The morning of graduation came faster than Rita expected.
The school compound was alive with color — white shirts, blue skirts, graduation sashes flapping in the breeze. Parents with cameras. Teachers shouting directions.
Laughter everywhere.
Rita stood at the edge of the crowd, feeling like a stranger.
She wasn't wearing the sash.
She wasn't holding the glossy program booklet everyone else had.
She had told herself she didn't care.
But watching Anne and Evelyn laugh with the others, posing for photos, the ache in her chest grew bigger and heavier.
She shifted on her feet, ready to turn and leave.
Maybe it's better this way, she thought. I said I wasn't paying. I chose this.
But just as she turned to go, someone tapped her shoulder.
It was Anne.
"Wait," Anne said, breathless from running. "Don't leave yet."
Before Rita could respond, Evelyn appeared beside her, grinning wide, a mischievous sparkle in her eyes.
"You really thought we would let you escape that easily?" Evelyn teased.
Rita frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
Anne smiled and pulled something from behind her back.
A sash.
A brand-new graduation sash, neatly folded.
"For you," Anne said, pushing it into her hands.
Rita stared, stunned.
"But... I didn't pay—"
"We know," Evelyn said, rolling her eyes. "So we did it for you."
Rita's throat tightened painfully.
"You didn't have to—"
"Of course we did," Anne interrupted gently. "You're one of us. Always."
Rita blinked rapidly, trying to keep the tears from falling.
All the stubborn pride she had been clinging to melted away in that moment.
She slipped the sash over her shoulders with trembling hands.
The cloth was light.
But it felt heavier than gold.
Evelyn threw an arm around her neck dramatically. "Now come, let's take pictures! Before you cry and ruin your face."
Rita laughed — a shaky, broken sound that quickly turned real.
As they pulled her into the group, as they smiled and posed and shouted each other's names, Rita finally let herself believe it:
Some friendships could survive anything.
Even pride.
Even hurt.
Even silence.
And some moments — like today — were too important to miss.
No matter what.