I've never done any public speaking. The biggest presentation I've ever done was on stage, and that really isn't public speaking, that's performing. Now, I'm in front of about 175 middle school kids and I'm supposed to speak. I can't even form a coherent thought. Luckily, my speech doesn't require coherent thought.

"And, now, Mr. Robbie Shapiro…" Some guy at the microphone said. I stepped out, shook his hand, and took a deep breath.

Here goes 3 hours…

"Hi everyone, I'm Robbie. Now you were probably expecting someone older, better dressed or even better looking. Well, if you're looking for that, Shia Labeouf is at the Ritz- Carlton so…"

The crowd laughed, just as I was hoping they would. Rule # 1 I was taught about public speaking. Get your audience on your side.

I smiled, "Anyway, in all seriousness I'm here to talk to you about something that is very important to everyone's life, but it's not like the Middle East or global warming."

Confused faces met my gaze.

"Now, I want everyone to be honest when answering this question. How many of you guys in here are in love?"

Just about everyone raised their hand.

"Good…that's good." I made my way down to the audience's level and approached a tiny kid with blonde hair, who looked frightened at the prospect of admitting his feelings.

"Hey man…mind if I ask you a couple of things?"

"Sure." He said quietly.

"You raised your hand right?"

"Yes." A taller boy to the left snickered.

"Hey, I saw you raise your hand, don't you laugh at him or I'm coming to you next buddy." I shot at him, causing him to quickly occupy himself and avoid my gaze.

"Sorry about that. Now you raised your hand. Are you good friends with the girl you like?" I asked.

"Kinda…I see her a lot, but we never really hang out." He said, sounding depressed.

"Hey, don't worry. You're a good kid, things will change. Maybe not her, but some other girl who sees you and loves you for who You are." I said, glancing at the kid on my left, who immediately looked back down. I got back up on stage.

"Now, another show of hands, how many people have said teenage love doesn't last?" I asked the crowd. This time EVERYONE raised their hands.

"One last question. Who has heard you can't date your best friend?" Everyone raised their hands, but that wasn't what I was focusing on. The blonde boy had snuck looks at a blonde girl, who was taller than him and on the other side of the room. Also, the taller boy had whispered something to his friend.

"Ok…." I said, making my way over to the girl. "Can you please come with me?" I guided her over to the boy and had her sit next to the boy. He blushed and I heard him say softly "Hi Ashley."

I moved out of earshot, moving back over to the taller boy. "Ok. I've had enough of you. This is important to a lot people here. Get out." I ordered, pointing towards the door.

The organizer said if I ran into someone like him, I could kick him out, no questions asked.

"But I need to stay to get an A." he dumbly replied.

"Let me guess…summer school? Get your grades up and get out. Now." I said firmly. He bowed his head and exited the room as I got back up there.

"Thank you for answering all of my questions. Now I'm here to tell you why teenage love does last, and you can date your best friend. How do I know? I'm doing it right now." I said, as a mental image of Cat popped into my head.

I had the entire audience hypnotized. It was clear they had come voluntarily, not for summer school credit.

"Ok, time for a story. I met a girl, when I was about your age. I was a really shy kid, gone through some stuff and wasn't really up to trusting people. She was a socialite deluxe and never noticed me. I didn't like her yet, and as I said, she didn't give me the light of day. That might be you right now. Hang on before you get too down."

"This also might be you. So close to the girl you like everyone THINKS you're dating, but when the topic is broached it gets awkward REALLY fast. Now, it's not hopeless. You might be one of these, both, or neither. But this story applies to everyone." The blonde kid snuck a glance at the girl, who was looking at him discreetly.

Now we're getting somewhere…

"As I said, I met this girl, and she never talked to me. Until a couple of years ago, where her gigantic circle of friends had diminished because she continued to be herself and people didn't like that. I don't understand why, but that's what happened. One day she was all alone when we were told to get partnered up. My friends told me to join them, but I saw her, and immediately went over. She seemed surprised I wanted to work with her, since basically everyone else had abandoned her. We started talking, texting, and she let me into her new, much tighter and close knit group of friends."

"Things were good for awhile. Then one day I hugged her, and I never wanted to let go. Her perfume, her hair, something just entranced me. Later on, I realized it was actually her that had entranced me. She had started dating guys that weren't the best for her, and I found myself hoping to get a shot, but when the time came, never jumping on it."

"Finally, I asked her to a school dance." Prome. I thought to myself, smiling. "We were definitely best friends by this time, and I was certainly in love with her. But she did something I hadn't thought of. She turned me down, saying she had a date with another guy. The weird thing was, when the night came along, there wasn't a guy."

Every guy groaned and looked at me sympathetically. The girls looked away, looking busted.

Apparently this is more common than I thought…

"I wasn't too mad. Disappointed, yes, mad, no. More than anything I wanted her honesty, even if she didn't like me 'that way'. Quickly, she actually met a guy, who was nice enough, and I faced the reality of 'hey, maybe this isn't going to work out after all'."

More discouraged looks.

"Before I knew it, she had worked through 4 guys with no indication of slowing down. Each time she had slowly worn me down. She had been with a nice guy, a bad boy, some one older and then younger. It made no sense, why wasn't I willing to at least try? She had already struck out 4 consecutive times."

"Actually, things didn't get going until someone decided to step in. My friends, which have to be the best group of friends in the world. One of them saw how every hug I gave her was tighter, how I was always there for her. Day, night, rain or shine. I was more reliable than the damn postal service for her."

The crowd laughed again. I am doing awesome!

"They intervened, saying, yes, I did have a shot. I just need to be patient and then actually make a move. By then, she had moved on again." The guys frowned again, except for the little blonde boy, who had engaged in a texting conversation with the girl next to him. He seemed to be enjoying himself, so I let it slide.

"This time, he messed up, bad. The break up was horrible, and my friends had to intervene to prevent her from getting hurt. She cried herself to sleep that night, and felt terrible because she had let things get really bad. It wasn't her fault though, the guy was a jerk."

"But then the two of us got really close. We started seeing movies together and having dinner. One of my friends referenced it as a date night, at which point she interrupted, saying she had a new boyfriend, and that we weren't going out. That was a stunner. Another guy. The worse part was that they had been going out for most of the time I had been eating out with her."

"I didn't handle that too well. We had an enormous argument, which led to us not speaking for a few days. That was the worst part. Not talking to her. I felt betrayed. I loved her, and she went and did THIS? It just wasn't fair. Then one day, I took a chance."

People leaned forward, engrossed in the story.

"I went to her house, and we talked things out. Eventually she figured out I liked her, and she told me she really cared about me. Not like a friend, but not like a boyfriend either. A gray area. But I was willing to try."

"And try we did. It went pretty well, even to the point that our parents actually thought we were dating. But there was one last bump in the road. One more guy."

"I was irked by the fact there was another guy. I got me thinking 'Did she mean what she said? Was all that I did for nothing?' I just followed my friends' advice, and stayed patient."

"Then, I was just hanging out one day when I got a knock on the door. It was her. I had told her previously if she ever needed to see me, just come by. Well, she did just that. I calmed her down and even got her laughing again, when she did something that surprised even me."

The anticipation was mounting, and I was even sweating, and I lived this!

"She kissed me."

All the guys looked like they wanted to throw a party. The girls looked embarrassed, but not so much so that they moved away.

"Ever since then, we have been there for one another. It's been amazing, and I shouldn't say that in past tense, because I'm seeing her tonight." I laughed, causing some smiles from guys and girls alike.

"Back when I was helping her get over one of the guys, but wasn't ready to tell her how I felt I inadvertently let her know how special she was to me. I nicknamed her sunshine. She's a very happy, excitable girl. Things are never boring around her, and she keeps everyone from getting too serious because of her simple innocence or how cute she really is. She asked me why I nicknamed her sunshine."

"I told her 'You always brighten my day.' It sounds like a cliché, but it's true. Good day, or bad, if she's there, things get better as if by magic."

I glanced out into the area where the parents were, and I saw 5 people standing in the back.

Beck, with Tori leaning on his shoulder. Jade, smiling. Andre and Cat, listening intently. I almost died and started laughing at the same time. They already know the story, but it still enthralled them.

"The thing is, I'm not the only person that feels that way. Everyone I ask says she makes them happier just by being there. I don't know whether it's her personality, or what it is, but it's truly special." I smiled, motioning for Cat to walk up. Andre pushed her towards the stage, and she resisted, but Beck and Andre pushed her towards the stage. She did eventually come on her own, causing the kids in the audience to look at this gorgeous girl. They were clearly thinking 'Who's she?'"

Cat hopped up on stage. "That girl I told you about? This is that girl. My ray of sunshine. Now, if you have learned anything from today, I want you to remember one thing." I hugged Cat, who was nervous. She smiled up at me, and relaxed, noticing I wouldn't let her down.

"Don't give up. Even when it seems that you'll never find that special someone. It might not even be who you like right now. That just means they don't deserve you. You're special someone IS out there. Don't be afraid to take a chance, the worst that can happen is for them to say no, and you can keep looking. You'll find them eventually. Thank You for listening." I said. The crowd burst into applause. I could here the others in the back, loudly supporting me, not caring how many weird looks they got.

I turned to Cat, who seemed on the edge of tears. I was taken aback for a second before I realized wait…those aren't sad tears…she's happy. I hugged her, and she cried into my shoulder.

I don't know what she said, I just heard mumbled words, but she hugged me tightly. I kissed her hair and said "You're the best."

She shook her head, and this time I heard what she said.

"NO! You are Robbie." She let me go and wiped her eyes. We walked out, Cat holding my hand softly. I passed the others, who grabbed Cat. That's ok though. I want to see something.

I poked my head into the hall, where the little blonde boy and the girl were in a deserted hallway. I got there mid kiss, luckily, they didn't see me. They separated; the girl gave him a hug, whispered something and started walking towards me. I walked towards the boy, when she said something.

"That was an awesome speech! You guys are cute together."

"Thanks." I smiled. "Glad you liked it." She left the hallway, leaving the two of us.

"Was I right about the girl?" I said, gazing back in her direction but standing next to him.

"Yeah…she said she liked me too and wanted to take me to the mall." He said, clearly on cloud nine.

I smiled, realizing I had done something truly amazing, and it seemed so effortless. All I really did was kick one guy out and put two people who liked each other together.

He interrupted my victory lap. "How did you know I liked her?" He asked.

"I saw you glance at her. You didn't see, but your hands were the first two up when I asked who was in love. She glanced at you, while you were too nervous to notice, but when she looked back to me, you looked to her. That's when I noticed."

"Thank you." He said shyly.

"No problem man. I hope it works out." I said. We both exited, and I walked out to be congratulated by lots of excited parents, saying they loved my speech and my timing with Cat was genius. Finally, I got back to my friends.

"Hi…" I said. Jade hugged me.

"That was awesome!" She gushed, as Beck and Andre smiled. Cat was whispering something to Tori.

"How'd you know I was going to be here?" I asked.

"My dad saw that you were going to be speaking in some police thing. He told me, I told everyone else, and you didn't disappoint." Tori smiled at me kindly.

"Thanks."

"Now I have a question." Beck said suddenly.

Oh no…

"Why did they never do this when I was in middle school?" He asked, causing everyone to start laughing.

That's just how things worked out.