POV: VIVIAN
I stood at the podium, cap and gown perfectly pressed, speech cards in my trembling hands, and smiled at the sea of faces below me. Cameras flashed from every angle. Local news was here. The Columbia Daily Spectator. Parents recording on their phones. This was my moment. Valedictorian. Four years of perfect grades, strategic networking, sacrificing sleep and sanity, all leading to this.
"Distinguished guests, esteemed faculty, proud families, and fellow graduates," I began, voice clear and confident like I'd practiced a hundred times. "Today marks not an ending, but a beginning."
More camera flashes. I could see my parents in the third row, my mother beaming, already crying. This was what she'd wanted. What we'd both wanted. Proof that I'd made it. That the struggle was worth it.
"We stand here as the culmination of countless hours of study, sacrifice, and perseverance. We are the architects of our own futures, the masters of our own destinies."
The words flowed easily. I'd written and rewritten this speech until every syllable was perfect. I wasn't thinking about Chase. I wasn't thinking about the ring box or the look on his face or the word nobody hanging in the air between us.
Except I was. God, I was thinking about nothing else.
I pushed through the next paragraph, something about embracing challenges and seizing opportunities. The audience was attentive, nodding along. I was nailing this. In ten minutes, it would be over, and I could fall apart privately. Just ten more minutes of perfect performance.
Then I saw him.
Chase was moving through the crowd of graduates, not toward his seat, but toward the stage. His face was wrong. Cold. Empty. Like someone had reached inside him and scooped out everything warm and replaced it with ice.
"As we move forward into our futures, let us remember that success is not merely about personal achievement, but about the impact we make on..." My voice faltered as Chase climbed the steps to the stage.
The audience murmured. Faculty members stood, confused. Dean Morrison moved toward Chase, but he was already halfway across the stage.
"Chase, what are you doing?" I whispered, still holding the microphone.
He didn't answer. Just walked right up to me, and for a second, I thought he was going to say something, to forgive me, to tell me he understood. His eyes met mine, and they were so dark they looked black.
Then he walked past me.
Straight to Sienna.
My best friend was sitting in the front row of the audience, standing now, eyes wide with confusion as Chase grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.
"Chase, what..." Sienna's voice carried in the sudden silence.
He cupped her face in both hands and kissed her.
Not a gentle kiss. Not a friendly kiss. A deliberate, possessive, claiming kiss in front of three thousand people and a dozen cameras.
The gasps came in waves. Students. Parents. Faculty. Everyone seeing it, recording it, capturing this moment that was supposed to be mine.
I stood frozen at the podium, microphone still in my hand, speech forgotten. My mother's voice cut through the noise.
"Vivian? Vivian, what's happening?"
Chase finally broke the kiss. Sienna stumbled backward, hand over her mouth, face pale. He turned to look at me then, and his smile was cruel.
"Congratulations on your speech, Vivian." His voice carried across the silent auditorium. "I'm sure it was perfect."
Then he walked off the stage, down the steps, through the center aisle. People moved out of his way like he was radioactive. Cameras followed his exit. Phones pointed at him, at Sienna, at me standing alone on stage like an idiot.
Dean Morrison rushed to the podium. "Let's, let's have a brief pause while we restore order."
But there was no order. The ceremony had imploded. Students were standing, talking, pointing. Parents looked confused. Professors were trying to calm people down. And every single camera in the building was now focused on me, the humiliated valedictorian whose perfect moment had just been destroyed.
I looked for Sienna. She was still standing where Chase had left her, frozen, staring at nothing. Her mother Catherine was next to her now, gripping her shoulders, saying something I couldn't hear.
My mother pushed through the crowd to reach me. "Vivian, honey, what was that? Why did he do that?"
Because I destroyed him this morning. Because I called him a nobody. Because I rejected his proposal and broke his heart, and this was payback.
But Sienna. Why Sienna?
"I don't know," I lied.
The ceremony tried to continue. Dean Morrison asked me to finish my speech. I looked down at my cards, at words about success and achievement and futures, and they meant nothing. The cameras were still on me. The whispers were getting louder.
"She must have cheated on him."
"No, I heard he proposed and she said no."
"She called him a nobody."
"Maybe Sienna and Chase were together the whole time."
That last whisper cut through everything else. I looked up, searching for Sienna again. She was gone. Catherine was leading her away, and my best friend didn't even look back at me.
I folded my speech cards and stepped away from the podium. "I'm done."
Dean Morrison blinked. "But you have three more pages."
"I'm done."
I walked off the stage, cap still on, gown trailing behind me, my mother chasing after me. I could hear the ceremony resuming behind me, someone else speaking now, trying to salvage what was left.
I found a bathroom and locked myself in a stall. Pulled out my phone with shaking hands. Thirty-seven messages already. Text after text, most from people I barely knew.
"OMG what just happened?"
"Are you okay?"
"Did you see that coming?"
"Chase Sterling just kissed Sienna Rhodes in front of everyone."
"I always thought there was something between them."
That last one made my stomach turn. I scrolled through more messages, looking for one from Sienna. Nothing. I tried calling her. Straight to voicemail.
My mother knocked on the stall door. "Vivian, come out. We need to talk about this."
"Give me a minute."
"The press is asking questions."
Of course they were. This was exactly the kind of scandal they lived for. Valedictorian humiliated at her own graduation by the guy she rejected. Her best friend involved. Drama. Betrayal. Public spectacle.
I came out of the stall. Looked at myself in the mirror. Makeup still perfect. Hair still in place. Everything looked fine on the outside. Inside, I was screaming.
"Did you know he was going to do that?" my mother asked.
"No."
"Did something happen between you two?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Vivian, this is all over social media. People are filming. You need to control the narrative."
Control the narrative. Like this was just another PR problem to manage. Like my entire graduation hadn't just been ruined. Like my best friend hadn't just kissed my boyfriend in front of three thousand people.
Ex-boyfriend. He was my ex-boyfriend now. As of this morning.
But still.