First//Luke Hemmings

Chapter 40

“Oh God, I’m so nervous,” Luke said shakily, adjusting the cap on his head.

 Today was our graduations, and as valedictorian Luke had to give his speech. He had written it a few nights ago yet had refused to show it to me.

“Babe, you’re going to be perfect. Stop worrying,” I said, wrapping my arms around his neck.

“If I trip can you make sure no one laughs?” he asked when we pulled away.

 “Of course,” I said, kissing him quickly on his cheek.

“But what if I say something really stupid, or if I spit on everyone?” Luke said, running his hands through the bit of hair that was sticking out of his cap.

“You worry too much Luke, honestly. You give speeches in debate all the time, this is no different,” I said, grabbing his hands and running my thumb slowly over his long fingers.

“Yeah I guess…” he sighed, locking his eyes with mine.

“Everyone, alphabetical order! Line up everyone. Luke, you come to the front,” our principle called.

“That’s my queue,” Luke said, walking to the front of the room.

 “Good luck babe,” I said as he began to walk away.

We then all filed out of the room, making out way to the grassy field where foldable chairs had been set up for us. Heather winked at me as she walked past me to get to her seat. She then sat next to Ashton, and wrapped her hand around his. I raised my eyebrows at her, causing her face to flush red and her to look away.

“Good morning graduates and parents, welcome! We would like to welcome our class valedictorian Luke Hemmings to the stage,” our principle said.

The crowd erupted in cheers as Luke approached the stage. Luke walked over to the podium and tapped the microphone, taking in a large breath. He locked his eyes with mine, the nerves and fear visible from the first row. I blew him a kiss and gave him a thumbs up, and saw all of the fear just melt out of his face.

“Hey guys, first of all congrats to us for actually surviving high school and remaining relatively sane. I would first like to get the thank yous out of the way. Thanks to all of our amazing teachers. You didn’t have to come to work everyday and deal with all of our crap, but you did. You always answered our emails quickly, and would even stay after school to help some of us out. So thank you, you deserve more recognition then you get. I would next like to thank the parents or guardians in the audience today. Thank you for forcing us to all get out of bed and go to school, despite our protests. Thank you for taking us to Target every August to buy new school supplies, and thank you for attempting to help us with our math homework even though you had no idea what was going on. You all raised us to the amazing people that we all are today. And now for the part where I actually address my peers, the people that I have endured four long years with. I’m not a man of many words, and definitely not the cheesy motivational words that most people are expecting from this speech. For this part of the speech, I am going to borrow some words from the late but great Steve Jobs. “Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… The ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” That is what we all are; we’re all misfits in our own way. Even if some of us were the losers on the debate team, or the most popular people in school, we all have felt like misfits. It took me until the beginning of this year to realize that we aren’t as different as we are all convinced. There are always two sides to every story, and I feel like that is something that often gets over looked. Don’t over look it. I have grown particularly close to this graduating class, maybe it’s because when I was the awkward scrawny kid from Australia they forced me to become American. Thank you all for that. I know we will all be successful in the future, because you guys are all great people. Good luck with the rest of your lives!” Luke said, backing away from the podium.

The crowd erupted in cheers and I shot up from my chair, clapping wildly for him. Luke was grinning from ear to ear as he stepped off the stage and walked towards his seat.

“You were amazing babe, I told you it would be great!” I said to him as he walked past me, leaning quickly to kiss him on his cheek.

 “Thank you for that wonderful speech Mr. Hemmings. And now, for the students to get their diplomas!” our principle said into the microphone.

After a few minutes, I heard ‘Zoey Banks’ get called out. I walked up to the stage and shook hands with my principle, taking my diploma in my other hand. As I began to walk off the stage, I heard loud cheering from the audience. I looked out to see my brother standing and clapping loudly, letting out a cheer for me. Surprisingly, both of my parents were seated next to him, clapping excitedly with large smiles on their faces. I smiled to my self as I walked back to my seat, sitting down.

“Luke Hemmings,” my principle called out after a few other names.

 “Yay, go Luke!” I cheered, clapping loudly for him.

His diploma in hand, he walked off the stage and winked at me as he walked back to his seat. I continued to cheer as Ashton, Jack, and Heathers names were called. “That’s the last of the diplomas. Class of 2014, congratulations!” my principle said. We all erupted in cheers as we threw our caps into the air. I turned to my left to try and find Luke, but I was attacked by two warm lips placed on mine. I recognized the softness of Luke’s lips and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling his body closer to mine. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled his lips away from mine, smiling slightly as he showered my face with quick kisses.

“You two are disgusting,” Heather yelled.

“Heather, shut up,” I laughed, pulling away from Luke.

“Zoey,” my brother yelled, engulfing me in a massive hug.

“Can’t…breath…Holden,” I said, gasping for air.

“Sorry sis, sometimes I forget that you’re like half a foot smaller then me,” Holden said, releasing me from his iron grip.

“I’m not that much smaller…” I said as my brother patted me on the head.

“Congratulations Zoey,” my father said, placing his hand on my shoulder.

“Thanks dad,” I said, nodding to him as I intertwined Luke’s fingers with mine. “Those caps are just awful, they make your hair look so flat,” my mom said, running her fingers through my hair to try and give it volume.

“My hair is fine mom…” I said.

“A-alright… we’ll leave you kids alone,” my mom said, grabbing onto my dads hand as they walked away and headed over to Heathers parents.

“So we’re all graduated, next step California!” Luke said, smiling widely at me.

 “Yep,” I said, smiling back at him.

“I hope you both know that we will all visit you, multiple times probably,” Heather said, slinging her arms around Ashton and Jacks shoulders.

“I would certainly hope so,” I laughed, wrapping my arms around my friends.

a.n///

ahhh this is almost over im getting emotional!!!!! 

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