"Mama, if you don't stop taking pictures I'll be late to my own graduation" I say to my mom as was still taking pictures of me. "My baby is graduating high school! I need pictures!" She tells me "I know! But we have to go" I say to her.
"Is Papi gonna meet us at school?" I asked as we made our way out the door. "Yes he is" my mom answered "Is Shawn coming?" She asked me "of course" I said blushing at the thought of his name. My parents loved him, they said I looked happier with him, I always denied it.
Jackson: mija where are you?
I rolled my eyes at Jackson's text his new nickname for me was mija, it was a shortened version of mi hija. Which meant daughter in English, he called me because Mila kinda sounded like mija.
Bethany: where are you? We are gonna start taking pictures without you.
"Mami, we are running late" I said, all of my friends were texting me about it. "We are almost there, calm down" she tells me "okay, gosh" I replied. I texted them back saying I was almost there.
"I'm here!" I shouted running to my friends, my mom had made her way inside the school with the rest of my family. "Is shawn here?" I asked "he went inside" Emily tells me as I nodded. "Let's takes pictures already!" Bethany shouted.
"Are you ready for your speech? Mrs. valedictorian" Jackson asked me ruffling my hair. "Hey!" I shouted "that's why you should wear your cap" he tells me "what does yours say?" He asked me I handed it to him. "I made it myself" I answered.
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"You're a sweet girl" Jackson said to me "thanks, without my parents I wouldn't be here" I tell him. On my cap I had painted the words "su lucha valió la pena." "Gracias mami y papi." It meant your struggle was worth it, thank you mom and dad. I was very grateful for them, they had left the home they knew to help me.
My family would move from Mexico to Cuba, my father was Mexican and my mother Cuban. Until one day we moved to Florida, my father didn't come with us at first until many weeks later. They struggled, but they did it all for me. I will never forget that.
"We have to go!" Bethany shouted grabbing our arms. We all ran inside and saw the rest of our class mates "everyone get in line!" One of our teachers yelled, everyone quickly got into the alphabetical order we had practice in for so long.
"I'm nervous" I whisper leaning over to Emily who was next to me. "Don't be" she tells me "we would like to welcome our valedictorian Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao" I let out a small laugh as I told them to call me up by my full name. Everyone clapped as I walked up on to the stage, I quickly found my family and Shawn in the audience, I directed my attention towards them.
Sofi started to wave at me, I smiled and waved back before I started my speech. "Good evening, everyone" I started "it's such an honor to be up here today, I would have never thought I would be my class valedictorian." "I guess those late night melt downs were worth it" I said earning a laugh from the crowd. "I'd first like to thank my teachers, friends and family members who helped me get to where I am now, standing in front of you."
"I remember the first day of high school because I will never forget the fear I had of walking through those doors." "I had just moved from Miami, I was scared that I wasn't going to make and friends, or thought anyone was going to like this Miami girl" I continued.
"But I guess I was scared for nothing because I did feel welcomed here. I had made friends with a group of girls" I said, the girls weren't always mean to me. I didn't know what happened.
"We were close friends, but sometimes friendships don't work out" I added, I wasn't going to praise them, but they were part of my story.
"I learn that's sometimes things have to get bad before they can get better. Although I sometimes wish I could skip over the bad part and just go start to the good ones." "I have learned who my real friends are and who aren't." "So I would like to encourage everyone to be nice to one another, because you don't know what people are dealing with." I said.
"Just because you're on the top doesn't mean you'll be there forever." "It Kinda sounds like I didn't have much fun at this school, but I promised I did" I said with a little laugh. "I have learned many things like how to be myself and lots of interesting facts that I probably won't use in life. But I do know them!" I said making the audience laugh.
"There are a lot of memories I made here, some of my favorites had to be in 9th grade when Grayson opened the cage to the science teacher's hamster. And freaked out when it crawled out of the cage."
"And when Allison made everyone take part in last years musical"
"Before I end this speech, I would like to thank one of my favorite teachers Mrs. Michaels. I loved being in her class and I will definitely miss it. She taught me how to use my emotions and put it into writing." "She never made me feel like my ideas or dreams were impossible. So I would like to thank her for that." I say
"I also want to thank my friends Jackson, Bethany, Emily and Shawn for standing by me when things got tough." I added looking at them giving them a wink.
"Finally, I would like to thank my parents." I knew I was gonna get emotional when it got to this part. "There is so much I want to thank you for, but I would be up here for hours. So I'll make this quick"
"I want to thank you both so much for this, without you two I wouldn't be here. My parents left there countries to be here, I'm proud that I come from Mexico and Cuba." "They left the places they knew to move here and give me a chance." "su lucha valió la pena, gracias mami y papi" I said as I walked off the stage.
I was tearing up and I hoped nobody noticed. "You did so good!" The twins said giving me a hug. "Ugh, I'm ready to leave this place" I say laughing wiping my tears away.
"Congratulations to the class of 2018! You guys did it!" Everyone started to cheer getting up and hugging each other and running over to there families and friends.
"Camila, I'm so proud of you!" My mom says to me pulling me into a big hug "you made me cry" she tells me as I laughed "sorry Mami" I said. "I think your father cried but he won't admit it" my step mother as she she gives me a hug. "I didn't" my father said I laughed and hugged him and gave Sofi a big hug.
"So I'm just a friend to you?" Shawn asked "Here I got this for you" he says handing me a bouquet of flowers. "It's beautiful!" I shouted giving him a hug. "Just like you" he replied "shut up" I say rolling my eyes as he smiled at me. "So what are your plans now?" Shawn asked me "off to make my dreams come true" I said "I like the sound of that" he said pulling me closer giving me a kiss.
"How did I walk into high school with the worst friends ever, but ended up with the best person I have ever met?" I asked "I don't know, you're lucky" Shawn said to me laughing. In away, I guess I was.
THATS THE END!! Am I gonna make a second one? I don't think so honestly, I don't know tell me what you think.
I also have another Shawmila book called memories If you wanna check it out!
