I gazed out at the crowd, the light blinding me so there was nothing but shadows. my heart was pounding in my chest- boom boom... Boom boom... Boom boom- This was it. The end of a grand total of thirteen years if schooling was for this moment.
"please be seated," I spoke into the microphone, my voice shaking. I waited another few seconds for everything to quiet down before speaking up again, "I really thought that graduating with a D- in English would've gotten me out of speaking tonight, but apparently I was wrong. Nevertheless," I glanced down at the paper, as the crowd gave out a small laugh, "it is my privilege to welcome everyone- including our school board of directors, students and family members to tonight's 2021 graduation ceremony." I looked back up at the crowd, and walked back to my seat, the blue material swishing as I walked.
As the ceremony went on, I felt nothing but a sense of peace. I felt good, as if I was in the classroom again. We listened to one of our retired teachers telling us how proud she was, watched a slideshow of our class, etc. None of it felt like it was real-
Until I heard that music. The sound of The Office's theme song. My heart stopped in my chest as we all stood, turning to face the stairs. No. No no, this can't be it- I felt a pain in my chest as I looked around at my 26 other classmates. It's over... It's all over.
I avoided the gaze from the crowd, even my families, and as I made it outside, I threw my hands in the air, put a smile on my face and started off strong, "it's-" my eyes began to water as I said the next words, "over..." My voice cracked and I dropped my hands.
One of my classmates whom I'd hardly ever spoken to turned to me, "oh don't cry!" She reached out and hugged me, her own eyes watering, "you're going to make me cry!!"
I hated hugs, but I needed one then. "This is it May," I told her, "life only goes downhill from here. I don't wanna go."
Within a few minutes we were swarmed by people, they were congratulating us left and right, and even though I was still terrified... I started to feel better. No matter how rough life would get, I'd have these people to call on if I ever needed help- or if I could get over myself and ask for that help.
Yeah, high school certainly wasn't easy, and things only get harder from here... but I'll always have those memories to look back on and i can finally do the things I've always wanted to do. I will admit, I'm counting down the days until our ten year reunion. I'm going to miss these guys, even the ones I never got along with.
