Third Degree

chapter twenty-seven.

Thalia's POV

I smooth out my gown as I look into the crowd, looking for the people who came to my graduation. I was able to graduate early and am already enrolled into a second school to finish my degrees and teaching credentials. The nerves begin to make my stomach churn as my counselor walks up to the microphone and begins a speech.

"Hello graduates, friends and family. My name is Haley Edmond, and I am the counselor here at our lovely school." She pauses and shoots me a smile. "Throughout all my years working here, I've come across many, many unique situations. From experience, I can tell you that these 213 graduates here are the elite in our community. These students have faced every possible problem head on, and they've conquered it. Did you know that this class started out with 584 students? It had seemed that it would be our biggest graduating class, but here we are. The past four years for these students have been filled with countless challenges. They've survived school funding being cut, an economic downfall, and even some of the worst weather our community has ever seen. Through it all, our students have prospered."

"Thalia!" I hear a whisper, I turn to see one of my professors motioning for me to follow him. I do as told and begin to be lead to the stage.

"But I want to recognize one of the most exceptional students I have come to meet. I am proud to say that this young woman has been attending our university year round for two years and has been able to graduate today and be in the top ten percent of the graduates today." People begin to cheer and she pauses with a smile. "Not only is she one of our youngest graduates, but she was also able to take on working and studying while pregnant and now she is a mother of a beautiful little boy. She has already enrolled into another university to finish her teaching credentials and will go on to be a teacher in the coming fall. I would like to present to you, Thalia Lydia Garrett." The crowd erupts into cheers and I nervously walk up the steps and to the podium. I turn to the crowd and can see Nate holding Theo on his shoulders, surrounded by his family, Grayson's family, and even my own family. My heart races as I hug Mrs. Edmond and smile.

"Thank you so much Mrs. Edmond." She nods and I turn to the microphone and swallow my nerves.

"Hello everyone." I nervously laugh. "This is so crazy." I smile and wave to Theo and faintly hear him scream.

"Love mumma!" People around him burst into laughter. I smile.

"I love you too, bubba." I take a relaxing breath and bite my lip. "To be completely honest, I wrote four different speeches for today, but none of them seemed right. So I'm going to wing this.

I can't tell you all that this was hard. That would be an understatement. These past two years have been so incredibly difficult, but not just on me. It was difficult on me, my professors, the lovely Mrs. Edmond," I motion to her with a smile. "My amazing boyfriend, I love you." I smile as people let out awe's, "My son's grandparents, my peers, it was hard for everyone, even my son. And I have so many people to thank and so much to say. I'll try to keep it short." I laugh nervously.

"Thank you to Mrs. Edmond, who talked me out of dropping out so many times, I can't even count. And to all of my professors, I know my questions and early assignments were pretty crazy and frustrating." I laugh. "Thank you to my closest friends, Jean and Andrew, I couldn't have graduated without you two." I wave at the other two early graduates, "Thank you to Lisa, Sean, Ethan and Cameron for the countless days where you baby sat, thank you to the Garner family for the endless support. Thank you, Nate for being my motivation and my rock, and even though you can't fully understand what I'm saying, thank you to my wonderful son. You are my number one motivation to strive for the best. I do everything for you and I will never stop giving you the absolute best." I smile as everyone begins to cheer.

I wait until the cheering dies down and continue. "There are so many people I want to thank, but there isn't enough time. So, thank you all. My only advice to everyone who is still in school or is looking into it, or anything, my advice to you is," I pause, "You are not what everyone says you are. You are so much more, you may not have the type of people I was blessed with, but you can still do anything you put your mind to. If you cannot find motivation, be your own motivation. You don't need to be doing this for someone else, do this for yourself. Build yourself a future that you'll be proud of, and never give up. I am so thankful I didn't." More cheering.

"Thank you, I won't bore you any longer." I laugh, "Congratulations class of 2019!"

By the end of that week, I get a call confirming my job at my old high school and I couldn't be happier. My life is finally coming together.