May arrived with a shower of flowers. Although we didn't have the best news that I'd been expecting, something important did happen.

The police caught Jack Logan.

He'd made it as far as Tallahassee, where he must have thought no one would possibly recognize him. And for months no one did, until the authorities were tipped off to the fact that a man that fit the suspect's description was seen around driving the victim's motorcycle. I was filled with rage anew when I heard about that, as if the man hadn't already done unspeakable things to his son, this added insult to injury.

I skipped Prom, because the legal proceedings against the man started around that time. Manny, his mom, my family and I testified about years of abuse. We told the authorities about every little thing we'd seen. I told them about the time I hid in Sawyer's closet and saw it with my own eyes. Afterwards I could tell that mama was bursting with disapproval, but she didn't say anything and neither did I.

What mattered was that Sawyer was now safe and that his father would never get to hurt anybody else.

What mattered the most was that Sawyer wasn't waking up.

The doctors said they'd done everything they could to repair his body, but brain injuries were still a mystery and that only time would tell. I prayed harder than I ever did in my entire life leading up to that point for the miracle that would get this boy through. I visited him almost everyday after school and talked to him about every and anything, because people said that it was a good stimulus for patients like him. I held his left hand, the good one, and one afternoon I told him the good news that I'd been made valedictorian.

I could imagine him saying something like, "Was there any doubt, princess?"

The relief at knowing that Jack Logan was going to spend the rest of his miserable life behind bars helped me see life different. There was more color. The trees were the greenest I'd ever noticed and there were flowers of all colors everywhere. When we made it to the school for the graduation ceremony, I couldn't help but think that it almost looked like a wedding. And then there was the fact that I was wearing a cream lace dress that made me look like a bride. I giggled as my sister helped me put on the robes.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"I think we went overboard with the flower theme," I said, motioning all around us.

Then Toni looked down at herself. There was no other way to put it, but she was huge. We were about a month away from the expected date of birth and life had become exponentially more difficult for her. She had to put her classes on indefinite hold a while back, between the nausea and the fact that she got winded just walking on flat surfaces. Her legs and feet swelled and hurt on the regular, and no matter how much I massaged her it didn't seem to bring her much relief. This morning she'd woken up feeling quite under the weather, and although I told her it was fine if she stayed home to rest, she'd said no way was she missing this and put on the new flowery dress she'd bought that made her feel like a fairy.

Then we both started giggling, because she blended in with the decorations perfectly.

I helped her join mama and papa among the audience before I made my way over to my friends. Courtney, Lina and I hugged each other tight and we snapped some pre-ceremony selfies while we still had our caps. Courtney was going to go to UF to prepare for law school and Lina had chosen UCF for a finance degree. When I thought about how next year we weren't going to be together like this, my eyes started welling up.

"Oh hell no, you won't," Courtney announced, fanning my face. "You have to look flawless for your speech."

I laughed. "I'm sure I'll start crying in mid speech anyway."

Courtney smiled. "All that really matters is the first pictures, anyway."

Lina gave me one last hug and said, "Don't listen to her. Feel your feels."

I definitely was. Two chairs left of mine was the empty chair that would have belonged to Sawyer. I remembered Mr. Davies' mandate at the start of the year, that I was supposed to help him get Sawyer through to this day. With everything that had transpired, Mr. Davies had fessed up to me one day that the reason he'd been so adamant about it was because, although Sawyer had never told anyone about his situation at home, the teachers had their suspicions. As the guidance counsellor, what Mr. Davies had intended to do all along was guarantee a better future for Sawyer. With a high school diploma he would at least be able to find a job that could take him away from home, even if college had been out of the picture.

I had failed.

Mr. Davies never said so, no one did, but it was how I felt. There I was, valedictorian of our class, with a bright college future ahead of me, and all I felt was a hand squeezing my heart permanently.

I was underwater when my name was called and I made it up the stage. I shook hands with a few of the teachers, including Coach O'Hare, and gave I Mr. Davies a hug. He said he was proud of me, and I made him promise to take a picture with me after the ceremony. The Principal gave me a cranky look as he handed my diploma to me but smiled for the picture. I turned around to wave at my family. They clapped the loudest and screamed things in Spanish that penetrated through the fog in my brain. But my eyes zeroed in on that empty chair, and the commotion faded into the background. My eyes were locked on it as I made my way back to my own seat.

It was the sole point I could look at while I gave my valedictorian speech.

"We are gathered here today, in what looks like a wedding hall, for one of the most important days in our lives," I said, started with an unscripted joke. After a few of the chuckles abated I continued, "This is it, we have officially finished high school. We have an idea of where we want to go next, but if this school year has taught us anything is that life has its own plans.

"Some of them are a lot better than we could have predicted," as I said this I thought back to how my best laid plans fell through and in turn gave rise to a brand new path. After the pause I added, "But some of them are unexpected tragedies."

At this, a good number of our class turned to that empty chair. My chin trembled and I cleared my throat.

After the whole episode with Lexie Cooper and how I cleared Sawyer's name, my standing in front of the school as the good girl had really crumbled. Pretty quick everybody was talking about how I'd spent the night with him and how I was a whore. Life had given me one heck of a lesson in perspective, though. Now that these whisperings had a lot more truth than the initial rumors that Lexie had spread, and that ultimately the truth was what had set an innocent person free, I found that I had much more of a spine than I'd thought to deal with this.

When people saw that I didn't care, they stopped caring as well. Instead, all the talk became all about how Lexie deserved what had happened to her and that it had been my doing. Maybe this cemented the fact that I wasn't a great person, but I sure didn't try to rein in those rumors.

"Injustices," I continued, "That irrevocably alter our path. If this year has taught me a lesson is that what matters isn't what people say about you, but what you believe to be your truth and that you do the best you can with what you're given, even if sometimes that means you have to make a scene to be heard."

Courtney hooted and she and Lina exploded in applause. They were joined by others and soon, it was a full ovation. That was when I couldn't help myself but ruin my makeup. I pulled out a tissue from my robe pocket and dabbed my face.

"So go forth and make the best of your lives. Leave your mark in this world and never, ever, doubt yourselves." I took a deep breath, pulled back from the microphone just a tad and screamed, "We made it, class of 2019!"

Then I grabbed my cap and tossed it in the air. The whole class stood up and among hollers and laughter also threw their caps in the air. The blue sky was dotted by them and for a moment it looked like ravens taking flight. A big sob caught in my throat for the one that didn't get to take flight today, but I was rescued from my thoughts by my friends who came to sweep me from the stage. We took a number of pictures among us and with some other friends, and I did get one with Mr. Davies before I said goodbye to him.

I made my way through the throngs of people to find my family. The first thing I did was hug Toni and then Adam, who I'd also invited to the ceremony. But the first family picture I took was with papa and mama and a cluster of flowers in the background.

That was also the last family picture with that scenery, because right after taking it the photographer contorted in pain. Toni dropped her phone on the grass and let out a guttural sound that scared the living lights out of me.

"Toni?" her boyfriend asked, ashen faced as he held her up in his arms. "What's wrong?"

Liquid started dripping between her legs and mama screamed, "Her water just broke!"

Panic seized all of us right there and then.

"Oh, shit!" I screamed.

Since Adam was the pre-med one here, he recovered way faster. "I'll drive us to the hospital-"

"Like hell you will," papa barked. "That's my daughter and-"

For the first time since I'd met him, Adam squared up to papa and said, "And she's the woman I love and the mother of my child!"

Toni tried to hold back a scream but her voice still came out way harsh as she clung to Adam and said, "We don't have time for this, I feel like she's coming out right this fucking second!"

That set us all in motion. I ran by my friends as they were taking pics with their boyfriends and gave them the extremely abridged version. I kissed their cheeks and dashed after my parents. I got in the car with them while Adam drove Toni. It was a miracle we didn't get pulled over by the cops, because two cars that seemed to be in the middle of a car chase movie had to definitely catch their attention.

But we made it to the hospital where Toni's doctor was. We'd become so known by the staff at that point that as soon as we made it through the emergency doors, they took Toni and barely asked any questions. They even expected that all of us would follow, instead of staying in the waiting area. As the preparations begun, both of my friends arrived to the hospital. A few minutes later Adam's parents also joined us. We were all so worried that no one had time to resume the head butting.

I clutched Adam's arm like it was a lifeline. "Do you think something's wrong? It's not even the full nine months yet."

He ran a hand across his face. "I sure pray nothing's wrong."

Mama requested to be present for the birth, which meant that Adam's mom also had to join. A nurse told them that it might be possible as long as the doctor okayed it, but at that moment they didn't know what the situation was quite yet.

I paced up and down the hallway for an eternity until the doctor finally came out. We swarmed around him.

"Miss Martinez and the baby are fine," he said right away, and various forms of celebration erupted from the group. "The labor is just progressing early, but everything is normal."

"Gracias a Dios," mama said. "Can I join my daughter for the birth?"

"And me," Adam's mom said.

The doctor didn't have a problem with it and as they begun the preparations the adrenaline that had been coursing through my body started dying down. I flopped on a chair next to papa and grabbed his hand.

Lina sat on the other chair next to me and said, "I knew everything was going to turn out well."

"How?" I asked.

It was Courtney who replied, "Life can only be unfair for so long."

I leaned my head back and thought about that. Life had been really tough for the past five months, and I certainly welcomed the break. All I wanted was for my baby niece and Toni to be okay after today, and everything else afterwards I'd take it day by day. For better or for worse.

A long time of waiting but not hearing much news passed and I dozed off on papa's shoulder. I'd convinced the girls to go back and celebrate graduation, and it had taken quite a lot of work but they finally agreed. It was only the men in my now extended family and I in the hallway, and we all jumped to our feet as one of the nurses we knew came barreling down the hallway.

"Is she okay?" was what came out of papa's mouth as the nurse recovered.

The young man paused and when he composed himself he asked us, "She?"

"My daughter," papa said.

The nurse shook his head. "What? No. I'm here about the boy."

"Sawyer?" I gasped. My vision became a tunnel as I focused only on the nurse. "What happened?"

"He woke up."

The words echoed in my head. It was Adam who asked for confirmation, and the nurse provided it.

"He's fully awake," the young man said.

My chest convulsed as it let out an ugly sound.

Papa pulled me in for a hug and I saw that he also had tears in his eyes. I sobbed into his chest until he pulled back and said, "You need to go."

As I wiped my face I asked him, "Are you sure? What about Toni and the baby?"

"They will be fine too," he said with a firmness that snapped me awake. The fog started clearing from my brain and it dissipated as papa said, "Go."

I nodded and gave him a kiss in the cheek. Adam offered me a smile and I returned it.

Then I turned around and joined the nurse on the way back to Sawyer's room. My heart hammered in my ribcage but no matter what the future looked like for Sawyer, what mattered was that he now finally had a chance at it. This was the best day of my life.