Margaret Walks Across the High School Stage on a Warm June Morning
A low murmur ran through the bleachers, followed by a sudden, sharp burst of laughter from a parent in the second row. Then another parent laughed, and then another, the sound spreading like a wave through the crowded gym. It was not a mocking laughter, but something warm and human, breaking the stiff formality that Vance had spent weeks trying to enforce.
“This is not a prank,” Kayla said, her voice ringing out over the rising laughter. “This is for Olivia.”
I looked at the stage, where Principal Vance stood completely frozen, his face pale beneath the bright stage lights. The school board president, a tall man with gray hair and a dark gray suit, had stepped out from the row of faculty chairs and was walking toward Vance. He whispered something into Vance’s ear, his hand pointing directly at the paper Arthur had delivered earlier.
Vance looked up, his eyes finding mine across the sea of colorful wigs and laughing parents. He swallowed, his hand resting on the podium for support as the board president took the microphone from his hand.
