4Ever & a Day : The Next Generation of R5

Whatever Life Has In Store

Austin

I was nervous as I stepped up on the stage to give this valedictorian speech. I had beat out Hailey for this honor and she was still a little sore about it. I had only beat her by like one tenth of a point, so it wasn't a great victory or anything. It had all come down to a math final. Where I got a 100 and she got a 98. It was a last-minute thing because she thought she had it in the bag. She had already written her speech and everything. Now I had to write a last-minute speech and I was nervous this wouldn't go as planned. It had to go off without a hitch. If it didn't I was screwed.

"Today we go out in to the world as high school graduates. Among us there are future doctors, lawyers, and who knows maybe even a future president. People always say that these are the best years of our lives. But they lie to us. So many bad things have happened in the walls of this school. Some of you have had your hearts broken by those we thought we'd love forever. We've been told we're too young to do the things we wanted to do by adults who have been in our shoes and have been told the same thing by their parents. Well today we become the adults. We may still be told we are too young for certain things but we are old enough to make our own decisions. As we head off to college or wherever life my take us in our journey to self-discovery, we must trust ourselves to make the right decisions or learn from the wrong ones. We all may not know just what life has in store for us yet. Now is the time to learn, to discover new things about the person we want to become, and to find the right path to take us to where we want to be in life. I have been lucky enough to find a person I want to share that life with and I hope all of you are just as lucky as you go out into the world..." I paused and looked at Hailey.

She smiled at me and I smiled back. I loved that smile. It was a smile not a lot of people got to see. She was normally a very serious person and only a select few had ever seen her let go like I did. I loved her more than anything else in this world. We were both going to Yale together and I wanted her to be my...

I wanted to finish my thoughts and my speech but Hailey got up and approached the stage. I stared at her as she excused her way through the middle of her row and down the center aisle. I watched her. I loved everything about this woman. The way she commanded everyone's attention when she walked into a room was the most powerful thing in the world. She never doubted herself for a second and always knew exactly what she wanted in life. My hands shook as she came onto the stage. I had a feeling what was going to happen and if I was right she was going to ruin my plan.

All eyes were on her as she stood beside me behind the podium. She noticed my shaky hand and grabbed it. As she held my hand in hers we locked eyes and nothing else mattered. All the people in the auditorium faded away and it was just me and Hailey. I wanted to kiss her and say something but I couldn't get the words out. I also knew kissing her was out of the question because Hailey wasn't into public displays of affection.

"Hailey I love..." I started.

"Austin, let me say this or I'll never get it out. I have never been nervous in my life and I don't understand why this makes me so nervous. It is something I have been wanting to do for a while and Juliet told me to wait for you. And yes, before you ask I talked to her about this. Then I figured I would just go ahead and do it because you were taking too long..." she paused for a breath.

I had never seen her so nervous. She was actually babbling. Hailey Lynch didn't babble. She was always sure of herself. She looked like she was about to pass out. She swallowed hard before she continued and I knew what was coming. She was going to ruin my moment. I couldn't let that happen.

At the same time, we both said, "Will you marry me?"

Neither one of us needed to answer because we knew the answer was yes. So just like that she was going to Yale as my fiancée. I couldn't tell you what happened the rest of the graduation after we took our seats. All I could think about was my fiancée!

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