Held High

Chapter 4- #TheStruggle

My feet pounded against the earth as a struggled to reach my bus. My ankles had repaired nicely in two months.

"Will you slow the fuck down! Jesus! Oh fuck no... mom is going to kill me." I yelled to the skies.

The school bus sped out of view, leaving me behind in the dust. Today was my big presentation, the day that I could make my dreams of Harvard college come true. I had a whole class on my schedule dedicated to college prep.. what in the fuck am I going to do now... If I don't get to do this presentation... I am so screwed.

I ran down to the metro bus stop, about a block away. Bus 221 runs about a mile away from my school, so I guess I won't be late if I run the whole way to school. I arrive at the bus stop just seconds before the door is ready to close and the bus driver is ready to start her route.

"Wait! Please, please just wait. I need a ride to school, please I am begging you to let me on this bus, I'll pay extra, just please I need this." I plead to the Hispanic lady that is driving the vehicle.

"Just get on girl." She frowns at me and sticks out her hand to collect the fee.

I hand her a $5.00 bill and tell her to keep the change. The driver of bus 221 grunts and waves her hand to the empty seat at the back of the bus.

I let out a breath of air that must have been in my chest for a while. Well I'm fucked.

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I arrived in the college prep media room just as the speaker from Harvard University introduced himself.

"I am so ecstatic to be here, with this schools finest ladies and gentlemen." He started with a grin.

"How is everyone doing today?" He asks.

"Oh and by the way, you all can call me Sam." Sam puffs out his chest and smiles a grin with teeth so white it blinds me,

A quite murmur of fine Mr.Sam floods across the room. "Well good! So may you all please introduce yourselves so we can get this presentation on forth and we can get all of the assessments submitted to Harvard today." A girl with a bright red ruffled top and a black cardigan raises her hand.

"Good morning Sir, how are you doing today?" She begins. "I'm doing okay." He replies.

"That's great. My name is Mandy Jenkins and my dream is to become a cardiologists. I am a straig_"

Mandy was going to explain furthermore about herself, however Sam cut her off. "Okay, thank you Ms.Jenkins. I hope you score high on this examination." Ten more students introduce themselves and he simply nods his head in acknowledgement.

He turned to face the door way in which I was standing in. "Ah.. I see one of your students are late Mrs.Jones..." Sam eyes my teacher, whom shakes her head at me.

"I..I am so sorry Sa-" I start. "It's Mr. Black to you Ms..." He sternly says. "Ms... Ms Novice." I state.

Mr.Black nods his head. "Well, are you just going to stand in the door way or are you going to take a seat Ms.Noivce?" He asks.

I bow my head, half in embarrassment and half in shame. "Now, onto the presentations. This is your chance to show your teacher, our grading department, your classmates, and me what you are made of. Please set up your things as quickly as possible, state your first and last name, what you would like to study if--" Mr. Black emphasizes on the word if.

"...if you make it into our university. Now the rules, please stay quiet during all presentations, show us that you are adult enough to handle this, you may practice reading your reminder cards while another pier is presenting if you wish. However, keep in mind that your piers are running against you for a chance to have a scholarship to our high maintenance school, so maybe you should learn from their mistake and improve your performance. The last and most important rule is, never, ever speak directly to any of the judges, you may not even motion them with your hands or any body part of your body. Now, I will go down the order in which you will present."

He slips a piece of thin white paper out of his accordion folder and begins to read.

"Mandy Jenkins, Stewert Brusald, Jonathan Makay, Tatiana West, Amanda Newt, Lee Holt, Anh Ly, Binh Nyguen, Gabrielle Novice, Daniel Jaro, Hannah Jennings and Fredrick LeeRosa."

"Now please, get all your things out, visual displays, flash drives, note cards anything you might need for this presentation." He states. "Now, will Ms. Jenkins please come up to the stage and show us why she is different and why she is worth our time." He directs Mandy towards the stage, steady claps fill the room as my stomach fills with fluttering butterflies.

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"My presentation has multiple things that tell about me and about the profession I want to invest in. If I did get into Harvard and I accomplish in my career, I would make about $360,000 as a Heart Surgeon. I would like to join this profession because I absolutely love the idea of making that amount of money per year! If I had this job, I would save up and live in a pent house, I would save all of my money and pay back any loans that I owe to the school right away..." Mandy rants on and on about what her college would be like, what she would buy with the money she would make (May I say that it contained a lot of a variety of shoes.)

My head slips against my hand, my head slams against the desk and Mrs.Jones points a boney finger at me. I mean... it's not really my fault that I don't want to hear about her Jimmy Choo's... If I had it my way, I would donate money to foundations and save most of it for my future kids college tuition, I don't want them to struggle like everyone in my family...

I snap out of my day dream and view my note cards. 'Gabrielle Novice; Health Care profession, Home Health Care Nursing, Good morning everyone..'

I flip the next card.. I flip again.. and again.. and again they are all blank....

I check my book sack to find the others.."Shit!" I yell out. Mr. Black takes a glance at me a I slump down in my seat and my face is taken over by a rosy red blush.

My eyes widen in terror, the.. the cards... they are all covered in water and the ink.. it's ruined...

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Okay I know.. I know Wattpad. I haven't been on much. I hope to start getting back into my writing faze. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Chapter #3 was just a filler on what was going on and this is about 2 months later when Gabrielles ankle is fully healed and she is able to walk, and run again.

Anyways, if you just bare with me, I will update as soon as possible.

Okay thank you for reading. <3 <3

~Gabby