C.MAYDA Short Story

We sit in our seats, watching the people on stage giving their speeches.

“Don’t worry, nobody’s expect much from you,” he leans over and whispers.

“Is that suppose to be a pep talk?” I whisper back.

He smiles. “Not exactly, but if you fail, it won’t be as bad as you think,”

“I can’t believe that of all people that could have been my best friend, I get stuck with you,” I smile back, and laugh under my breathe.

I look behind myself to find a gazillion people, watching the students on stage. I can’t think straight. My parents, where are they sitting. Their nowhere in sight. I shuffle my feet and straighten out my cap.

He nudges me “Come on, don’t be so nervous. You’ll do fine. Trust me,” he says as I turn back to him.

“I don’t know, Nick,” I look back over at the students on stage. Courtney Dells was up at the podium. Her speech is going great, and she’s doesn’t even seem to be nervous at all.

“Sky, you’ll do fine. Cheer up, imagine if I was gonna give a speech. I’d probably trip over my own gown. I’d be tumbling down the stage like that girl that fell down the hole,”

“You mean like Alice in Wonderland?”

“Sure,” he grins.

“Please, welcome Vince Nobles to the stage,” the principle calls as everyone in the room claps for Courtney’s amazing speech. The room was a construction site.

“I should probably head behind stage and practice,” I start to stand up.

Nick gets up too, “Here, you can practice in front of me, maybe it’ll help with some of the fright.”As we leave our seats, we duck down our heads to not make a scene. We make our way out into the hallways. Posters and streamers shout “Good Luck Graduates!” and “Congrats Seniors!” all over walls. We walk around towards the back entrance of the stage. As we enter, I have more second thoughts about this whole speech thing.

“Nick, I think I’m gonna throw up. I really don’t think this is a good idea...” I drop my head.

“Sky, you’ve got this. I believe in you-”

“And now please welcome Quinn Pose,” the room once again fills with noise. I can feel sweat starting to run down my neck.

“Oh no… Quinn’s up. Im next. I’m going embarrass myself infront of hundreds of people.”

“Oh my gosh, Sky, you know that's not true. And even if you do mess up, so what? I bet no one will notice. And even if they do, it’ll just be a great story to tell your kids some day.”

I look back up at him, and we’re both smiling. He always knows exactly what to say when someone’s in the dumps.

He wraps his arms around my shoulders and I automatically feel way more chill than I did a little bit ago.

“Please welcome Skylar Morgan to the podium.” The audience claps for the previous speech that Quinn obviously put so much time and effort into.

“Relax,” Nick puts his hand on my shoulder, “you got this.”

I walk out onto the stage. I can feel the tension easing up my spine as I reach the podium. I see my parents, their waving, and smiling, and seem so happy. I smile in their direction. I look back

at Nick behind me, and he smiles. I take a deep breathe, and all of the tension leave my body. I begin my speech.

“Congratulations to all the graduates of the class of 2017. These past few years have been hard, but we have finally accomplished what we needed to in order to take the next step into life. We are the future, and I know that seems like a lot of pressure that's being put on us. But we have to remember that we are who we are, and we are all humans. We must stay true to ourselves. Choose our own paths. Even if we are to fail, we learn from our mistakes. We will grow from those mistakes and become more successful than we ever have been. Also, we have to remember that our time is short. We have to take appreciation and generosity of the opportunities that are given to us. To move forward and to live our lives we were born to live. Again, congratulations to everyone here, and remember to take your life into your own hands.”