Four - Into The Unexpected I walked into the auditorium along with the rest of the crowd. The graduation ceremony was today. Adrian called me over to where he was and helped me get to his row. I took a seat next to him. I smiled. The principal got up onto the auditorium stage a couple minutes later. “Good afternoon, North Heights Academy seniors!” We listened to the principal’s ten-minute commentary, of which felt like a lot more than ten minutes. Then, Mr. Novellon (our principal,) called out the names of ‘honorable mention’ students. These students had not done anything exceptional or award-worthy, but the teachers liked them regardless; most of these people came from the gifted class or were just good at a certain subject. I didn’t know any of the honorable mentions very well at all. When he finished giving out certificates and all the honorable mentions had gone back to their seats, we all began to really tune the principal in. It was time to call up the recipients of the true awards, the ones that the entire grade had revered and coveted for the entire year. The next things that happened weren’t too surprising; most of the ‘famously good’ students got the awards. But everyone was on the edge of their seats as the principal got ready to announce the recipient of the Medal of Honors. I could feel my seatmates’ tenseness from their burning anticipation. I couldn’t believe my ears, and I think Miles (who was probably near me, about two seats away) almost screamed. “Adrian Turner!” I think I may have screamed too. We all applauded, but Miles and I must’ve been the loudest. At the graduation party, we congratulated him with open arms and said our goodbyes; everyone would be taking off for college soon, but old bonds would stay forever, tangible or not. He told us about his dreams of getting into quantum physics; we were all so happy for him, despite the fact that it meant losing him for a long time. At the end of the day, it was impossible not to say that I’d made new friends. I’m beyond grateful for that.
