traveling down memory lane

There will come a day by which you will look back at it all and see that what broke you only made you stronger

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Third Person's POV

"You can do it" Azad says to the girl who was pacing back and forth

"No i can't" Amal states

"Well you did not just make me take a long ass trip to come here, just for you to bail" Azad says while trying to make the child in her feel comfortable while Amal rolled her eyed

"Well i didn't force you to come but you wanted to" Amal states making her sister roll her eyes so sometimes Azad dislikes that her sister is a smartass but she wouldn't change her for anything in the world to be honest.

"Because it is your big day,go, you're graduating and seat back down dummy" Azad states while trying to hold up her son who was making grabby hands at his aunt...her little nephew loves her way too much even though he barely sees her due to them leaving in an entirely different location and country.

"Give him to me" Amal says wanting to use this as an excuse to not attend her own graduation

"No!,go we will be cheering for you" Azad states making Amal frown

"We?,who are this we that you are speaking about?" Amal asks with wide eyes

"Oh you know, just a couple of aunts and uncles and their kids" Azad states making her sisters eyes to widen in shock, of course they are all here having a large family is one thing, but having Asian relatives is another thing, they tend to make everything more dramatic than it is and honestly she doesn't know whether to label it as. A good or bad or maybe even both!

"Oh my God, why would they all come it's not like I am getting married" Amal states in disbelief making her sister smile.

"If you think yours is bad, well you should have seen my graduation" Azad states with a fond smile as she remembers the memory.

"What happened during your graduation?" Amal asks with wide eyes sadly she couldn't attend it due to her uncles death Amal and her mom had to go and visit her aunt.

"Does it matter?, we are all here for you, now go before they notice that their very own valedictorian is missing" Azad states sternly making her sister roll her eyes before leaning in to kiss her nephew on the cheek, he let's out a giggle at the gesture,making her smile before she embraces both of them making her sister let out a surprised sound.

"Thank you" Amal mutters

"I"m proud of you sister" Azad states before Amal her sister spun around running down the hallways

"Your aunt is crazy, but please be like her" Azad says to her child who doesn't understand a word his mother was saying.

Azad started to make her way back towards where the graduation ceremony was holding, she apologizes as she steps on some peoples foots before she finally reached where she was previously seated.

"Where did you go?" Abtal asks as his wife finally turns her attention to him

"Amal" Azad says making him frown

"Oh di-

"I mean Amal" Azad states pointing towards her sister who had gotten up and started to make her way towards the stage making her big family to go wild at the news.

Amal's cheeks reddens at the attention her family was dragging to her but she wasn't embarrassed,she was happy that she had people to cheer her on, the only person who did that was...nevermind about that, she smiles collecting her own certificate shaking the woman who presented it to her everything turned into a blur for her.

"This years valedictorian miss Amal Abnan" the principal announces making the crowd to go crazy clapping for her making Amal's cheek turn different shakes of red her family where whistling,whooping and ...well embarrassing her except this time she didn't care!,she loved her large family the way they are weird like THAT.

She walks towards the microphone making the crowd go silent, her eyes searched the crowd until she found her sister who was giving her a thumbs up making her let out a shaky breath before she began her speech that wasn't written at all.

"First of All, I would

like say we should give a round of applause to my fellow students, who are here today because they have gone through the struggle of highschool and they have survived it.  Highschool isn't just a place where you and learn about books but,it is a place where you learn the ways of life,you find your identity,it is a place where you are breaking and putting yourself back together as you find out the reality about life at the same time, which you are trying to keep your grades up" Amal states making the crowd to cheer she waits for the cheers to go down before continuing her speech.

"So if your kid wasn't that good in academics still be proud of him or her because, while they were here they were in a war between themselves.

For me highschool was like a war front with me, As a girl who had no source of protection from racism, I have gotten sent to the hospital twice, I lost my friends, I had trust issues while in the normal world I was already dealing with another struggle from losing my dad in Syria,he was a soldier,he was fighting to save his country but instead he got killed so we migrated myself and my mom from Syria all the way to America by foot.

Can you imagine the tumor for a child to go through this?,just because I wear a head scarf doesn't mean that I am a member of ISIS, I mean my dad was killed by this same people that you speak off, my dad he was also a Muslim too, first of what is this terrorism mean in general" Amal pauses to look at the crowd to see that no one was saying anything they were all just staring she takes a deep breath

"The word terrorism means "the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes" trust me I didn't just make that definition up, I found it in a dictionary and it doesn't state that a certain religion are the only terrorist out there, no that's because terrorism has no religion, if you look at all of the cases of terrorist attacks that has taken place you will see that in this incidents Muslims also get hurt in it so why stereotype,I have been told to kill myself" Amal states making the crowd gasp in horror she could see her mom.

"And what if I hadn't found my strength to say  No,wouldn't I be remembered as the weak girl who killed herself like a coward?, yes that's why a friend of mine use to tell me that you are way stronger than you think you are, don't allow their stereotypes to drag you down" Amal states with a small smile as she remembers the words and the voice that said that word.

"What relevance does my story have to do with this graduation well i think it has a lesson,we can all take from it, as we all walk out that exit by which we always used to follow when coming in late for class,or exit only to come back the next day. This time we are leaving for Good and what is out there may not be easy at all but, what I would like to advice everyone is that, the struggle is going to be hard and so is the hustle but please don't ever give up, you are stronger than that.

Just remember the weird hijabi that is still very much alive after the problems life through at her trust me,this world is not made to only please you,it was created to break you but how long you can stand on All that matters" Amal concludes making the crowd to go crazy clapping and cheering making her eyes to widen everyone was standing up for her and that shocked her everyone was cheering her mom looked close to tears her sister too

"That was a very touching speech miss Adnan congratulations to the class of 2021 the stage is yours" the principal says making the students to cheer rushing to make their way up the stage cheering and chanting Amal's name making her grin they all threw  their caps in the air that marked the end of it all, Amal let out a sigh in relief, this was really the end.

"Hey Amal nice speech so sad you had to go through that" a none familiar voice says making Amal smile

"Thank you" Amal says to the dark haired girl she had never spoken to before

"Congratulations" a familiar voice says making Amal turn around with a grin, she pulls her mom in for a hug.

"I am so proud of you" her mom says sounding choked up to her hugging her tighter making her smile she hugged her back allowing the tears to gush out after staying back for another year due to her failing her finals, she is finally done but her mom's mind was on a trip down to memory lane to one of the painful struggles she had to go through with her daughter right next to her.

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