Beautyandthesenior 24 06 05 Julyana Rains And R... -

Julyana smiled, her heart beating with a rhythm she hadn’t felt in years. “If we don’t, at least we’ll notice each other.” July 5 2006. The senior class of Jefferson High gathered on the football field, caps in hand, the sun setting behind them. Julyana, now a freshman at the state university, stood among them, her notebook now a thick, bound journal titled “Beauty and the Senior: A Summer of Becoming.” Rae, who had taken a gap year to travel and write, stood beside her, his own journal open to a page that read: “Chapter One: The Senior Who Learned to Dream.”

“Do you think anyone will ever read this again?” Julyana asked, tracing a line of ink with her fingertip. BeautyAndTheSenior 24 06 05 Julyana Rains And R...

Rae Whitaker, on the other hand, was a sophomore with an unruly mop of curly black hair and a reputation for being the class clown. He could spin a joke in the middle of a math lecture, and the teacher would smile, then sigh, and then laugh anyway. He was a “senior” in spirit—always looking ahead, never quite belonging to the present. Julyana smiled, her heart beating with a rhythm

June 24, 2005 – A Summer’s Tale of Julyana Rains and R. “Rae” Whitaker Prologue – The Letter *“Dear Julyana, Julyana, now a freshman at the state university,

Julyana looked up from her notebook, her dark eyes reflecting the filtered sunlight. “You’re already seen, Rae. By me.”

They closed their notebooks, placed them side by side, and left the library together, stepping out into the humid night. The rain had stopped, leaving the streets glistening under a sky full of stars. The town of Willow Creek seemed larger, more alive.