Blue (23 page)

Everything was even more hectic at their house since Johnny and Meganlynn’s graduation parties were on the same day and at the same time. Johnny’s family was staying there with her family. His two sisters were sharing a room with Meganlynn. Johnny was stretched out on the couch, and his parents were in his room. He was quiet when getting his clothes because he did not want to wake them up. They had the run of the house while Meganlynn’s parents were not at home. They had the run of the neighborhood as well.

It was finally time for Johnny and Meganlynn’s graduation to begin. Meganlynn was asked to make a speech about what had happened to her over the past three years.

They arrived at the school and went inside to get ready for graduation. Everyone got into the lines that they would be in to march down the aisle as they were going to get their diplomas. Finally, the music started.

“Meganlynn,” Johnny whispered from the back.

“Yes?” she asked.

“Do you have your bracelet on?”

“I have the bracelet, necklace, and earrings on right now.”

“You do?”

“I need my good luck charms.”

“Are they good luck charms because I gave them to you?”

“Yeah.” Her name came over the loud speaker. “That’s me,” she said as she walked through the curtains to the stage.

Finally, once everyone had been announced, everyone sat down and all of the teachers made their speeches. It was time for the valedictorian to make her speech. The valedictorian was one of Meganlynn’s closet friends: Taylor VanFork.

“Not all of you know me, but I am Taylor VanFork. I am, somehow, the valedictorian for the class of two thousand ten. How I got to be here, I have no clue. I know that I really want to be a vet and I know that my good friends all want to be something that has a link to college experiences. I know that Lizzie wants to be a physiologist, Morgan wants to be a fashion designer, and Johnny wants to be a lawyer, and Meganlynn wants to be an investigative journalist because she can write like no one even knows. No one in this class has been through as much in this year as one girl has in their entire life. She has a special speech that she wants to make that will explain more about that. All I know is that these past four years here have been amazing years for me, and I hope that everyone was able to feel that very same way about this school. People were changed here, people were made to be friendly that were never friendly in the first place. They were given friends that no one ever thought that they would get. They were given encouragement that no one ever thought that they would have because they were weird or mean or something like that. Most people like that had girlfriends that actually looked at the inside and not at the outside. This class is an amazing class and everyone should love them no matter what. Congrats class of two thousand ten!”

“Well, that was an amazing speech Ms. VanFork. Now, from this speech, there may be tears from a lot of the audience and from the speaker herself. She has many stories that she can tell from the many experiences that she has had from these past four years. Never has this girl complained, and all of her grades were awesome. She was never the type to complain that she had this type of situation. This is an amazing girl, and she was never going to tell anyone because they had threatened her. If anyone ever has these same experiences that this young lady has ever had, I feel really bad for you because you are going through a lot. If you are going through the same things, you should go and tell someone no matter what you are being threatened. Now, for the speech that you all have been waiting for: Ms. Meganlynn VanDeritie.” The audience clapped. Video cameras came up, and cameras went up as well. Meganlynn tried to imagine that she was just back in her room trying to practice this speech over this.

“Hello,” she said. “Okay, I got my first word out.” The crowd giggled. “Now, I am up here to tell you about my experiences about the past four years of this high school. Many people go through high school as being the cheerleader, the jock, emo, or preppy, but me, on the other hand, I was the one that should have been the person that was the true emotional Goth, or anything that was dark. I wasn’t a cutter or anything like that. I couldn’t feel anything good except my boyfriend, friends, and family. Other than that, my experience here was horrible.

“The only thing that was good was that my boyfriend, friends, and family, were always there for me. I used to be raped often here at school, and no matter what, they were ones that were there protecting me. Johnny used to stand in front of them until they would finally leave me alone. If it wasn’t Blue, it was Justin. They may have started off as one of the popular people, and two of the hottest guys in school, but nothing ever gave them the right to take everything away from me.

“Blue did anything and everything to me. Blue raped, beat, stalked, sexually harassed, and did just about everything else to me. I was scared to death that he was going to kill me, so much so that I even forgot that my book got published for about a month and a half. I urge anyone and everyone that is going through any of the things that I just mentioned to tell someone because of the emotional toil that has put me through. I hope that the right person is prosecuted.

“Now, the only thing that I have left to say is this: I faced the pain, I faced the trial, all these things that have happened to me have happened for a reason. I just wish that I knew the reason why it all happened. Yet, I think that I do know the reason that this all happened was because I am not going to face trials harder than this or similar to this. I think that this trial was to show me how strong I truly was. I know that people who are atheists cannot know what real love is because they know not what real love is. The real love is called God. I’m sorry if I have offended you in some way, but all who are old enough to make the decision between right and wrong are old enough to hear the true gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

“The class of two thousand and ten sure is a great one, and I hope that you all make good decisions. Let your next experiences be the greatest for you. Thank you.” The crowd roared for Meganlynn as she walked off of the stage.

Once all of the graduates were off the stage, Meganlynn and Johnny met up with their families outside the school.

“You did great, sweetie,” Meganlynn’s mother told her, squeezing her.

“Thanks, Mom, did you get it on videotape?”

“You bet.”

They hugged.

After everyone had started leaving, Meganlynn and Johnny were on their way out the door when Taylor, Lizzie, and Morgan came by with a car. Meganlynn and Johnny looked at their parents as if to ask them if they could go with them.

“Go ahead and go,” Meganlynn’s parents told her.

“You too, Johnny,” his parents told him. Meganlynn and Johnny grabbed what they needed out of the car and hopped into the car with their friends and went off to celebrate their graduation before Meganlynn had to go to Blue’s trial.