"Maria Kristina Karlins," the speaker called out her name with a proud smile. There was a loud applause that followed right before and even after he recited her awards and achievements. Kristina walked up the stage with a wide smile on her face. It was finally happening. They were graduating.
She took the diploma from their principal, shook hands with him and after exchanging a few words of congratulations and thanks, she was handed the microphone to be make a speech since she was the valedictorian and the representative speaker for their class.
Before saying anything, she studied the crowd, smiled at how happy yet sad she felt right this moment. She spotted her mom and dad from the crowd, the old fools were smiling proudly at her, Lizzy was even tearing up a bit. She saw Ella, her best friend. She nodded her head and gave her an encouraging thumbs-up. Sean was grinning at her as well. It was such a beautiful day. Alright, time to get this speech over with.
"Before I make say everything I've prepared to say, let me just remind all of you the three people who aren't with us here today, but have greatly affected our lives. Well, mine, if not yours." The crowd laughed silently at her small joke. "Those three were the foreign exchange students we got so many months ago. Now I, as the council president, had to tolerate those three brats until then."
Their teachers grinned at her unlikely statements. Kristina just wanted to let it all out—after all, she was allowed not to be so formal anymore. They were graduating. She glanced at her hand and a small smile formed on her face when the diamond ring on her finger caught her attention.
"But still, we had a lot of fun right?" she enthusiastically asked the crowd. A series of excited murmurs echoed then. "Having a huge celebrity for a classmate, even though he was annoying as hell, a cheery, bubbly, beautiful girl that was always supportive of everybody, and a genius butthead that surpassed everyone's expectations without even trying."
She quietly sighed when she remembered the fun year she had with those three. Glancing at her ring again, she smiled once more before continuing. "Actually, it really should've been the butthead who should be making this speech right now, since he's the school's top one, but due to certain circumstances, I'll be taking his place for now."
Her classmates gently cooed at her weird endearments for her fiancé. Yes, they knew they were engaged a long time ago, but they've somehow found out about the present engagement, Daniel's true identity, Kristopher and Daniella's relationship... As usual, you could never keep secrets in this school.
"I knew a lot of guys hated me before, because I was so strict. You even made me famous by giving me nicknames like Black Tina, Spartan Pres and whatever. Honestly you guys, what the heck?"
The boys were the first ones to react. They quickly made their selves known by howling and clapping their hands. Kristina rolled her eyes. She didn't have to scold them this time. Not anymore.
"Even though I was like that, even though I knew a lot of you were even afraid of me, thank you. For being my classmates, my schoolmates and my fellow council officers. Thank you for being with me until the end."
A silence passed by the crowd as she began to speak more seriously now. Even the boys shut their mouths, looking quite intent of what their council president has to say.
"Look guys, we're finally graduating! I know I'm happy. But where do we go after this? What'll we be after this? Some of us already have something planned; some of us are still confused on what the hell we're supposed to do. Maybe after a few years, we'll all be shocked to see our silliest classmate, now a professional doctor. Or the silent-types out there, now huge celebrities. Or the people we least expect, now married and starting a family... I don't know where we're all going, I'm pretty sure all of you don't too, but I do wish that the choices we'll make won't be regretted."
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Once Upon a Kiss
Romance"Kiss me a hundred times when you come back, pinky swear?" Daniel and Kristina were best friends ever since they were five. When his dad suddenly decides to move to Europe for his new job, he says goodbye to his childhood friend. Kristina made him p...
