Her Ultimate Destroyer

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           👩‍🎓LEONA 👩‍🎓

"And our Valedictorian for this year 2019  goes to.." the emcee paused as he smiled mockingly at us.

He has us, especially me right where he wanted. In between his tight gripping suspense.

My heart hammered furiously against my ribcage as I exchanged looks with my best friend. She smiled nervously at me then her gaze goes back to the man at the podium who in no time will be declaring the hero of this year.

It's the best student award. Valedictory, to be precise. At the end of the day, a student with the highest rank of the entire graduating class will leave here with a price and bragging rights.

Rhoda and I are anxious because we happen to just be one of the nerds who worked hard just to acquire the title.

For all the things, I need it mostly for the money and the juicy offer that comes with it but for my friend, she seems to have the silver spoon already glistening in her mouth so surely, it's for the bragging rights. Whatever reason we both have, it's certainly going to make us happy.

Clearly, It was the day of graduation, and I'm just excited as everyone here. After years of schooling, I can finally say bye to college.

Though I have come out with a first-class degree, my family and I will be done a great favor if my name should be called as it's going to open many possibilities for us. It will go a long way.

For someone who comes from a lower-class family, I surely need this greatly. After I lost my mom, my dad remarried and had three more children who are all girls with Tasha.

I'm Leona Grande the second child and the only daughter my mom gave birth to before passing on. My dad got remarried to Tasha and they had three kids, all girls. I have a brother, Raymond who has made it out of high school only.

My dad is a fashion designer who manages a small shop which wasn't doing too well as my education ate deep into it.

Having a jobless stepmom made it worse because the burden was on dad alone which as a result, my step-siblings had to drop out of middle school.

As if that wasn't enough, my stepmom, Tasha was quite a headache and her three girls are also something else. Especially the eldest who's called Elsie.

Now here's the deal, I have to shoulder my family's financial burdens once I am out of college since the family's greater wealth got invested into my education. It's now time to pay back every single dime and more.

I'd have to get a good job, send my siblings back to school, and take care of the family. This is why this award is very important to me because it comes with a job and a fixed salary. Which means I won't have to go searching for a job once I'm done.  I've worked and sacrificed a lot for four years and almost all my life.

Only if my elder brother had agreed to this but he hates to be controlled. Not that I like it but I was my dad's only option.

At the early stage of sixteen, I was out of high school and now at the age of twenty, I made it out of college. My life was simple yet intense.

I was really serious with my books, they had me indoors most of the time. I earned the nerd title very easily way back in high school only that I didn't put on huge glasses.

I wanted to keep a low profile but my grades kept me popular.

Since my dad didn't make me work part-time, I had to really make it worth it. Friends will be a distraction so I entertained none until I met Rhoda at NYU.