Dear Terrorists,

Chapter 8

"Jennie, congratulations on graduating valedictorian! That's got to be so exciting," congratulated Sarah enthusiastically.

"Thank you," began Jennie, now blushing as she tried to hide her embarrassment with a large plastic forkful of food.

"I'd be so nervous," admitted Sarah, brushing her curly blonde bangs from her eyes behind her ear. "Do you know what you're going to say for your speech yet?"

"No, not really," replied Jennie, again with a mouth full of food. "I don't know yet. I'll come up with something, though."

"Hey, you two!" shouted an animated voice from behind their table. "Say, squeeze together and let me get a picture of the two favorite cousins together! I can't believe you're graduating already, Jennie. Sarah isn't too far behind, maybe give her some advice on how to study a little better."

"Mom!" shouted Sarah. "Sorry I'm not as smart as Jennie. I guess a 3.8 isn't good enough in the Farr family."

"Oh, I'm just teasing you, honey. Now, smile!" she exclaimed with a broad smile.

Jennie and Sarah grinned slightly, barely showing their white teeth.

"Oh, you two are such poop heads sometimes," complained Aunt Claire as she looked at the digital picture on her camera. "You can't smile better than that? You have beautiful teeth and never show them. Come on, give me a big smile this time."

Aunt Claire aimed her camera at the two cousins once again.

"Now, smile big this time. Jennie, remember, you'll do many great things with your life, but you'll never graduate high school again, cherish the moment!" reminded Aunt Claire.

Jennie and Sarah offered slightly bigger smiles this time.

"Thank God, high school is nearly pointless," snided Jennie through her smiling, gritting teeth.

"There!" shouted Aunt Claire with joking satisfaction. "I'll leave you two alone now, you little brats."

Sarah and Jennie laughed at her comment.

"So," continued Sarah, getting edgy. "Is it going to long or short? Cliché or meaningful? Tell me something!"

Jennie took another bite of her pasta.

"Come on, you have to have something in mind! You've been the obvious valedictorian since grade school. Tell me!" she begged.

"Okay, okay," conceded Jennie. "I'm going to make it mean something, or at least I'm going to try. I'm not much of a comedian, so that can be defenestrated."

"Ha!" blurted Sarah. "I love that word. Such an underappreciated word," she joked.

"Yeah," she agreed. "But I don't know. I'll admit I've thought about it before, but I haven't written anything down yet."

"You better get started!" shouted Sarah. "Graduation is tomorrow!"

"I know, I know," replied Jennie, beginning to feel slightly nervous. "I'll start it tonight. It will be better than you'd expect from me, but then again I've never been much of a public speaker."

"Ah!" responded Sarah, slapping her hands against her cheeks. "I'm so excited for you!"

Sarah leaned over in her foldout chair and hugged Jennie, once again stuffing her mouth full with food.

*****

"I am so proud of this year's graduating class. They have been through so many ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies. Without further ado, please welcome your newest Buford High School valedictorian, Jennie Farr!" introduced Principal Jones, clapping loudly as he stepped away from the podium with a large grin.

The audience in the theatre followed his clap with their own unsynchronized jumble of tired clapping hands.

Jennie carefully approached the podium, taking extra time as to not trip in her high heels, and took a step up. She looked up at the large audience, all eyes staring down as her. She cleared her throat as she unfolded her prepared speech onto the wooden slab.

"Hello," she began nervously, again looking up into the crowd.

"I didn't begin to write this speech until last night, so bear with me," she admitted, trying to ease some of the nerves crawling throughout her tingling body.

The crowd responded with a light chuckle, providing Jennie with some comfort. She had not yet begun to read her speech.

"I think I rewrote the beginning like a hundred times, but I really think that if I hadn't accepted the first few sentences as they are now, then I wouldn't have been able to finish it because I wouldn't have moved on," she rambled.

"Okay," she cleared her throat once more, crisping her paper flat across the wooden podium.

"As this school year has winded down the past few days, a few people have asked me what I was going to speak about. I wasn't quite sure how to respond. I was embarrassed, actually, and terrifyingly frightened. At first, I didn't think I'd learned much during high school. But as I tried to recollect all of the memories, both good and bad, I struggled with which ones I should include, or if I should include any of my personal memories at all. After all, most of my memories consist of reading in the library, writing papers, or working on math problems—which are not the most exciting memories."

The crowd politely chuckled once again.

"So instead of talking about myself and my journey to remain focused on my schoolwork amid all of life's simple and complex distractions, I offer instead some simple advice that, I believe, has helped me and perhaps others. After all, it may help you help others later today as you celebrate.

She cleared her throat and took a deep breath.

"Firstly, greet new people, even if you may be afraid to do so. Don't shelter yourself and ignore others because your unfamiliarity makes you feel insecure and nervous. We are an interdependent species—people need people to survive. And people provide love for others. Branch out and be brave."

Jennie looked up from the podium. Over a thousand people stared back at her. Some eyes locked with hers; other eyes looked down or up at the ceiling, but all of the eyes seemed to be in some form of deep thought.

"Secondly, don't ignore the negatives in your life. Allow yourself to be criticized by others. Bias is something that exists in all of us—we think of ourselves as better than others in at least something. But the truth is, this world is filled with over seven billion people—remember this when you think you're better than others because someone is much better than you at something you've probably never heard of before. Instead, embrace your own negatives and help others through their own."

This time, the crowd came alive with understanding energy, providing a courteous round of applause. When the applause quieted down, Jennie began to speak again.

"Lastly, I encourage you to encourage others to overcome. I believe there are millions of people out there who have peoples' sympathy, but they do not have peoples' encouragement. People need love in life. Life is adversity. We need to help everybody, especially the people who hide their problems from others, to overcome life with encouragement and support. Sympathy simply encourages people to sulk, not to move on. But encouragement, that helps people overcome adversity through sincere motives."

Jennie stared at the crowd with her wide eyes. She had forgotten how nervous she was to give this speech. After a few seconds of silence, Jennie added her final "thank you."

A few seconds passed before she took two small steps away from the podium. Her high-heels clicked on the stage. Suddenly, her heel clicks drowned in the noise from one clap turning into thousands. People whistled and cheered. Jennie looked up to the seats and saw much of the audience standing up as they clapped with energy.

Jennie looked at Principal Jones, who looked at Jennie with a look of satisfaction, yet he looked at her as if he knew something more.