“Can you watch your step young lady?” I looked forward and it was the beautiful teacher in front of me, she was wearing a straight pencil skirt and a white top, with a black heel to compliment her dress, she was really beautiful. I snapped out of my thoughts and quickly said “I’m sorry ma’am”.
My friend touched my shoulder as we made our way up the stairs to get to our seats, she asked if I was okay. I gave her a nod and a weak smile.
Walking into the Hall, I could see how crowded it was, filled with different students from different schools around the state. I kept looking at how flashy they all looked and didn’t realize when I missed my step and bumped into the teacher earlier. I kept saying to myself “They look so good and composed, they must be competitive.”
Our teacher asked us to take a deep breath and rehearse our lines as we sat down and watched other schools have a debate. I whispered to my friend who was already preparing her lines and had her eyes closed like she was meditating “I don’t think we can beat any school here, they are good” She looked over to me and said, “They look pretty good but I am sure we are better, are you nervous?” Of course, I am! I screamed in my head, I didn’t say that to her I could only give a nod. “Well, you just have to relax your nerve and don’t feel intimidated,” she said.
I kept asking myself why she wasn’t feeling nervous maybe it was because she wasn’t the first speaker so she had all the time to catch her breath and say her lines. She would feel motivated when she sees us speaking so she is less tense. Well, it is not so with me as I am the first speaker and the first person to air her opinions. I didn’t want to fumble and I was super scared and nervous.
“Let’s welcome Wisdom Child High School and Divine High School to the podium,” the speaker said, you guessed right that was my school that was being called. I could feel a tight squeeze in my stomach, I could feel my hands being cold as I made my way to the podium. “Is this a sign of stage fright, please shake it off you got this” I said to myself. I wouldn’t want the crowd to sense that I was nervous so I had to do a small pep talk with myself.
We had our seats and the whole introduction was said, the speaker introduced the panel of judges, and the timekeeper and introduced both schools for the debate and the speakers as well. I was handed the microphone as the first speaker, I let out a deep breath, definitely not in the microphone.
In five minutes I could hear them clapping, I don’t know how it happened but I was done speaking, I looked in the crowd for my teacher and he gave me a smile and thumbs up.
I wasn’t so nervous again when I had to come out for the second time to conclude. I felt better and more confident, more like I could finally breathe properly. After our rounds, we made our way back to our seats where the final result would be called for the schools that made their way to the next stage. I think I became nervous again, and my heart stopped beating for a split second, “Wisdom Child High School ” the speaker said loud. We made it to the next round, we were so happy and kept screaming “We made it!!”.
Thanks for stopping by💕
Cheers 🥂
