Chapter 6 - Section 114
Backstage, I found my family before the dean introduced me. Section 114, four rows from the aisle. My mother wore a cream blazer and the proud smile she saved for public events where people might notice. My father held his phone ready to record Derek. Derek sat among the graduates, grinning nervously beneath his cap.
For one moment, I almost left.
Not because I was afraid of speaking. I had spoken before investors, ministers, engineers, and rooms full of people waiting for me to fail.
This was different.
No audience is larger than the two people whose approval you used to need.
Then I remembered the apartment in Palo Alto. The cold coffee. The text. The cheap mirror. The doctoral hood I adjusted alone. The strangers clapping while I scanned the crowd for faces that had chosen not to come.
The dean touched my arm.
“Ready, Dr. Mitchell?”
I smiled.
“Yes.”
He walked to the podium first. His introduction was generous, professional, and utterly devastating in its neutrality. He did not call me Derek’s sister. He did not call me anyone’s daughter. He named my work. My company. The communities our technology had reached.
The applause began before I stepped out.
Then I saw my mother recognize me.
Her smile slowly vanished.
My father lowered his phone.
Derek turned in his seat, confused, then stunned.
May you like
I walked to the podium without rushing.
This time, they were all watching.
