The Family

31

Talia's POV

"You ready?" Julie asks as she finishes tying my tie.

"Not in the slightest." I admit.

"You can do it." Julie says and softly kisses me. "I know you can."

"Do the team know?" I ask. 

"Only you, me, Jill, and Aaron know what's actually going on."

"Okay." I mumble then look over my girlfriend. "You look beautiful."

"You clean up well yourself." Julie says and smiles at me.

Suddenly there's knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Julie asks.

"Jill and Aaron."

Julie opens the door then Jill and Aaron step into the room and close the door.

"You ready for this?" Jill asks as Julie puts my necklaces on.

My hands are a bit shaky so she took them from me.

"I don't exactly know what's gonna be happening and what I'm supposed to do." I say.

"They're gonna show a video package about everything then you'll talk about your experience with everything." Aaron says.

"Okay." I say and grab my things then leave.

I follow Julie, Aaron, and Jill out of the hotel and into the last awaiting car. The car then takes us to Microsoft Theater and once there we join up with the other girls and take picture's on the ESPY's red carpet. After the pictures are taken we head inside and get in our seats just before the ceremony starts.

I sit in-between Julie and Christen.

During the whole award ceremony I have only one thought on my mind.

I don't deserve this.

"HERE TO PRESENT THE ARTHUR ASHE COURAGE AWARD IS ALICIA KEYS."

Of course.

"Meg Cabot once said 'Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgement that something is more important than fear; The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all.'" Alicia says as I intertwine my hand with Julie's.

I then hold onto Christen's hand which startles her, but I keep my attention on Alicia as pictures of me start showing on the screen behind her.

"I meet Talia Martin when she was 12 years old at a music shop in Hell's Kitchen. I was in the shop looking for a new microphone when I heard someone start wailing on a guitar so I, like the rest of the people in the shop, went to check who was playing. To say I was shocked to see a shy 12 year old little girl playing the guitar like that would be an understatement."

"What the fuck is going on?" I hear someone from the team mumble.

"Talia and I struck up a friendship that day and we bonded over our love for music. Our friendship transcended over the years to where I had a front row seat in watching this shy little girl turn into the strongest woman I've ever met and I'm so proud to be able to call her a friend." Alicia says.

I then feel Julie lean her head on my shoulder.

"Talia's life has been a series of up hill battles that she has fought and won. Whether that's her battle with drug addiction, alcohol abuse, mental issues, losing some of her friends to gang violence, her parents passing away, or having the public know her father was apart of the mafia Talia has always been the one to say this doesn't define me...I won't be beaten." Alicia says and the light's dim then a video is shown.