VALEDICTORIAN

Isabella wore a long face as she watched her friends and boyfriend dance to the loud music. Today, she had graduated from the London Imperial College as the valedictorian. Her parents were not even present to listen to her public address.

The excuse her mother gave was that her father's business was crumbling and so they couldn't fly from Panama. "You are twenty-one, put on your big girl shoes and make us proud" her mother had said. She wished they realized how much their presence meant to her.

She had given way to tears during her valedictory address when she noticed that her friends all had families who came to celebrate with them. She had felt so alone. "Come on Isa", her boyfriend said as he dragged her to the dance floor. "Don't tell me you are still sulking because your parents couldn't make it to your graduation. You need to get over it. It's time to party."

Isabella smiled and blended in with her friends at the club. "Let me at least do it for steve," she told herself. After dancing for a while, she drank until she became tipsy while some of her friends were already wasted. Her boyfriend Steve took her to a corner and they started kissing passionately. Since she was wearing a short gown, he slid his fingers in between her legs and reached for her underwear. She instinctively grabbed his hands urging him not to go further.

"Please Isa," he whispered into her ears. "How much longer would you make me wait? It's been three years already. Haven't I tried?" Isabella's slurry voice replied, "I know you have tried but I told you from the onset, I don't want to have sex before I am married."

"There you go again with this conservative behavior."

"Do not say that steve, you know about the promise I made to my late grandma."

"To hell with your stupid promise," steve yelled. "You know what, I'm out of here. Call me when you are ready to think about my happiness."

"Please steve, don't walk away from me," Isabella said in a loud voice. "At least drop me off at home."

Steve stopped in his tracks, and even though he was upset with her, he couldn't bear to leave her alone in her condition. If anything bad happened to her, he would never be able to forgive himself.

He carried her to where he parked his car, placed her in the passenger seat, and drove to her rented apartment.

When he arrived, he looked at the weak Isabella and said, "we are here. You can get off now."

As she got down, she looked at him while feeling bad and asked, "would you like to come in for a while?"

"What for? It's not like you are going to let me touch you." Isabella looked at him sadly and said "goodnight baby, I love you," before staggering to her door.

As he watched her leave, steve felt his anger rise. How could she claim to love him yet deny him the pleasures that lay in between her legs? He was really in love with her but he felt she didn't feel the same way.

She was probably just leading him on until she no longer had use for him. When she closed her door, he drove off, promising himself that he will give her the cold shoulder from henceforth.

When Isabella entered her room, she went straight to the bathroom and showered. After that, she dialed Steve's number to find out if he had arrived home but he rejected her call. She kept trying to call him but he kept rejecting it. After a while, she received a text from him that read, "stop calling me, I need space."

Isabella wondered if she had done the right thing. She recalled when she was leaving home for London, her grandmother had wept bitterly because they were very close. She had asked Isabella to promise her that she would keep her virginity until she got married. "If I had known it would be this hard I would not have made that promise," she said to herself.

Isabella couldn't bear to break her promise because her grandmother was already dead. Perhaps, if she were to be alive, she would have been present at my graduation, Isabella thought sadly. She felt so alone. Steve had been her first and only boyfriend in college. He was always kind and considerate towards her and now she was about to lose him.

She decided to call her dad and find out how things were going. She called so many times but he didn't answer his phone. She tried calling her mum too and the same thing happened. She felt so abandoned. It was as if nobody wanted her. She broke down in tears and cried herself to sleep.

Isabella woke up very early the following morning. She tried calling steve again and true to his words, he ignored her. She sighed and decided to give him time to come around. Her phone finally rang and she thought it was steve. When she saw that it was her mum, she refused to pick it up. She was upset at the way they had ignored her on a day that was very important to her.

When her mum kept on calling, Isabella decided to pick up her call. She was surprised when she heard her mum crying helplessly. "What is it, mum? Why are you crying?"

"Isabella, we are done for. We have lost everything. Your father filed for bankruptcy yesterday. We didn't want to tell you because it was a big day for you."

Trying so hard to control her rapidly beating heart. She said "it's okay mom, calm down. It's not the end of the word."

"Isabella, it is the end of the world. As I speak to you, the bank has seized everything we own. We are homeless and there are lawsuits against your father. He couldn't bear it and suffered a cardiac arrest last night which resulted in a partial stroke. We are currently at the hospital and your father can't move his limbs anymore. Isabella, I feel like dying. I don't want to live anymore."

Isabella began to cry. "Please don't say that mum. I'm coming right away. I will take the next available flight. Please just hang on mum, I'm begging you."

After ending the call, Isabella clutched her chest as she felt an indescribable pain. She dialed Steve's number one more time to tell him about everything but he ignored her call. She hurriedly packed her bag, ran out of the house, and headed for the airport.