021 | graduation day

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Standing at the side of a large stage, I exhaled as my name was finally called "Rosalie Toretto!" I grimaced a little, walking out onto the stage and hearing the claps from my fellow students and their families

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Standing at the side of a large stage, I exhaled as my name was finally called "Rosalie Toretto!" I grimaced a little, walking out onto the stage and hearing the claps from my fellow students and their families.

I shook my principal's hand as he handed me the scroll he held. "I'm very proud of you, Toretto. You kept your head down," Principal Sikowitz said as we turned to the crowd with a smile so our picture could be taken.

Suddenly I spotted my sister in the crowd giving me thumbs up, video camera in hand. I subtly waved back with a small smile, not really in a celebratory mood.

This was all wrong; I was supposed to have an entourage of family members here to scream my name and embarrass me in front of everyone.

Leon would be wolf-whistling, trying to make me blush, Letty was supposed to be arguing with some hotty totty mom in the crowd, and Dom should have been here looking up at me with proud eyes.

Handing my diploma to one of the teachers off stage, I sat back in my seat and pulled out the slip of paper with a speech written on it from my pocket, waiting for everyone else to get their diplomas and pictures done.

Glancing down at the paper, I sighed. It was all a bunch of happy-go-lucky crap. None of it was heartfelt. None of it was how I truly felt; it was just generic words I was expected to say.

Rolling my eyes, I looked up so the tears wouldn't show. I couldn't cry now. Not here, and not when people were expecting me to be strong. Especially when there were multiple cameras present too.

"I am very honored to introduce this year's class-elected speaker. She started high school with very poor grades and attitude" I gave a small laugh, as did a few of my teachers.

"but with hard work and perseverance, she reached the top of her class. Rosalie Toretto," Principal Sikowitz said, clapping his hands along with everyone else in the room.

Smiling widely, falsely, I stepped back up towards the podium, placing my speech on the stand and looking at all the faces. I could see adults whispering to each other, students looking up at me in admiration, and my lone family member beaming with pride.

"Ladies and gentlemen, family, friends, teachers, and of course, my fellow graduates" Suddenly, I realized my speech didn't mean a thing to them, they weren't listening to me, and they didn't elect me because we were all such good friends, it's because I'm a Toretto.

I'd never really made any friends in school. I was always too busy with my family, and other students had tried to befriend me, but only to try and get into our inner circle.

The girls would try and get to my brother through me with their overdone makeup and pushed-up boobs. Whereas the boys just wanted to be racers or to be a Toretto by association.

Shoving my speech in my pocket, I gripped the stand, my nails digging into the wood. "I know most of you, or probably all of you, have heard about my brother by now, Dominic Toretto?".

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