"Inhale the future, exhale the past."

-Unknown

***

"When we were five, they asked us what we wanted to be when we grow up. Our answers were anything from a president, to a astronaut, or in my case, a princess. When we were ten they asked again. We answered a rock star, cowboy, or in my case, gold-medalist."

I grinned up at Jessica as she did her speech. She was nervously shifting back and forth on her feet, but as each word passed, she seemed to loosen up more and more. I know what you're thinking. "Courtney, what stupid thing did you do for your speech?"

Stay tuned, my friends.

"But now that we're grown up, they want a serious answer. Well how about this: Who the hell knows?"

The senior burst into cheers at that. I sat next to Bella, since we have the same last names, and she is a B and I am a C.

"This isn't the time to make hard and fast decisions, it is the time to make mistakes. Take the wrong train and get stuck somewhere, fall in love... a lot."

I giggled softly at that.

"Major in philosophy because there is no way to get a career out of that. Change your mind, and change it again. Make as many mistakes as you can, because that way, when they ask us the same question again... we won't guess, we'll know."

I couldn't help but cheer along at Jess's speech. It was good, for a girl that told me she thought peanut butter was a meat.

"Now I'm handing the mic over to my friend, Courtney Swan."

I sucked in a deep breath, and grinned at Jess, muttering a 'good job' when we passed.

I stood in front of the whole school, letting my eyes rake over the growing crowd. I grinned. "High school sucked."

A round of vivacious cheering from the students nearly took away my hearing, but it only made my smile wider and my heartbeat calmer. "I'm just telling the truth. High school was hard. We were expected to be adults, but we were treated like children. We had to find a balance between too much work and not enough work, man, it was exhausting."

Another round of clapping.

"But..." I bowed my eyes, smiling slightly. "I haven't even been here the full four years. I came last year as a nervous wreck. I didn't even have friends at first... until this super weird, short, beautiful girl approached me in a parking lot."

I caught Alice's eye, and she gave me the biggest smile I have ever received in my life.

"I have changed a lot over the last year. I learned more about life then I did about trigonometry, I learned more about commitment, and relationships then I did about historical events that changed the face of our world. I made new friends, and kept old ones." I pointed to J|essica in the crowd. "You know Jessica? Yeah, well when I first came here I hated her."

The whole auditorium gave that a hearty laugh, and I did too, shaking my head "Haha, I'm not kidding."

I grinned at Jessica. "But now she is one of the best friends I have ever had. I think that's what high school was supposed to be about. Less about stress and work, and worrying about your G.P.A... more about building the future you want to have when you leave. Make friends that you'll have for the rest of your life, and if you don't have them for the rest of your life, that is okay. It's okay to aim for the stars, and end up falling back to Earth. It's okay to walk on crutches if you can't support yourself without them. It's okay to be 'just good enough' because what kind of world would this be if everyone was the best at everything? It wouldn't be a world, it would be a cartoon."

I paused, taking a deep breath and chuckling slightly. "I don't even know why I'm up here. But as long as I am I have some advice from one girl who was once the outcast, and now has the best life she could ask for. Don't search so hard for what you define as perfect, that you miss out on the little imperfections that make you, you. Don't focus so much on a boyfriend, or girlfriend that you forget about your friends who were with you since the beginning. But don't be afraid, and if you are, use that fear to fuel you to do better. It doesn't matter how good other people think you are. I want people to think I am perfect, but God-damn we are so far past that point. You can't be afraid to look that fear in the eye and say 'screw you, let me past.'" I raked my eyes over the students and families alike, who were all watching me with entranced expressions.

"To put this long ass speech in condensed form." I took a deep breath, before speaking my last words.

"People say, 'nobody is perfect.' But some people sure as hell look that way. So don't worry about being the best, or getting into college, or getting married or all of that. Just worry about getting through this weird place called life to the best of your individual abilities." I grinned.

"Because that is pretty damn good."

***

At Alice's party, one of the first people I felt Jessica before I saw her.

Translation: She jumped on my back.

I cursed slightly in surprise, but grinned when I saw who it was. "Hey Jess, great speech."

She didn't respond, she just stood on her toes to wrap her arms around my shoulders. I returned the hug, feeling a wave of emotion crash over me. Bella was just gonna give up her life to be with Edward. I love Jasper so much, so much. I love the Cullen's. They're my family. But, I also love Jessica, and Charlie, Angela, and Eric, and even Mike in a weird way. I don't know if I could just... disappear from their lives. I don't know if I can do it. Plus, there is something satisfying of the thought of growing old. About having kids, I just... I don't know.

"You're one of the best friends I have ever had too!"

"Oh!"

Against my own will, I felt tears prick the corner of my eyes. I don't want to leave this.

"Stop making me sad!" Angela snapped from beside us. "Now is a time to be happy! Okay? Let's be happy."

I turned to hug Angela again. The first of "Bella's friends" to be nice to me. My faith in humanity. "Thank you."

She looked slightly confused, but smiled nevertheless. "Um, you're welcome."

I grinned, spreading my arms. "Welcome to the mysterious house of the Cullen's!"

"Oh my gosh!" Jessica gushed, pointing to a vase that Alice forgot to put away. "I love that!"

"I'm always a slut for vases."

"Embry?" I turned, my eyes falling upon not one, but three of the wolf pack. Jessica and Angela's mouths dropped open in shock that I had more attractive, muscular friends. Embry struck a pose dramatically. "The one and only."

"Wow, what the hell are you guys doing here?" I asked, hugging Embry and Quil, and making a point to glare at Jake. "Is this really... your kind of party?"

Before they could answer, Jessica slid to my side and grinned flirtatiously. "Courtney, introduce us to your friends."

That was such a Jessica sentence I can't even.

"Right." I pointed to Embry and Quil in turn. "Jess, Angela, this is Embry and Quil, Embry, Quil, Jessica and Angela."

I pointed to Jacob separately. "That's Jacob."

Jessica shook Embry's hand in the most flirty way I have ever seen, while Angela blushed and looked like she was struggling to remember Ben's name.

"Hey, Courtney?" Jacob muttered, and I switched spots with Quil as the four conversed. "I... just wanted to apologize?"

"What for? Kissing my sister, or just being a dick?"

"Both." He didn't even hesitate, which gave him extra points in my mind. "I really don't have an excuse, I apologized to Bella... that was just be being a huge ass..."

He paused.

"And I'm sorry."

...

"And good job on graduating high school."

...

"You have a nice right hook."

I scoffed slightly, fighting off the smile on my face. Sure, I'm pissed at Jacob, but as I said earlier, keeping friendships is more important now then ever. I held up my hand for a high-five, and Jacob complied, grinning like a kid on Christmas.

"You do it again, I stab you." I threatened, but before I got a reaction, a new figure jumped into the conversation. It was, of course, Alice. Her eyes were wild and nervous.

"Courtney. You need to come." She lowered her voice, gesturing for Quil and Embry to come closer. Jess and Angela waved and disappeared into the crowd. "I saw her."

"Who?"

"I saw... I saw Sadie."

***

"We know it's a fight." Jacob leaned back on the wall, Quil and Embry on either sides of him. "But tell us about Sadie."

"The scary chick with the multi-colored hair?"

"Yes."

"Okay tell us more."

Alice sucked in a breath. I was standing next to her protectively, wanting to know more then anyone else in this entire room. i had almost fainted when she told me. Sadie was out of her visions through this whole time.

"She... looked human."

It was like a collective sigh released from the house. Tears of that, pure relief formed in my eyes, as I placed a hand on my heart.. "Really?"

"Yeah." Alice grinned widely, turning to almost crush me in a hug. "She looked one hundred percent human."

"Thank God." I muttered a small prayer under my breath, turning to embrace a beaming Jasper. I inhaled sharply, relaxing fully into his arms. "Oh my-"

"So what we have here is an angry vampire mob coming to potentially murder us?" Embry piped up from the side of the room. It dawned on me that this was the first time he had seen me display public affection to a vampire. "We can totally deal with that."

"Yes, but we need training.... training that Jasper has."

I looked up at my boyfriend, fighting a smile on my face, he looked down and smirked. "What?"

"You're gonna teach everyone how to fight."

I smiled to myself, leaning back into him. "And there is no way you can stop me from helping." 

A/N: I TAKE IT BACK J.D IS EVIL AND HE DIDN'T DESERVE VERONICA!
 (Movie J.D)

 Okay, now that that is cleared up, thank you for reading! That is the best speech you could get from someone who hasn't been to high school... sorry if it was bad!

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 (Mine is The Walking Dead, although I am on season three of The 100.)

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Have a great day/night!