Sweet Like Honey

40.

As Lennen stood in the gym, anxiously awaiting her moment where she would speaking in front of a large crowd, all curious to know what she had written and what college she had officially committed to. 

"Hey, relax. You're going to do amazing," Jonas says, reassuringly. He could tell that she was nervous about her speech, but he had total faith in her, knowing that it was going to be an amazing speech. 

"It's just a little intimidating," Lennen reveals how she was really feeling. She had been trying to mask her feelings all day, not wanting to stress herself out. She wanted everything to go according to the plan she had made up in her head, hoping that she wouldn't mess up her speech. She had practiced it a thousand times, wanting to make sure that there was no way she was going to mess up. 

When the president of their school shared that it was time to start walking out, Lennen lead the way, seeing as it was something she had to do as Valedictorian. She sat in the first chair, that had her name on it, letting everyone know that it was reserved for only her. She looked around, finding her family and the Petty's. Her eyes met Duke's who gave her a thumbs up and a smile, which definitely calmed her nerves. 

The beginning of their graduation was the same as Duke's, the president of the school shared a heartwarming speech about how proud he was of each and every one of them, knowing that all of them were going to go onto amazing things. After he spoke, the student body president shared her speech, touching on memories she had at North Shore and an anecdote about her traveling from Europe to the US when she was only four years old. 

It was time for Lennen to make her way to the stage, to give her valedictorian speech and reveal her college choice, which she was more nervous about than the speech. Her counselor and the president had insisted that she share with everyone where she was going to spend the next four years. 

"Before she speaks, our valedictorian had been going back and forth for months about which school she was going to choose, seeing as she was stuck between the two most prestigious schools in the country. She had reached a desicion and we had asked her to share her choice with you all today. Lennen?" The president introduces her and then steps away from the podium, so Lennen could have the spotlight.   

"After mulling this choice over for months, I have officially decided and committed to spend the next four years at Harvard University," Lennen shares and everyone in the crowd cheers, and she was certain it was deafining for a few seconds. As she waited for the cheers to die down, she scanned the crowd, locking eyes with Jonas, and in the moment, everyone else seemed to disappear. All she could focus on was the look of disappointment that was now resting on Jonas' face. He didn't know how to feel. He chose USC because he had thought that Lennen was choosing Stanford since she had been saying that's where she was probably going to attend. 

The cheers had finally settled and Lennen knew she had to take her mind off Jonas' disappointment and focus on her speech. 

"President Danes, faculty members, family, friends, and fellow students, welcome.

These past four years at North Shore have been an incredible experience that I will cherish forever. The day we had been waiting for has finally come. We counted down days, hours, minutes, hours, seconds for it's arrival. Now that's it here, I'm realizing how much I don't want it to be because it means leaving so many amazing memories behind. 

Before I get into the emotioanl part of my speech, I would like to take this time to congratulate all of our varsity teams that brought home the state championship: both men and women's soccer, men's basketball, women's golf, women's lacrosse, both men and women's tennis, and the baseball team. To all the seniors that participated in these sports, I would like to thank you on the behalf of everyone at this school for representing North Shore and sharing your dedication with us.