Before we had walked onto the stage I told him how nervous I was. It turned out he was pretty nervous too. He said we could be nervous together.
The principal gave me the mic and I set my notes on the podium. After a short introduction of who I was, she began clapping and urged everyone else to. They did. I was off to a good start.
I coughed nervously into the mic, palms sweaty as I pressed my hands against the podium. "The person we were at the beginning of this year is not the person we are now. This year alone has brought on a lot of different events for us. Some good, some difficult, some exciting, some confusing, but it has all been a part of our journey. The last four years of our lives have gotten us to where we are now: graduating high school."
I continued on about how much of an accomplishment it was to have earned a high school diploma. How there are people who did not make it this far and did not get the opportunity to achieve what we had. We put in the work to make it and it paid off.
I didn't want my eyes to leave the notecards before me because I didn't want to have to look at my classmates. However, a good speech meant engaging with your audience. I reluctantly scanned the crowd as I spoke.
Some students were giving me their full attention, some looked bored out of their minds, and a couple had fallen asleep. There were only a few who looked pissed, but the majority seemed to be indifferent about the speech. I had to stop myself from letting out a sigh of relief when I realized they did not secretly have tomatoes stored beneath their seats to chuck at me.
It took me a while to find people I knew in the crowd. The first person I spotted was Bella, and when I locked eyes with her she gave me a thumbs up. Paxton was a couple of seats down from her and he too was giving me an encouraging look.
My eyes found my brother who was awake, but he was clearly struggling. He kept nodding off, but then he'd shake himself awake again and straighten up to pretend like he wasn't falling asleep. He was trying to listen. I almost laughed in the middle of my speech because of the sight.
I spotted Ricky who was listening intently, then Kailey a little bit after that. I didn't find Emerson until closer toward the end of my speech, but when I did, she was already looking at me. She was far away, but I'm pretty sure she smiled at me. Our speech was required to be at least five minutes long, and I was finally nearing the end of it.
"We went through a lot during our high school careers. We met new people, made new friendships, relationships, and even found family. Now we get to carry on into the real world with those people and see what life is going to bring us. Congratulations to us all and thank you."
I gulped as I backed away from the podium and gathered the note cards. There was a moment of silence where the audience sat awkwardly, but it only took them a minute before they started clapping. My lips curled into a satisfied smile as my classmates applauded me.
When I sat down Javi leaned over into my ear. "I have to beat that? I'm not sure that's possible, you did so well."
Once I was done with it, I could finally relax. The next hour and half were spent with faculty calling out names and giving out diplomas. It was a very long hour and a half. I underestimated how long it would take to call out every individual student's name.
When that was over, they handed the microphone to Javier. I whispered words of encouragement to him before he walked to the podium just like he did for me. I found out that his speech was longer than mine. The requirement for it was to be at leastfive minutes long with the max being ten. He went on for about eight.
It was better than I thought it was going to be—and that was saying something because I already had extremely high expectations for his speech. His words were powerful, meaningful, and he was passionate about what he was saying. It was also witty which earned chuckles from the adults around us.
Javier ended his speech on a high note, and everyone threw their caps in the air in celebration. All of the families in the audience came onto the field to find their child. Javi grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him through the crowded area. It took us a minute to find them, but we eventually did.
"You guys did amazing!" Gabriela wasted no time pulling Javier and I into a group hug. "Your speeches were beautiful. Really long…but beautiful."
"I'm so proud of you both, you've graduated! My boys had the highest grades and got to speak at graduation," Anita beamed with excitement.
My boys.
"On to the real world with real responsibilities," Alan added with a proud smile.
"How about a celebratory dinner, sí?" Anita asked us. "Whatever restaurant you want, that's where we will go."
My boyfriend and I exchanged a silent look I was more than happy with wherever we chose to eat at. The food didn't matter when I was with them, the people who I could be my true self around. I was with my found family.
My eyes wandered as I thought about restaurants, and they landed on the twins. I didn't know how long they had been standing there, but they were just a few feet away. When we locked eyes, they started walking toward me with caution.
"Hello everyone," Emerson greeted with an awkward chuckle. Easton gave a small wave.
Gabriela rushed to give Emerson a big hug, one that my sister returned graciously. Easton watched idly as the girls greeted each other, and I noticed Gabi’s eyes linger on his for an awkward second. Easton gave her an unsure, lopsided smile and she returned it with a sharp, uncool nod.
Their weird interaction made me raise a brow, but I chalked it up to being nothing more than Gabriela feeling to greet him the way she greeted his sister.
"Congratulations to you both," Anita's smile was supportive and proud as she spoke.
Emerson blushed. “Thank you.”
There was a silent moment between all of us. Javi looked to his family and then back at me, giving my hand a tight squeeze before letting go. "We'll give you a minute."
They walked away and left me and my siblings alone and Emerson immediately complemented me. "You and Javier are cute together. Your speech was good too."
