Letters To My Mate

Chapter Twenty-Eight

TWENTY-EIGHT

Today's the day. It's our school leavers' celebration or our 'graduation ceremony' today. My last day at school and the scariest day - I had to speak in front of everyone today... without Ethan there to calm me down.

I pulled the covers off of my body and stretched out before jumping up and changing into a dress - I hated dressing up. I was just glad that I didn't have many bruises and cuts to cover up today but, then again, that was only because my father couldn't afford to have me stand up in front of a huge crowd of observant students with bruises covering my skin... this just meant that it would be worse when I got home after graduation

Usually I would have no suitable smart clothing for events like this but Avia had kindly bought me a dress when she found out from Seb that I didn't have anything appropriate. Seb brought it over to my house for me last night and I was just thankful that my father was not home at the time or else the punishment I would be receiving when I returned home would be a lot worse than it already will be. The dress Avia picked out was very smart looking but still covered up a lot, she was very good at observing people and thus must have looked for a dress that wouldn't make me feel any more self-conscious than I am now, so the dress was absolutely perfect. It was an A-line dress that fell to my knees and with sleeves that ended at my elbows. The dress was made of Satin and was a beige colour with black around the waistline, the bottom of the dress and the end of the sleeves. I paired it with a pair of thin black tights and short black heels. Once I was fully dressed and brushed through my hair with my fingers I walked towards the bus stop on my way to school for the last time.

***

Everyone was sat down in rows of chairs in the large gym hall in school while I stood behind a curtain on the side of a large stage taking deep breaths and waiting for the student currently giving their speech, about the future and what was waiting for us in the 'real world', to finish as I would be next. I heard clapping and took one last deep breath as my name was called. Everyone continued clapping as I nervously walked to the podium at the centre of the stage. As I reached the podium I placed my few note cards down and looked up, smiling as I scanned the crowd and found Robyn, Seb, Freya, Logan, Avia and David all sat together. I took one last deep breath and started my speech,

"My name is Rachel Walker. I know that a lot of you have absolutely no idea who I am and a lot of you who do know only see me as 'the quiet girl who used to sit on her own'. What a great reputation, right?" I smiled as people in the audience responded with laughter before continuing when the noise died down,

"We pulled a topic out of a hat in English class. The topic that we were given would then somehow magically inspire us to write a huge speech. You can imagine my surprise when I pulled out the word 'love' when everyone else had matters such as 'favourite school memories' and 'how you believe you changed throughout your school life.' I instantly thought 'Love? What can I say about love?' After all, I am only a girl who is 18 years old and is only just leaving high school. But after a lot of crumpling up paper and throwing it into the bin across the room - missing most of the attempts - I just started writing and writing.

Have you ever thought about why we love? What exactly is the purpose of loving? Maybe we were born with the purpose of finding someone to fall in love with and create more lives with that person. But who was the first person to experience love? I do wonder if they knew what they were feeling or if it was scary - what would they say to the person who caused them to feel this strong emotion that had never been felt before?

Many people take love for granted. We all have a certain kind of love for our friends and family - love does not have to have romance attached. A lot of you may have said to one of your parents the words "I hate you" and thought nothing of it. Many people take it for granted that they have family and friends who will both help us survive in this world and also who will just love us. This is 'security love'; the love that you need to survive; the love that involves the feeling of being cared for. It is very hard to find true friendship... Many of you may not have a friend who you could call up when you're going through a tough time or someone who you can tell everything to - this kind of bond is so hard to find and when you do find it, it feels so special and you should hold onto it with all that you have.

Love can also just describe your great interest in anything from a certain singer or band to your favourite hobby. We involve ourselves with these 'favourites' in our everyday life which causes our brain to stimulate the same feelings of love. I love writing things, but I did not fall in love with writing - I cannot marry something I write." I looked towards the back of the room and gasped, my heart almost stopping when I saw Ethan stood at the back of the room, leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed and a look of pride and love on his face. I felt tears in my eyes and butterflies in my stomach at the sight of him. I smiled brightly at him - he was awake! Nobody had told me that he had woken up and was okay, let alone the fact that he would be here to see my speech. He moved to the right-hand side of the room and sat on an empty chair next to Robyn, not taking his eyes off of me. With my nerves building up, I tore my eyes from his figure and looked at the crowd who was seated in front of me before trying to concentrate on and continue my speech.

"There is unconditional love; the love that has no limitations and no conditions. With this kind of love, it is sincere and it will last forever. Unconditional love is with the person you are destined to be with for the rest of your life - the one person who was made for you, as you were made for them. I know that many of you may shake your head or laugh as I say this but there is nothing better than finding this love. You may think I'm stupid and say 'there's no such thing as a love that lasts forever,' but I believe that there is. This love I have described cannot be broken by anything; no matter what you go through together, you will always go back to each other.

There is such thing as simple 'romantic love' - simple may not be the right word for it, though. Most people will experience romantic love many times throughout their life and it may not last for long in each relationship. Think if you truly love someone. If you constantly ask yourself, "do I love them?" then no, you do not love them. You may not love the person you are with but you have fallen in love with the idea of love... Nobody wants to be alone; we all want to fall in love.

However, I don't want to put you off of falling in love. Everyone - well, maybe the exception of a few people in here - will fall in love one day and you will find the person you want to grow old with. We are all graduating together today and several of us may have found a path to take - you perhaps have already decided on a university or career. You may know what you want to spend the rest of your life doing." I paused for a split second and looked at Ethan as I said the next part of my speech,

"I am lucky to be one of those people that know what I want to do; how I'm going to do it... well, I have no idea. But I already know the person that will be there with me - the person who will help me find the right path and the person who will be a huge part of that path.

I never believed in the whole 'love at first sight'. How could you see one person for the first time and instantly feel the butterflies fluttering around in your stomach, feel the sparks when you touch and the connection when your eyes meet? When you're away from that person they're still the only thing you can think of - they take over your mind. I guess you should hate them for that as it can distract you from important things... like school. But you cannot help but love them with every fibre of your being and with your mind, body and soul.

You don't have to listen to a word I have just said; I know many people stopped paying attention as soon as I introduced myself and I can see at least three people who have fallen asleep. Nevertheless, that is all I have to say about love. I might not know all of you who are sat here today but I hope you all find something and someone that you love. Don't let anyone tell you that you don't love someone or you're not good at something - ignore them and be who you want to be as it is, after all, your life and you are the one who runs it.

Thank you."

As soon as I spoke the last word Ethan was on his feet, a huge grin plastered on his face as he clapped. Robyn joined him and soon the entire crowd followed their lead and was standing and applauding. I felt my cheeks heat up and I covered my face with my hands, giggling. I thanked everyone once again before turning to see the headmaster also doing the same as everyone in the crowd. I heard the movement of feet running behind me and ignored it until I felt two arms grab me, spinning me around. I looked into the eyes that belonged to the man I had fallen in love with and everyone started clapping louder, cheering and wolf whistling as Ethan grabbed my face, bringing our lips together as we shared our first kiss.

THEY FINALLY MET

I tried to make this chapter as long as possible but its still kinda short, I didn't want to add too much and remove the focus on Rachel's speech and Ethan being there. I hope you all enjoyed :)