The CPS agent was waiting at the bottom of the graduation stage, ready to take my newborn baby the moment I stepped down. Someone in the VIP section laughed and mumbled, “Trash collecting trash.” But what flashed on the fifty-foot screens next silenced the entire auditorium
A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the massive auditorium. The hum from the fifty-foot screens vibrated through the floorboards, rattling the metal chairs in the front row where my aunt, Marlene, sat frozen. Her smug, triumphant smile vanished instantly. Beside her, Vanessa gripped her stolen valedictorian stole so tightly her knuckles turned white. Before the…