Then somebody laughed.
“Wait. Is that her boyfriend?”
Another voice called from behind us.
“Girl, you brought a cardboard man to graduation?”
A few students burst into laughter.
One girl lifted her phone and began recording.
“Oh my God. She’s actually serious!”
Emma heard them. I knew she did because her fingers tightened around the cardboard shoulders.
But she didn’t turn around.
She walked toward the graduates’ seating area, carefully adjusted Felix’s cap, and whispered, “We’re almost there.”
A boy standing beside the aisle stepped out of her way.
“That’s creepy,” he muttered.
His friend laughed.
I felt heat rush into my face.
I wanted to tell them what they were looking at. I wanted to explain that this was a grieving sister trying to keep a promise to someone who would never have the chance to wear a graduation gown.
Instead, I remembered what I had promised Emma.
So I followed her in silence.
