AN: Thank you to Cynder2013 for not only following me (Welcome to the madness), but for pointing out that I called Lou Ellen "Mary Lou". I don't know why. Thanks for pointing it out. I have already fixed it. She just won everyone an extra chapter for today! If you thought things were complicated before, I'm sorry. I'm finally able to build up the world that I wanted to because I have my character figured out and it might be confusing when we get there.

Also, thanks to everyone who's following and who review this. I've gotten some lovely comments and it makes my day especially with school going. Love you all.

I walked out onto the stage as the audience clapped, the video finally over.

Batman followed me out, a few feet behind me.

I stopped and made him stay.

He lay down, watching me.

I went to the microphone.

Everyone was still clapping, and there were some excited cheers.

I got to the microphone and adjusted the height of it. "Hey guys. I think they thought I was shorter than I actually was." I raised it finally while they all laughed. "So, that speech I gave…" I looked out and made a face. "Yikes."

Everyone laughed, taking it as a joke.

I shrugged. "But seriously, hearing myself speaking is not a fun thing to me. So, thanks for thinking that it is fun or cool. I'm actually here because of you guys. So, hi everyone."

Cheering. Good. That was good.

"So, apparently I'm considered an empowered teen. Now, this may be because of how I handled my mother's death, or the fact that I have my own book coming out in December, or a myriad of other reasons. I was told to talk about what makes me feel empowered.," I told them, giving it a moment before turning slightly and saying, "I had no idea what that meant. Not a clue."

The audience laughed. Thank goodness that joke didn't fall flat.

"So, I guess I'm going to talk about myself and my life and the things that have happened and how I've dealt with them or managed to live with them. I'm going to start by saying that it's hard to consider myself someone who has been through a lot after talking to friends from the summer camp I go to. I mean, honestly, they have the worst luck. But there are certain things that do put me up to par with their misfortune if I look at it from an objective point of view. First would be the fact that my father is not in my life. He never was. The closest thing I have to a father is Jacob. When I think about fathers, he's the one that I think of in my head. So, that's not great. I never really noticed growing up, until I think I went to a friend's house and they had both and I was just sort of confused about what a father was for, like," I shrugged. "My mom does that too."

There were some chuckles.

"Then my friend's father said that he fixed the toilet, like, telling her mom that he was done with fixing it and that it was operational. That shed some light on what father's were for, and then I bugged my mom for the next five years about my father. She told me what she knew about him, which wasn't that much but it was nice to know that I wasn't just some freak of nature. I don't classify not having a father as something bad in my life. It's just sort of there. Um, the next thing would probably be losing my mom. So, you know, that's a little bit bigger and more impacting. Now, almost anyone who knew me after the second week of her being dead said that I handled it fantastically and that they had no clue how I was so together. A clue? I'm really good at suppressing my emotions. Too good. The first week and a half, I was with my half-brother and I was an absolute mess. I don't think I stopped crying for half an hour together and I hated it because I hate crying in front of people. It's embarrassing and I ugly cry most of the time. But she was my whole world, and I had just lost her and I was absolutely terrified. Not of the people who had done this. I knew I was safe. I was terrified of being alone. When I got to the summer camp that my half-brothers go to, I suppose I was determined to make the most of the situation so that I would never feel alone unless I actually chose to have alone time. So I made friends. Over the course of the summer, those friends became family to me, because I don't exactly have family anymore. Why not make my own family from my closest circle of friends? People to rely on and take care of each other, to make sure we make smart choices. To be good influences on each other. To tease each other and spend holidays together."

Everyone was quiet. Shoot. Was I boring them?

"I just had my first Thanksgiving without my mom, and with my adopted family. Let me tell you, it was weird, but we figured it out eventually and I think everyone had a good day. During the summer, I ended up having a reaction to some medicine for an injury I got, and literally spent a few days debating with my own mind. In the end, I had some severe nerve damage and it took a couple extra days to get the medicine out of my system so that I could function like a sane person. It wasn't fun. My arm will go numb every once in a while. Like when I try to climb the rope for gym class. Sometimes it will slowly go numb, other times it will just go numb. It's great. Also makes typing super productive," I said sarcastically.

Some people laughed.

"Something else happened, which I really don't want to talk about. Unfortunately, it is something that happened and that has been something that I adapted to. Back at the end of September, I was drugged and raped by five guys and they overdosed me, so I ended up in the hospital because I stopped breathing. All of the trauma from my mom dying was suddenly fresh again, I was super sensitive to everything. I felt like I was filthy, the whole time. I'm doing a lot better now. I got some professional help. It wasn't what I thought it would be, therapy. I'm…okay with it. Not thrilled. But, it's okay. It actually caused a huge chain reaction at my school. Through the whole summer I was dealing with anxiety. It wasn't necessarily all the time. But that speech that I gave, the one that they showed a video of? Yeah, I had a major anxiety attack while trying to figure that out because the closer it got the more people I heard would be there and be watching. It was seriously terrifying. Thankfully, I had a good group of friends to help me get through it. So, I guess what I'm saying is that what makes me strong is my own determination, and the support of my friends and family. I've determined to be okay. I moved on because I had to, because I needed to be strong and support myself as I sorted through the mess. I am finishing my mom's stories because I can't bring myself to leave them unfinished. I can't imagine leaving them there for the rest of my life. What would be the point, right? So, I'm working on those, and my own stories, and school, and then there was also the court case. There was so much heaped onto my plate that to lift it I had to have two people, a dog and a kitten help me back to my feet."

Batman had snuck over and was sitting by me.

I looked down at him, then shook my head and kept talking. "You never know what people are going through, or how they're actually handling their own troubles. I tried all summer to distract myself from what I felt, because I was more afraid of being alone than of being sad. I bottled it up inside and then I would have moments where I just couldn't function anymore. I can't tell you how many times I was prescribed to take alone time because I was an ambivert who was acting like an extrovert and not taking time alone. But when I did take time alone, I would come back from it feeling better and ready to continue. Usually. There were a couple cases that were somewhat exceptional. I met a lot of people who have functioned without their parents for a long time, people who think it's weird that I was so close to my mother. And I met people who completely understood my…despair. I chose to follow my mother's legacy." I looked over the audience. "Her legacy of strength, kindness, compassion, and concern for the world. Her legacy of writing. But I've also chosen to create my own legacy. I wanted to lleave a legacy, and I have a lot of time to do so. I'm sixteen. If I'm careful, if I make good choices, and if fate is kind then I should have many years ahead of me. If not, then I want to make as much of an impact as I can, with every day that I wake up and find myself breathing. Does that mean I'm actually going to make an impact every day? Not even close. There are those days, you know the ones. The ones where you wake up and realize you hit snooze one too many times, so you rush around and get to school because you have tests all day, and realize that you forgot your notebook and calculator, that you mechanical pencils aren't in your bag and your regular pencils just won't sharpen. Then by the time you get home, you know you don't have homework because you only had exams and you just want to watch TV or something but instead you play a family game and stare across the table at your brother thinking, 'Did he do something different with his hair? Or does he just need a haircut?' But you don't dare ask because you live with him and that would just be weird if you didn't notice that. Then the cat hacks up a hair ball." I went through that whole thing, ending looking out over the crowd, thinking about that day and making a face.

There was a lot of laughter for that one.

"Someone said that I did such a big thing by posting about how much I love the pets I adopted from a shelter. When you see this adorable face online—" I squished his face a bit and he wagged his tail. "And then learn that his name is Batman, then yeah. Yes, I got a part great dane dog that is named Batman. He's awesome and he had previous training, which was another appealing thing for us because I was never allowed to have a puppy or anything because it hinders travel and we had to travel a lot. Our kitten, Parker, is very cuddly and hides in our beds. We have to thoroughly check our beds before we even sit down on them. Also, we have to check our backpacks because she likes to crawl into them while we're getting ready and we've accidentally brought her to school three times. One of those times was just for a club meeting, which was also the time that there was a shooting at our school. That was a scary hour or so. I think. Maybe." I frowned at the ceiling a bit. "You know, I wasn't really scared for myself that day. I was actually pretty calm. I was more concerned about other people. My boyfriend was there, some new friends, the brother I adopted this summer…I didn't want them to get hurt. I wasn't scared until I found out that the shooter was actually from the group that had kidnapped my mom and I. That he had been there because of me. That whole issue is starting to come to a close as well. So, fingers crossed that that nightmare is over."

Batman barked once.

"Shush," I ordered, shaking my head. "And I've been talking for a long time and I'm not entirely certain that I even said anything that was slightly helpful for an empowerment conference."

Laughter had to be a good thing. Right?

"So, I guess really quick, I'd like to say this: You guys, we're young. Our youth allows us to do so much more, because we have more time ahead of us. There will always be people who try to tear us down and make us give up. We have our whole lives to learn from the mistakes of those who have come before us. But we also have problems ourselves that we haven't figured out yet. So I want you guys to consider four things that you can try to help each other with. The first is substance abuse. This can be the biggest reason you will fail. And media sources are pushing this idea into our heads that alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs are cool things to do. That they're fun and don't have terrible consequences. The second is bullying. I know that you all are getting inundated with anti-bullying campaigns, but I want you guys to consider it in a different light. These anti-bullying campaigns revolve largely around you being able to see these mean comments. But you can't always see them. At my school, some of the guys on the football team have started an anti-bullying group. They did this after what happened to me, because there's a faction of people at our school who were definitely not on my side. Our quarterback knew he was seen as a leader in the school and decided that anyone getting bullied should have a group to have their back. That the ones who aren't strong enough to hold that sort of crap should have some extra muscle to fall back on. Because the bullying that I received was anonymous, and posted privately. We had no way of linking the comments to people at our school. The court systems still aren't able to do much of anything when it comes to bullying. If we don't take care of the people around us, are we really any better than the bullies?"

It was quiet enough that I could hear someone cough toward the back.

"Third, is depression. If you think someone is depressed or suicidal, tell someone. Never think for a moment that it's a joke when someone says that they're going to kill them. Will this make you seem like a ridiculously serious person, yeah. But sometimes it's better to take something like that seriously than to dismiss it as nothing and find out later that it wasn't. If you find yourself struggling with depression, or your friend comes to you struggling with depression, you listen. You tell them to find a help center, you tell someone who can help you and who will make you feel loved. You find a help line. You find a group online to support you. Do something, because the last thing that this world needs is to lose another brilliant mind. Four, it is okay to not know what you want for your future. I've been looking at some statistics because I'm kind of dorky like that and more than half of college students tend to switch their majors. It's more than okay to pick up a trade instead of going to college. Trades are jobs too, and their job fields that are usually looking for people to fill them." I had an idea that suddenly started nagging at me. "If you want to travel for a bit instead of going to college or some form of training, then get a job and save up your money. You want to join army? The navy? The Marines? The Air Force? The Coast Guard? Go for it and know that my prayers are for your safety. We can all do brilliant things. They don't even have to change the world, even if they change one life, we've done something good. Draw your personal power from inside yourself and go through life with determination. Determine to be good, do good, to make a happy life for yourself. I think you'll all surpass me by miles. I mean, look at this crowd! We could all walk out of here, determined to do one good thing today and make such a huge impact. If that's not powerful…I don't know what is." I glanced at my watch. "I have to stop talking now. Thanks for listening to me ramble, you guys are great!" I waved.

The room erupted in cheers, surprising me.

Batman got excited, but calmed down when gave a slight tug on his collar.

I gave a bit of a bow, then had to kind of pull Batman a bit as I started to leave the stage.

He eventually followed me off.

"Well, that was terrible. You should have let me make an outline or something," I told Jacob, Travis, and Nico.

Nico just smirked. "You think that about every speech, don't you?"

There was more laughter and cheering out there.

I looked back, then hurried back to grab Batman.

He didn't come with me, too excited, and he was definitely too big for me to drag.

Nico came out with his leash and best and strapped it on the dog, which brought immediate obedience. Then Batman waited for a moment before following me off the stage while Theresa laughingly announced the break and that I would be interacting in the gym in about ten minutes.

I shook my head. "Yeah, because I was rambling and did I even have a point? Will they even remember that? Did that even do anything? I felt like I was just talking. Although, I do have something else I want to research now."

"There, then someone got something out of it. And you spoke for quite a while without being nervous, or at least not showing that you were nervous." Jacob was writing something down on a piece of paper. "Travis and Nico, you two stick with her out there?"

Travis nodded.

"Okay, I have to run over to Lorraine's office. I'll be back in an hour or so," Jacob told me, then kissed my forehead. "You were great. I'll see you later."

I waved a bit.

Nico nodded toward our route out to the foyer. "We should get you out there. We're your security detail. We'll ensure that you are secure."

I rolled my eyes. "My speech broke Nico."

Travis chuckled. "Come on. You have people to talk with."

"Yay."

Nico put an arm around my shoulders. "At least you get to sit while you do it."

"That is nice." I rolled my shoulders. "Think I have time to switch to my boots?"

"Shoes hurting your feet?"

I nodded.

"We'll take the time. We've got a couple extra minutes," Travis said.

I darted over to where our stuff was sitting and slipped out of my heels, pulling on socks and then boots.

Nico was wearing my swords, the visibility turned off completely, ready to use them if need be. He was super protective of me.

I finished and got back up. "Better hurry." I walked purposefully toward the door that led out to the hall.

Paul Blofis was in the hall. "Thought you might need someone to show you the way."

I smiled. "Hey, yeah, that'd be great."

"Your speech was good."

"Yeah, but not great." I frowned a bit. "I rambled and I didn't have a point."

Paul chuckled. "You were fine. You expressed yourself well."

"I rambled."

"You'll never convince her that either of her speeches were good," Travis told Paul.

Paul nodded, chuckling still. He led us into the gym using some sort of back way.

The crowd was starting to file in, talking to the other people who had talked to them. The other speeches had been good.

I followed Paul to an area. There were some chairs there, and a table by the middle chair.

"It's easiest if you stay in one area. Have people come to you, we'll make sure that there's movement in the crowd so that more people can talk to you," Paul explained. "I'll check on you guys in a little while."

I nodded. "Thanks."

He gave an encouraging smile and walked off.

I climbed onto one of the seats.

Nico stood beside me, looking a little wary and holding Batman's leash.

Travis looked around for a moment. "I'm going to go grab water bottles before the crowds reach us."

I nodded. "That'd be good." I stroked Batman's ears, nervously watching the crowd draw closer.

Travis jogged back over, then handed me a water bottle and made a funny face.

I did it back, then saw the girl who was tentatively approaching me and waved. "Hi." Wonder how the rest of the day was going to go.