Discovery

Chapter 43

"Rosenberg... get up here," Snyder yelled when he caught sight of Willow as she walked into the grassy area where their graduation ceremony was going to be held. Willow smiled at the others.

"Good luck." She grinned.

"You too, Willow." Buffy smiled, hugging Willow tightly. Willow coughed.

"Um, Buffy... oxygen please?"

"Oh, right. Sorry... kind of on edge."

"No reason to be on edge. We're going to be great." Oz smiled.

Xander nodded in agreement, giving Willow a hug of his own. "Not with me as key-man here and Angel not being key-man," he said. Willow rolled her eyes ad Buffy and Cordelia before walking towards the stage. She put her hand into the pocket of her robes, her finger's brushing up against the copy of her speech she had folded up and put in there earlier, just in case. It wasn't a good speech, she had been a little busy to write something overly meaningful, but if Willow did have to say it... it got the point across.

"Nice of you to be here, Rosenberg." Snyder scowled. He gestured to an empty seat on the stage.

"That's your seat... I will be sitting right next to you for most of the ceremony, so don't you dare to try any funny business, alright? Now excuse me, I have to go and talk to the Mayor." Snyder stalked over to the Mayor, who stood at the other end of the stage to Willow. She eyed him. It looked like Faith's coma had affected him... he was far paler than Willow remembered him being... although it might just be because he was going to transform into a giant snake within the next few hours.

The Mayor met Willow's gaze and she couldn't resist tilting her head to the side and giving a little smirk. The Mayor returned the gesture with a simpering smile of his own before returning his attention to Snyder. Snyder looked a little flustered and began to reshuffle his pages. Willow wondered what on earth they were talking about. She glanced over at Buffy, who was getting settled in her seat... not far from Oz. Xander and Cordelia and the majority of the student body were already sitting and a couple of them were looking up at Willow, slightly apprehensive looks on their faces. Willow forced a resolve face onto her face... a look of steadfast determination. She knew that, in the lead-up to the battle they were about to fight, she would be the one they looked up to. She would be the one who would need to reassure them that she... mousey little Willow Rosenberg, was not afraid and they shouldn't be afraid of what was about to happen either.

In response to her look of determination, a few of the students smiled and a couple of others straightened their backs and put on masks of determination as well.

Beyond the students sat the parents. Willow could pick out Booth and his friends. Parker must have been standing up in his seat, because Willow could see his head, and he waved at her. Willow waved back at him and a wide grin broke out on his face.

The final few students took their seats and Snyder crossed to the podium as the Mayor took his seat, just on the other side of Snyder's vacant chair. Willow fought the urge to gulp at the prospect of sitting so close to him.

"Congratulations to the class of 1999. You all proved more or less adequate. This is a time of celebration, so... sit still and be quiet," Snyder began, looking down at the students. Spotting someone in the crowd chewing, the troll-like man scowled.

"Spit out that gum. In the program of events today, it states that our next speaker would be our distinguished guest speaker, Richard Wilkins the third... I saw that gesture. You see me after graduation... but at our good Mayor's request, he has asked, for a turn on tradition, for the valedictorian's address to precede his speech, so I invite the Sunnydale High School Class of 1999 Valedictorian, Miss Willow Rosenberg, to the podium," Snyder announced. Willow got to her feet on autopilot, shooting a look out at Buffy, who was nodding encouragingly, and at Xander, who was giving her the thumbs-up. Willow walked past Snyder on her way to the podium.