There’s only one thing in the world I’m afraid of and that is public speaking. I’m in choir, and I love getting solos but then in class I hate presenting oral assignments or reading in class. I was chosen to be valedictorian, which I was excited about until the principal told me I would be giving the graduation speech. I now had two weeks to prepare a speech and conquer my fear.  Writing the speech would be easy but conquering my fear, not so easy. Whenever I try to do any sort of public speaking my mouth gets really dry and my throat closes up.

I wrote a really good speech and I practiced and practiced, but the day of graduation came and I was super nervous, but then my friend Justin came up to me and said, “You’ll do great Nyrobi”. I peeked out from behind the curtain and saw the packed auditorium. All I know is that I went weak in the knees and my vision got blurry, good thing graduation didn’t start for another twenty minutes. I sat down until Mr. Ryan, the superintendent, told me to go out and give my speech. I looked back at Justin and he smiled reassuringly at me. I walked out onto the stage, blinded by the stage lights as I walked up to the podium. I looked back where Justin was and he was gone. I started to panic and my vision started getting blurry, suddenly I felt a calming hand on the small of my back. I turned to see Justin was behind me, he smiled and announced into the microphone, “I will be giving the speech Nyrobi has written.” He started reciting my speech and at the end everyone clapped and cheered. He walked back over to me and the spotlight followed, we were bathed in the white light. He hugged me and kissed my cheek then he whispered, “I love you, will you be my girlfriend?” I smiled at him and kissed him. “Is that a yes”, he asked. I giggled then kissed him again. “I’ll take that as a yes”, he said smirking. We could hear all the cheering and clapping, we both just giggled.

**Two weeks later**

Justin and I have gone on five dates. The first was picnic in the park, the second was ice skating, the third was the water park, the fourth horseback riding; the fifth was dinner and a movie. We were getting along great, for our date tonight we were going to a karaoke bar. I’ve never ever heard Justin sing, I mean he probably sings in the shower but we’ve only been dating two weeks so we don’t live or shower together. Back to what I was saying, I’ve never heard Justin sing so this was going to be interesting, but he wouldn’t have picked a karaoke if he couldn’t sing. I got ready and picked to wear grey jeggings, and a blue baby doll top, and electric blue slip-ons. My doorbell rang as I finished putting on my lip gloss, when I answered it was Justin. He wrapped his arms around me and we walked to his car. When we got to it he ran up to the door and opened it for me, I kissed his cheek in thanks as I got in. We pulled up to the bar, I was nervous because of the whole public speaking thing but it was singing so I would get through it. We got in and put our names on the karaoke list.

Justin put our names down together as a duet to “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”. I then signed my name to do the song “Shower” by Becky G and Justin signed up to do “All of Me” by John Legend.  When we did our duet I was shocked, his voice was breath-taking. My solo was right after our duet and Justin just grinned at me the whole time. When I was finished Justin stood up and started cheering and clapping. He went up next and I was blown away, the power of his voice just drew me in. When he finished he came back over to me and I kissed him passionately with tongue and all. After our kiss we left to get some food, he wanted to eat somewhere fancy but I insisted on McDonalds because we weren’t exactly dressed for fancy. “Just don’t order off the dollar menu or I’ll feel like a cheap skate”, Justin begged as I looked at the menu.  “Fine”, I said to him as I walked up to order. “I’d like a double quarter pounder with cheese, also a medium fry”, I told the cashier. “And would you like a drink with that ma’am”, the cashier asked. “Um yea, I’ll have an orange soda”, I told her. “That’ll be”, she started. “Our orders are together, I’ll have the same but with a sprite for my drink”, Justin said from behind me. The cashier looked at Justin, eyeing him actually, which made me somewhat frustrated. Justin ignored her and paid for mine even though I told him not to. After we got our food we took it back to my place because everyone was staring at us for some reason.

When we got back to my house he picked me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he was also carrying the food. He sat me down on the couch, then flopped down next to me opening the bag releasing the fantastic aroma if the food. He handed me my food and we sat there eating and suddenly there was a knock on the door. “I’ll get it”, I told Justin. I got up and opened the door revealing my ex-boyfriend Jesse. His face was tear-stained and I could distinctly smell the scent of alcohol. “What the hell do you want”, I asked very annoyed. “I want you, I saw you with that other guy and it made me miss you”, he said dropping to his knees sobbing. “I’ve moved on and you should too”, I said shutting the door leaving Jesse sobbing on my doorstep.  “Who was it, babe”, Justin asked. “My ex, he was crying to me about how he saw me with you and it made him miss me”, I replied. (Just to explain Jesse was not from the same school as us so he doesn’t know who Justin is.) I sat on the couch next to him and he pulled me really close. The TV was on so Justin must’ve put in a movie while I was answering the door. “What movie did you pick and please tell me it’s not a horror movie”, I asked. “Nightmare on Elm Street”, he said grinning at me. “It’s ok, it’s just a movie, I’ll protect you”, he continued. “Did you not see my address, 524 E. ELM STREET”, I screamed. He pulled me closer, if that was even possible, and said, “You’ll be fine, I promise”. He kissed my cheek then I buried my head in his chest, where it stayed for the entire movie.
I had fallen asleep, when I woke up I was alone on the couch and there was no Justin in sight. There was however a note on the table addressed “To My Pudding Puff”. I picked it up and stared at the name on the envelope for a few minutes then decided it was from Justin so I opened it. It read:
Dear Nyrobi, you fell asleep and I didn’t want to wake you but I had to leave so I wrote you note to let you know I love you. Attached is a little song I wrote for you.

*** (Song lyrics to “As Long as You Love Me” by Justin Bieber) ***
As long as you love me [3x]
We're under pressure,
Seven billion people in the world trying to fit in
Keep it together,
Smile on your face even though your heart is frowning (frowning)
But hey now (hey now), you know, girl (know girl),
We both know it's a cruel world
But I will take my chances
As long as you love me
We could be starving, we could be homeless, we could be broke
As long as you love me
I'll be your platinum, I'll be your silver, I'll be your gold
As long as you lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love me (love me)
As long as you lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love me (love me)
I'll be your soldier,
Fighting every second of the day for your dreams, girl
I'll be your Hova
You could be my Destiny's Child on the scene girl
So don't stress (don't stress), don't cry (don't cry), we don't need no wings to fly
Just take my hand
As long as you love me
We could be starving, we could be homeless, we could be broke
As long as you love me
I'll be your platinum, I'll be your silver, I’ll be your gold
As long as you lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love me (love me)
As long as you lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love me (love me)
[Big Sean]
Yo, B-I-G
I don't know if this makes sense, but you're my hallelujah
Give me a time and place, and I'll rendezvous it, I’ll fly you to it,
I'll beat you there
Girl you know I got you
Us, trust...
A couple of things I can't spell without 'U'
Now we are on top of the world, 'cause that's just how we do (do it)
Used to tell me, "Sky's the limit", now the sky's our point of view (view)

Man now we stepping out like, "Whoa" (Oh God)
Cameras point and shoot (shoot)
Ask me what's my best side, I stand back and point at you
You, you the one that I argue with, I feel like I need a new girl to be bothered with,
But the grass ain't always greener on the other side,
It's green where you water it
So I know we got issues baby true, true, true,
But I'd rather work on this with you
Than to go ahead and start with someone new
As long as you love me
As long as you love me (love me yeah yeah yeah)
We could be starving, we could be homeless, we could be broke
As long as you love me
I'll be your platinum (platinum), I'll be your silver, I'll be your gold
As long as you lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love me
As long as you lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love me
As long as you lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love me (I'll be your silver, I'll be your gold)
As long as you lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love
As long as you love, love, love, love me
As long as you love me (that's all I want baby)
As long as you love, love, love, love me
As long as you love, love, love, love me (please don't go)
As long as you love me
***As long as you love me***
P.S. I Love You
Love, Justin

That was the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me. I couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the day. I texted Justin to tell him I was going to the beach and he should meet me there. I drove down to the beach and had on my black and lime green monokini, with my shorts on over it. When I got half way down the beach I saw him, Justin standing by a huge towel with a picnic basket. He was holding up a big sign that said “My Pudding Puff”, so I definitely knew it was him. I ran to him and threw my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist as he lifted me while kissing him deeply. “Oh my god, you beat me here, I just texted you like two minutes ago”, I said surprised. “I was already here”, Justin said. “I whispered go to the beach today to you while you were sleeping, hoping you would, then I came here this morning to get all this ready”, he continued. “Aw, you had this whole thing planned out”, I blushed, completely flattered. “You’re very important to me, and I love you so this seemed like a good way to show you. I kissed his cheek, but at the last second he turned his face so my lips were on his lips. We stood there kissing, then Justin pulled us to the ground with me sitting on his lap and he never broke the kiss in doing this. So I was on his lap, when his phone started ringing. He moved me off his lap, kissed my cheek and said, “I’ll be right back I gotta take this”. I sat there watching him on the phone; then he came back over to me and said, “Sorry, but I have to go my mom needs me.” “Oh, ok that’s fine”, I said a little disappointed. “You can stay and eat the picnic if you want, but I’m not a very good cook so I don’t know how it’s going to taste”, he said slightly chuckling. I laughed and said “ok, since you did all this for me, I’ll stay”. He got in his car and sped off. Ten minutes later I heard a big crashing noise. I ran to my car and drove towards where the crashing noise came from; to my dismay it was Justin and another person’s car that had collided together. I called the ambulance and told them to come quick. I got out of my car and ran over to Justin’s car; he was banged up pretty bad. He had a gash on his forehead, and some cuts and bruises. The ambulance got here finally and took Justin to the hospital; I rode with him of course. I took his phone and went into his contacts for his mom’s number, so I could tell her what happened. I dialed the number and it rang twice then I heard a voice say, “Hello”. “Hi, this is Nyrobi, I’m Justin’s girlfriend; he’s been in accident and is now at the hospital”, I told her trying not to sob. “I’ll be right there”, she said. The nurse informed me the other guy didn’t make it. They let me into his room and the nurse told me he was in a coma, and they didn’t know if he was going to wake up. Justin’s mom walked in and she hugged me saying, “Thank You for calling me”. “I wish I wouldn’t have had a reason to”, I said starting to cry again. “My name is Pattie; by the way”, she said still hugging me tightly. I sat on the chair next to his bed and held his hand, I fell asleep that way. I came in everyday and him still not being awake is killing me.

**Three Days Later**
I was holding Justin’s hand, when the nurse told me I should go home and get some rest. I was hesitant at first but then she said, “Honey you at least need to go home and shower, you look terrible”. I nodded and got up to leave but before I did, I kissed Justin on the lips and I could swear I heard him say “Don’t Go” as I walked out the door.

TO BE CONTINUED…