Daniella sat in her chair behind the podium. The students of her class had been organized in alphabetical order, so she was not sitting next to Jesse, or her best friend. But she was happy to sit in her black gown, with her cap on her head. She wore a special sash, designating her as the class salutatorian. She smiled out over the gathered crowd, having already spotted Bev and David. Patti’s family was there too. They’d been given a spot close to the front to accommodate Mr. Lohso’s wheel-chair. Mr. Lohso was still recovering, his speech was slow and slurred, and he was still weak on one side, but he was alive, and clapping happily for his daughter as she crossed the stage to collect her diploma.
There was another face out in the crowd that she wasn’t sure she was going to see. M
