was just hallucinating because of the panic she was feeling. She shook off her look of nervousness quickly as she walked across the platform, putting a big smile in its place.

Liz looked over the audience and saw her father up front taking as many pictures as possible, the pride on his face unmistakable. She shifted her gaze in front of her, where her principle was holding out a diploma, her diploma, for her to take. She reached out, her hand shaking slightly as she did so, and quickly grabbed the paper tube. She then shook hands forcing her smile a bit wider so her father would get a perfect Kodak moment. She then started to move off the stage thinking about the event that had just taken place.

'I’ve done it', she thought seriously, 'I’ve stepped over the line into adulthood'. She then broke into a smile at her cheesy thought and watched as the rest of the graduates went up to “step over the line”. When the ceremony was over Liz went to find her friends who had all went up before her, all having last names starting with the earlier letters of the alphabet.

She found them standing in a group just outside the area where the ceremony had been held. She stood and watched them for a few minutes thinking about everything they had gone through together, thinking how heart wrenching it will be when they split up and go their separate ways,

'There’s still the summer ahead, we’ll at least have that time together', she thought hoping they’d have time to hang out while dealing with the critical decision of what college to go to. She was thinking that over her self, the schools distance from Roswell being the key factor in her decision. She really didn’t want to go too far from home.

Liz was suddenly roused from her thoughts when her best friend Maria De Luca called her over to the group. Liz walked over trying to find a spot as far from Max. It was so hard being close to him especially when he was with Tess. She looked over to see him and Tess talking, their bodies a bit too close in Liz’s opinion. Her heart ached at the site of them together, Max giving Tess a smile he barely ever directed at Liz anymore.

At that her mind was pulled back to the reason of why they were so distant, to the night she’d deceived Max into believing she’d slept with Kyle Valenti so he’d fulfill his destiny, which was to be with Tess. This was by far the last thing she’d wanted to do but a future version of Max who’d come back in time said she had to, in order to save the world. She had found it hard to believe that her relationship with Max could cause so much damage but she had no choice but to believe, it was just too weird to dismiss.

The event itself had happened so long ago but the experience was still fresh in her mind, the pain still there. The night had replayed over in her mind a thousand times. The look on Max’s face when he’d seen her with Kyle, the thought of the marriage and happiness she’d given up. 'Don’t even go there' she warned. She knew if she continued this she’d end up in tears right in the middle of her graduation and that was definitely not an option.

Never the less she couldn’t help her thoughts of self-pity. 'Why does my life have to be so complicated', her mind screamed 'why should I be the one to sacrifice complete happiness?'