Chapter One
"This is the moment you have all been waiting for, ladies and gentleman! The time has come for Wexler University to introduce the graduating class of 1998's, valedictorian!" Dean Harrison loosened his tie as he prepared himself for the inevitable. All of a sudden, I felt sweat roll down both my armpits like someone shoved a popsicle in between them. Geez I was nervous…
I looked at him, hoping to see if I could catch the image of my reflection bouncing off his coke bottle glasses, but I failed, miserably.
"The valedictorian of the class of 1998 is...Rebecca Chambers!" As soon as he said my name, I felt my stomach touch my knees. To think that I would be this nervous for some useless accolade that will likely get me nowhere, just went to show me how much of a nervous wreck I'd become over the past few months.
"Come on up, Rebecca!" he said as he waved me up on stage. My mom and dad looked at me the way proud parents did, but they were also pretty nonchalant about being there. Not that I could blame them. Graduations were a form of cruel and unusual punishment for us students, not matter how sweet my parents tried to make it seem.
I rested my palms on the arm rests, pushing myself up. Unlike my mom, I had a really hard time walking in heels, and I knew it would be both painful and embarrassing to walk up the stairs to the stage. She convinced me to dress very ladylike for the occasion, even though I protested for hours. It was a battle I lost before it even got started.
Doing my best to ignore the mounting discomfort in my aching heel, I trudged towards the stage. With each step followed a clumsy wobble. If I could get out of this moment without falling on my face, I would be eternally grateful.
Dean Harrison seemed to have noticed that I was not my usual self, so he extended a hand as I reached the top rung. "Congratulations, Rebecca!" he boomed into the small microphone clipped onto his blazer. My ears rung for a moment, but not before I felt my body get hot.
Now, as I was looking over everyone in my graduating class looking back at me, if there were ever a time for me to embarrass myself, this would be it.
"You have made your parents, your school, your community, and your peers very proud by graduating at the top of your class, Rebecca. Is there anything you would like to share with the rest of your classmates?"
I swallowed hard. He'd made me rehearse my speech for what seemed like a million times, but now that everyone was here, I was totally clueless as to what I was going to say.
My speech was already laid out on the podium. All I had to do was rest my eyes on it, let my brain do the work, and my mouth relay the message. Dean Harrison kindly stepped aside, wiping the sweat beading from his bald, wrinkling head before it got into his eyes. I stepped up, took a deep breath, but not before I stole a glance at my parents, who both had expectant looks on their faces. My eyes rolled back down to my speech as I gripped the sides of the podium, not even realizing how white my knuckles had turned.
"It's been a long and difficult journey, these past couple of years. When I came to Wexler as thirteen year old college freshman, you were all strangers to me. A child amongst grown ups. Throughout that time, I have slowly, but surely, disregarded the terms of 'stranger' and 'kid' as my time here started to pass." My heart was beating so fast I thought I was going to pass out. Not once did I even look up to see how hard I knew everyone was looking. It would had completely freaked me out.
I took another deep breath, and loosened the collar on my blouse. "We have all become friends. Some of you have even adopted me as family. Family is something that means a lot to me in this world. Without family, I wouldn't be where I am today, which is among the rest of you. You all have become my family. With you, I've learned to become a responsible adult. One who takes pride in what she does, never one to leave a stone unturned, and for that, I thank you. As a way of showing my gratitude towards you all, I wanted to take a moment to say that when this day is over, no matter what happens, I will be proud of each and every last one of you, because you put in the time, effort and energy to make this day happen, not only for you as individuals, but for us all, as a family."
The auditorium was dreadfully silent. Had I bored them to sleep?
"I only wish that from this day forward, we all grow together, to create a promising future for the rest of the world. To show that with a strong family, impossible is nothing. God bless, and I love you all."
Before I could muster the strength to lift my head up, my ears were met with the roar of a standing ovation. As I looked up, I saw everyone in the audience, on their feet, giving me a wild round of applause.
It was at that moment that I realized that when you touched the soul of a person with genuine emotion, impossible really was nothing.