The Star Group by Christopher Pike Read Free Book Online Page A

down the house. But it was her moment and she seized it. By the time she was finished singing – she added a few verses – we were all soaked with sweat. Our families and friends didn't mind – they responded enthusiastically. Gale laughed and bowed and returned to her seat. I loved how everyone watched when she sat down beside me. She couldn't stop laughing.
    “This must be how you felt when you shot the pier,” she said.
    “Did you ask if you could sing that?” I asked.
    “Yeah. McManus said no!”
    Sal reached over and patted her on the back.
    “For a white girl, you sure do have soul,” he said.
    Gale was still giggling. “I take that as the highest compliment. I'll pass it on to Elton John, in fact.”
    Susan Meyer, our valedictorian, had to follow Gale, which was not easy. She ‘brilliantly’ chose to talk about the economy, and the role young people would play in it. Everyone started talking. But I did manage to keep a straight face and remain quiet.
    Teri was next. Standing behind the microphone, she pulled her speech out of her pocket and seemed to study it. But then she folded it up and put it back, her expression serious.
    “I'm sure the last thing you all want to hear is another speech from an uninformed adolescent. I don't know anything about the economy or what our society needs to survive. I don't know much about the environment, either. I just hope we don't mess up this world so bad that it can't be fixed. I mean, I'm just getting out of high school. But what I do know is that I love a lot of people here.” She took in the whole audience for a long moment, and when she finally spoke her voice cracked. “And I'm going to miss them, miss their love. Thank you.”
    We were all stunned by the brevity of her speech but then we burst out in applause. In seconds Teri had blown away Susan Meyer’s speech. When she returned to her seat, Sal gave her a kiss.
    Jimmy swaggered up to the mike next.
    From his walk, I should have known I was in trouble.
    “Hi,” he said, “My name is James Yearn and my speech is short as well. In fact, I don't have a speech. But I do want to share something that happened to my friends and me today. Sal Barry and Daniel Stevens and I went surfing this morning, and as you might have heard, the waves are bigger than they've been in twenty years. Anyway, we were out on our boards when the biggest wave of the day rolled in. It must have been twenty five feet. It literally touched the bottom of the pier. Now Daniel had never shot the pier before, but something came over him right then. It was like he was possessed. He paddled into that wave and took off, standing up, his board aimed right at the pier. Sal and I thought he was a goner. The wave swept right over him, and we thought we'd soon be searching for his body. But what we didn't know was that Daniel had entered the greatest of all tubes. He had attained the highest state of nirvana that a surfer can reach. Only when he emerged on the other side of the pier did we know that by the grace of God he had survived and returned to us.”
    Jimmy paused and smiled. “Now you probably want to know what this has to do with anything. Honestly…I don't have the slightest idea. It's just that it was so cool, such an impossible feat, and it was done by someone in our class, I just needed to share it with you. Also, I'd like to ask Daniel to stand and take a bow. Please, ladies and gentlemen, give him a big hand for either being the bravest guy in the world or the dumbest!”
    I sat there petrified. The audience started to clap.
    Gale poked me. “Get up!”
    “No,” I mumbled. The audience began to stand.
    Gale pinched me and hissed. “Coward!”
    Calm descended from above. Perhaps Mentor came to my rescue. I looked at Gale and smiled. “One thing you should know about me, I'm not a coward.”
    When I stood and waved, the audience exploded in cheers.
    My class did likewise. Great final note to high school.
    I was mad at Jimmy but