Best Friends

Chapter 19

I paced back and forth in my room.

Today was the day. I didn't know if it was natural or not to feel nervous.

I checked the mirror one last time that morning, to make sure I looked decent. This was the day that I had been waiting for, for many many years of suffering. There will be so many people there, watching me.

What if I messed up? I could trip or say something stupid. People told me to imagine the audience in their underwear but that is just disturbing. After what has happened with Thomas and his friends, I don't want to see anyone in underwear ever again.

Back to the real problem: my hair is messed up. Half of the brown mess is curly and the other half is straight. I hadn't used a curling or straightening iron but it still ended up like this. I made sure my make-up looked okay because today I was going to show those people that I made it and this is possible, for anyone.

Unlike the traditional color, my outfit was red, a sign that the fight isn't over. I am going to walk across the room and show the mean teachers, the real players, Cate and Clare, all the other heartless girls, and even Braden, that anything is truly possible.

I grinned as I saw Cole's '94 black Mustang pull at a stop in the street in front of my house. I grabbed my phone even though I knew it wouldn't stay charged long. I stuck it in my pocket and went out to meet him and Lucy. Leo was with Jack, trying to work something they wouldn't tell me about with another person. I just hoped they were there on time. I brushed my hair again.

I went outside and locked the front door of my house and hopped into the backseat.

••••

" Today we have the class of 2015. We will have our Valedictorian say a few words before we will give out the diplomas and have each of these amazing students graduate today. The students will be acknowledged apologetically and they will each say their plans for the future ahead of them. Thank you for your years at this school. "

The principal steps away from the podium and Lucy walked on with a forced confident smile. "Hello to family, audience, teachers and others, and of course, to my fellow graduates. It is an honor not only for me to be speaking in front of you, but for you to get to hear me."

The audience laughed and then Lucy continued her speech. "We start learning from a very young age. Not all families are perfect and I don't know one that is. What's important is taking the good in life and making it the best in life, and not to focus on the hurt and pain," she meets my eyes. "We grow up and we are literally forced to be at school until we are sophomores in high school. Then they are able to get rid of us. But to be standing here is amazing, because we can really say, we made it. Through many struggles, and I mean many, we survived the obstacles and now we get to choose how to live our life. Today is May 11th of 2015 and there are six years of elementary, three years of middle school, and the not-so-final four years on high school. We spend almost the first twenty years of our lives stuck in classrooms, hearing teachers lecture and correct us on everything.

"But today, all of that pays off. I am Lucy Roberts, Valedictorian of this year. There have been many more before me and there will be many more after me, but this is my turn to be heard. So I say, each life was given to us for a reason. We make friends and create new families. So find your best and keep going. Thank you." She walked off the stage and took her seat as the audience applauded and roared.

"Very wonderful speech, Lucy," Principal Gidly walked back on stage with a stack of diplomas and assuredly a list of names. "Up first, we have Chase Andrews."

The star football player walked on stage and grinned. "I'm going to Notre Dame to play football!" He shouted, holding up his diploma, while everybody screamed.