The Speech of a Lifetime
Sitting
there, silently in the chair. Jeff holding his papers, waiting for his name to
be called. He looked out into the crowd breathing heavily. Hundreds of people
sitting there patiently for what could be, the speech of a lifetime.
“Now let’s hear a big round of applause for the student
body president, Jeffrey Coleman!” Announce principal brown. Jeff looking at his
feet, stands up, smiling nervously to the crowd. He places his papers on the
risers hoping to impress many people.
Jeff suddenly flashbacks to a week before his graduation,
speaking with his best friend Nick. They are having a conversation on how
excited they are to be done with school. Now Nick is more like the opposite of
Jeff. He is a partier and an outgoing guy, and Jeff on the other hand is in to
school, and academics, but they still turn out to be best friends.
An old-school bully named Johnathan is talking to Jeff
about his speech. Johnathan is very upset with Jeff ever since he caught Jeff
making out with his Girlfriend during Sophomore year. Ever since then they have
had a rough relationship.
Jeff is nervous about the upcoming Friday. Every day at
school his councilors come up to him and remind him about the big day, and that
makes him more and more nervous. So, he decides to go home and start to write
his speech.
Tuesday morning, just one more day closer until his speech.
After school, he walks over to his girlfriend Abby’s house for some advice. He
pulls up to her house and walks up to the door. She hugs him and welcomes him
in. She tells Jeff to relax and not worry about what’s going to happen.
Jeff and Abby go out on a date to take Jeff’s mind of
things. It was a short night but Jeff was happy that he could spend it with
Abby. He gets home and lays down. He thinks to himself that he is going to
forget about everything and just take this week off.
The week is coming around so fast as Wednesday comes
around. Still nervous about his speech, all Jeff did that afternoon was sit
there and brainstorm and write his speech. Re-writing everything and stressing a
lot.
Jeff goes to Nick’s house to see what he is up to. He gets
there and knocks on the door. Nick answers and greets him up to his room. Jeff
reads his speech to Nick, and he doesn’t like it, so now he is upset and doesn’t
know what to do. He goes back home to practice more.
Thursday comes, and Jeff is not having a good day at school.
He is stressing about the big moment. He can’t even listen in class, he is very
distracted as he sits there in math class. Ms. Tory is a little concerned about
his behavior.
“Jeff, can I see you after class?” says Ms. Tory
“Yes ma’am” explains Jeff
After class Jeff walks over to the teacher’s desk. She asks
Jeff what is going on. Jeff explains to her the whole situation about the
speech. Ms. Tory gives Jeff advice and he thanks her and walks out.
As the day shortens, Jeff is at the dinner table with his
family and his girlfriend. His parents are very proud of him. She says to him
that no matter what, that they will be there for him.
Jeff gets settled for bed. Just got out of the shower,
brushing his teeth, and he goes to lay in bed. He cannot sleep at all, he just doesn’t
want to sleep because he knows he will have to wake up to a big day. He lays
there thinking about the negative and not the positive.
Friday morning, the day is finally here. Jeff gets up
earlier than usual so he can get a good breakfast. His mother tells him that
she and her father will be there to support him. He hugs his mom goodbye and
leaves for school.
On his way, he decides to stop by Starbucks for some coffee.
When he gets there, the man who is working the front is an old-school friend of
his named Mike. Mike asks him how he is doing, and of course he is doing
terrible.
Mike sits him down and talks to him about it. Believe it or
not but when Mike was in high school he was in the same situation. He was the
student body president and had to give a speech also. So, he tells Jeff how it
went. Jeff took his advice well and was happy to find someone with experience.
Jeff took his coffee and walked out the door. On his way to
school he was not very happy. He knew that a couple hours after school he would
have to go to his graduation.
He gets to school and is happy to see Abby. They have first
period together so they walked to class. Abby asks him how he is feeling, and
Jeff says that he is doing a lot better. Abby was surprised but happy to hear
that.
Time is flying and Jeff is sitting at lunch alone, and it
was unusual because Jeff is never alone. Abby runs over there to comfort him
and he starts balling out crying. He tells her that he can’t do this. Abby
kisses him and tells him everything will be ok.
School is finally out and before Jeff leaves Principal
Brown comes up to him and tells him that his talk is very important because it
is going to be on television. He explains to Jeff that we are one of the
highest ranked schools in the country,
Jeff arrives at home. His mom asks him how school was, and
he tells her that it got worst. He explains to her that it is going to be on
television. His mother is surprised and so excited for him but Jeff doesn’t care
it just makes him more nervous.
He goes up to his room and tries to re-write everything
because he knows that this must be an amazing speech now. He suddenly gets a
call from his girlfriend saying that his speech only has to be 3-5 minutes
long. Jeff jumps for joy because he was expecting a 10-minute speech but this
changes Jeff thoughts.
The time comes and Jeff leaves to help set up for the
graduation. He sees Nick and Abby setting up. He walks over there to help and
Nick asks him if he is feeling alright, and he says yeah as he looks at the
camera crew setting up.
The graduation starts, and there are hundreds of people
here. Name by name as they get closer to Jeff. He wishes that he could just
take his diploma and he leave, but no he must stay and wait to give his speech.
His name finally gets called and he turns around to sit down.
The names are done and Principal Brown is giving a little
speech on how happy he was to see these kids growing up. He hopes that they all
have amazing futures.
Principal Brown finishes up his last words, wishing
everyone good luck. Jeff’s heart is pounding and Principal Brown announces to
everyone “Let’s hear a big round of applause for our student body president,
Jeffrey Coleman!”
Jeff stands up, placing his papers on the risers, and is
back into reality. He is halfway through his speech and the nerves have gone
down, He is calm and staring right at the eye of the camera.
As he finishes, he smiles at the camera and gets a huge
round of applause as he wraps things up. His parents, family, friends, and
girlfriend are so very proud of him and knows he is going to do great things.
All together it’s been a good year. Jeff goes on to being a lawyer, and marrying
his high school sweetheart Abby. And that is the speech of a lifetime.
