Juliet (Unfinished Novel)

Chapter 41

People in the audience looked on with wide eyes as Abbie described her work to everyone.  She started off speaking in a small voice but once she stared becoming comfortable she spoke with passion.  Her eyes lit up as she described the meaning of every little piece.  Her art work told the story of her life, just as she wanted it to.

Abbie exited the stage and walked towards me as the audience gave her a respectful round of applause.  Ms. Meade came up from behind me and hugged Abbie as she gave me a grin from over our art teacher shoulder.

No time was wasted, for it was Winston’s turn to present.  I tried my best not to think about the fact that I was going after him and instead I only focus on what Winston.  It took a couple of minutes to get everything set up, like everyone else’s performance.  Since I knew Winston created a video, I stepped a little closer with Abbie at my side so we can observe it better.

The lights went out completely and a large screen gradually came into view.  Winston calmly strolled in from the other side of the stage.  He stopped in front of the projector screen that now had the words ‘Life in Rowling Academy’ spread across it.  He gave a thumb up to the guy who worked the control panel behind us and the video began, music playing along with it.

At first the video appeared to be giving a tour of the school: walking through the front office, out the back doors into the courtyard, traveling on the sidewalk to the guys’ dorm room, heading up the elevator to the second floor, and finally coming to a halt in front of Winston’s dorm room.  The camera zoomed in on the numbers nailed into the wooden door, 108.

“I have been coming to this school for three years now,” Winston spoke into the microphone in his hand, “it has become my home.”

After the opening there was a portion of the video that showed multiple sports events that he has filmed over the years for the school’s announcements.  A clip of our school’s football game during regionals last year, a shot of our cheerleaders, our basketball team scoring an incredible last second shot, a snippet of a baseball game in the pouring rain where all shown.  There were even some parts of our undefeated math league, the spelling bee contest, and a few drama plays.

Many more segments were shown: school dances, students studying for exams, spirit week, his favorite teachers, the Cafeteria, the computer lab, the library, and then there were photos of his friends.  Bailey reading at our lunch table, Kyle playing basketball, Abbie sitting in the grass drawing with Bailey peeking over her shoulder, Logan and Kyle wrestling in the hallway, and a couple others were featured on the screen.  There were a few of me shown in the video as well.  Though, the one that I liked the most was one that someone else took of the six of us, one of Winston’s photography buddies.  We were sitting in the courtyard grass, studying for a trigonometry test, and we just started laughing.  I don’t even recall what was said, but it was hilarious.

The video remained on that photo until the screen finally turned to darkness.  Winston finally spoke in the silence, “Thank you.” He said those two words simply and then the crowd erupted in applause.  Walking off the stage, the same way he entered, Winston turned to Abbie and me and beamed at us.