BITTER SWEET COLLEGE LIFE

GRADUATION SPEECH

EPISODE 11: Graduation Speech

Graduation morning.

Gowns. Parents. Tears.

PRINCIPAL on podium. TARA as Valedictorian.

"Parents, staff, guests… I present the Class of 2024. A set that gave me hypertension, but also hope. I now call our Valedictorian, Miss Tara Adeyemi."

Applause. TARA walked up. Her paper was shaking.

She looked at her 7 stars, at MISS JUMMY, at the PRINCIPAL.

She took a breath.

"They say school is bitter-sweet. They were right.

Bitter was the 6am assemblies. The surprise tests. The nights we thought we'd fail. The friends we almost lost to lies, to expo, to pride.

Sweet was the Back of Lab. The gist. The zobo Fikayo gave that we drank anyway. The way Okiki made us laugh when we wanted to cry. The way Femi led without shouting. The way Miss Jummy taught Lit like it was gist.

Sweet was finding my people. The 10 stars… now 8. Plus the ones who didn't make the yearbook but made the memories.

Fikayo taught us that money can't buy character. Sefirah taught us that jealousy is an exam everyone fails.

But Soheeh… Soheeh taught me that love is choosing someone, every day, even when fake chats say not to.

Hamshat Delight didn't just give us certificates. It gave us stories. And this is ours.

So what are we?"

She waited.

SOHEEH stood. Then FEMI. Then ALL 8. Then THE WHOLE CLASS STOOD.

ALL: "WE ARE HAMSHA DELIGHT HIGH!

WE ARE THE BITTER!

WE ARE THE SWEET!

WE ARE THE STORY!"

Crowd erupted. Parents crying. MISS JUMMY sobbing. PRINCIPAL saluted.

CHIKA whispered to her camera: "And that, HDH, is how you end a series. I'm not crying, you're crying."

TO BE CONTINUED...