Max POV:

"Another picture!" Cries Ella. We pose for yet another graduation picture before we go up on stage to receive our diplomas. After the eleventh pose my cheeks started to hurt from smiling. I subconsciously scanned the crowd but didn't find who I was looking for.

"They'll be here." Dylan nudges me. I nod, knowing he is right but still feeling a twinge of disappointment. The teachers called us to get into our lines when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Fang smiling down at me.

"You made it!" I said and threw my arms around him.

"Of course we did, we wouldn't miss it." I let him go and looked behind him to see Iggy and Maya. Maya was wearing a headscarf and big sunglasses like she did on the day we met. She smiled and gave me a thumbs-up. I pecked Fang and then told them I had to get in line before I left.

"How did you get that fine specimen as your boyfriend? Is he blind?" I heard a nasally voice behind me. I turned to see Lissa sneering in my direction but looking at Fang who was walking toward the bleachers with Iggy and Maya.

"The trick is…" I waited until she leaned a little to hear better. "…to not be a complete bitch." She leaned back so fast that she almost fell over but caught herself. I heard her huff as she turned on her spiky heel and walked to her place in line. The small victory I felt made my day that much brighter and I swore I saw a new light on everything. Music started to blare from the loud speakers surrounding the football stadium and we proceeded forward.

"Welcome graduates and their families." The principal spoke from a stage into a microphone so we could all hear him. "Today marks the end of your high school experience and the beginning of life ahead. For four years you have learned here and that journey is finally over." He paused and the stands and students quieted for our last assemblage in high school. "When asked who the students wanted as their commencement speaker a majority voted for one student. That one student is the embodiment of all that we value here at Northshore High School. Strong will, intelligence, creativeness, and even rebelliousness. She is a student who has overcome struggles in her life and made great friends along the way. Her English teacher agrees with the choice of the student body and even suggested her herself. Please ladies and gentlemen, let me welcome to the stage Ms. Maximum Walker." I stood from my seated place and walked slowly up to the podium while everyone clapped. My whole body felt as if it was shaking down to my atoms. I made it up the steps without tripping or falling over and placed myself behind the podium. Looking out into the crowd of thousands of faces I felt a calm pass over me. I pulled the papers out from my gown's pocket and carefully placed them on the podium before speaking into the microphone.

"I spent hours trying to find the words of what I wanted to say in this speech. I poured over dictionaries and thesauruses looking for exact meanings and still could not truly get what I was thinking out quite right. I still don't quite have the right words but I think they are good enough for everyone here to understand me. Since I came to this school I have only thought of the future. What it will bring me, where I will go, when I will get out of here. It has consumed hours of my time as I have thought and done chore after chore after hours of working. The thought that 'someday this will be over, someday this will end, someday I will get out of here and never see that woman again, someday I will be happy'. Every thought in my head was so clouded by my unhappiness that I didn't really appreciate what I did have until it wasn't in front of me anymore. This year I took a small break from reality and it really put my life into perspective for me." I smiled in a way that only those who knew the situation would understand before continuing. "I had and still have amazing friends who care and love me so much that they put up with my complaining and stressing and yes, more complaining without even blinking about it." I pointedly looked at Nudge, Ella, and Dylan. "Friends who have taught me things that no one else could have taught me better. Things like being pretty and acting pretty doesn't make you self-centered," Nudge and Ella smiled at me with tears in their eyes. "things like 'you can't judge a book by its cover' no matter how beautiful and irritating it may be," Dylan grinned, "things like you have to be open with the ones you love in order for them to feel loved back," I allowed my gaze to travel to Fang, "and things like you can't give up on your dreams because dreams are meant to be accomplished." I looked at Iggy. "But most of all," I paused. "you have to love yourself because no one can love you better or stronger or more entirely." I looked directly at Maya. "Because you are perfect in your own way even when you're not. Because we cannot be accepting of others without accepting ourselves. Because without loving ourselves we cannot be truly happy. We will always have that nagging inside us that tells us we are wrong, strange, different, but all that says is we are not afraid to be wrong, we love that we are strange, and there is no variety without difference. Let that guide us into our futures however disparate they may be. Today marks the start of a new beginning for each and every one of us. Today marks a clean slate for the loners, the quiet ones, the loud ones, the popular people, the nerdy people, the outrageous people, and even the bullies." I looked pointedly at Lissa, she met my gaze for only a second before looking into her lap. "Out there no one knows who you are yet. Don't make them think you are scared or quiet or mean, let them know you are confident and considerate and respectful. Let the world know that you are you and that is all we can ever be. You is the perfect thing to be because no one else is like you and no one else can love you or be you like you can. Let us all take chances and risks because our guts told us to and be confident in our decisions. I am proud to say that I am ready for the future now, I just don't know if the future is ready for me." I smiled. "And with that thought, let our new beginning commence." The crowd roared and stood up to cheer for me as I walked off the stage and it didn't stop after I got back to my seat, it didn't even stop when the principal asked for quiet. It only stopped once everyone felt it should and that made me let a corner of my mouth go up to curl in a half smile.

A/N Thus marks the end of this fanfiction. I hope it was satisfying and worth the wait. I am sorry for not posting as often as I should have. I will now inform you guys that I will not be on here for a while due to school and my need to write a fanfiction fully and edit it before posting anything. I have mulitiple ideas that I want to translate just right on paper and I need time to do that. Hopefully that will happen this summer.

~TAGGWRITC (Kiara)