YOUR HAPPINESS OVER MINE ↠ DANIEL SEAVEY

28: Poison

"Welcome to the stage: Sienna Martin!" the principal greeted as a smile shined upon my face.

"Thank you," I whispered as she gave me a small grin.

"Hello teachers, students, family, and friends," I chuckled completely nervous among the crowd, "As we stand here today, we ponder our last thoughts of the few memories of high school. There were good days and there were bad, but it was always in that school. We could never forget - uh," I smiled sheepishly starring at the notecards in front of me.

The words leaving my lips didn't feel right. It all felt too forced and planned out, yet that's nothing like high school. High school is meant to try new things, reach out of our shell, or be spontaneous. It wasn't worth to end it like a lie.

A breathe released my body closing my eyes at the sudden stress. The notecards were faced downwards as the room was silent. Most people were skeptical to what I was doing, but they had to trust me.

"I'm not going to lie — but high school completely sucks," I paused causing gasps to escape in the crowd.

The principle shoved me a horrendous look as my council massaged his temples from the nightmare. No teacher or administrator wanted to hear their student talk bad about the school in the public's eyes — but I was.

"Yeah, shocking, isn't it? The student body president of her own high school saying it sucked? Absolutely shocking," I retorted sarcastically.

"This high school was a reck. These four years were a reck, but it's because we learned and we grew. We would never grow to the person we are today without hardship. We would never experience the best parts of life without the worst. Because of this school — and because of those tough moments, it shaped me into the person standing here today. It shaped you into the people sitting in front of me," I smiled looking to my fellow graduates.

"I remember the dozens of times I stayed up all night from studying for that difficult test, and I remember the dozens of times I would complain about a bad score. This school was able to bring us the worst and best times of our lives. Yes, there's a chance I'll never see any of you again, but it doesn't mean I won't remember you. We grew together. You shifted me to the person I am today, and I hope I did the same to you. We weren't the same people that walked in those halls four years ago because this school changed us. It showed us the reality of life — the good and the bad.

"Sometimes I feel like the weight of the world is landing of my shoulders, but I know most of you have felt the same way at some point too. We forget that the world doesn't revolve around us and that other people have problems as well. Because of this, it allows us to be brought together. From a certain bond or a certain connection, it made life in high school more relatable with one another. These past few months have been some of the hardest I have faced, but the people in and out of this school have been there for me to deal with it.

"I'm not going to tell you that high school was like in the movies — because it's far from it. I'm saying we wouldn't meet the same people, we wouldn't be the same person, and we wouldn't have the same experiences without this school. Good or bad, it taught us something. Life would be much more different without this school — for all of us.

"We made it. We survived four years of countless hours of work and countless hours of dedication. There are so many distractions in life that could bring us from this moment, but we never let it stop us. The memories still live in those halls — it won't change. For now, all we could do is remember the parts more memorable. Thank you for changing my life.

A smile formed on my lips hearing the cheers from the stands as I saw the vision of my parents in the audience. A wave escaped my clutches seeing the duo making my way back to my seat. Kendra gave me a proud smile from the other row as I mimicked her action. The administration shot me a smile at the speech telling the crowd to settle down.