In the auditorium, we lined up to walk down to the rows where our school was assigned seating. I was standing next to Marcus, because we had to sit in the order of our line-up on stage, and not too far away, Jason was next to Cassie. I was looking around nervously at my classmates and then—suddenly— Cassie threw up.
“Denise! Mrs. June!” kids shouted simultaneously. Luckily Cassie hit the floor and the side of a chair, and not a person. The line-up was chaotic and Denise and Mrs. June tried to calm everybody down. Cassie started crying and saying how sorry she was, but she was so nervous she couldn’t handle it anymore.
Then Marcus threw up. He had the decency to miss my new shoes by a fraction of an inch. What’s worse than staring at somebody else’s vomit in a confined space? Absolutely nothing.
“Epic!” Marcus said. “When I see somebody else throw up, I have to throw up too! I can’t help it!”
“Marcus,” Mrs. June said. “You and Cassie should sit out. Do you see your parents? You can sit with them.”
“Mrs. June! I don’t want to sit out!” he protested. “I’m fine! It was just a little vomit!”
“There is no arguing with me about this Marcus. Now go!” she said with finality.
Paper towels were thrown down on the aisle, and somehow somebody found a mop and bucket and the mess got all cleaned up. I had to look away and breathe through my mouth.
After everything had finally settled down, Denise walked over to me and said, “You’re going to have to switch spots and take Cassie’s place.”
I looked over at Jason, and said, “No problem.” I moved over to stand next to him and we smiled nervously at each other.
Our class finally got seated and we could feel some bad vibes from the other kids as our duo of barfers had set the whole program back about thirty minutes. Jason and I took our seats next to each other and I didn’t feel as nervous as before. “How do you feel?” he asked me.
“Well before Cassie and Marcus barfed, I was feeling pretty nervous, but suddenly it got too busy for me to feel nervous! I’m just glad Marcus didn’t barf on me,” I said.
“See, I told you he was actually a good guy!” Jason joked.
I just gave him a sideways stare and smiled. The show was finally going to get underway. The program listed twenty performing groups. We were number six on the list. We watched the groups before us perform, and some of them were amazing dancers.
I was stunned that these were local kids. I was beginning to understand why Mrs. June wanted us to do this. After each group was done, you could see how happy they were. You could see that they all felt really proud of themselves. It was cool to see.
When it was our turn to leave our seats and get ready backstage, I snuck a peek out into the audience through the crack in the curtains. I saw my family and smiled. I managed to catch my mom’s eye, and she gave me a little wave and a thumbs up. I got into line and stood next to my best friend. Madison tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Good luck! This is going to be so much fun!” I turned around and smiled. I caught Arden’s eye and gave her a wink. She gave me a big nervous smile back.
Backstage, Denise looked nervous and she said, “You’ve worked really hard. I’ve been tough on you, but I think you’ve all done an incredible job working together as a team. I hope you have a great time out on that stage. I am so proud of all your work.” Then she started to choke up and cry. I was a bit shocked, but suddenly, I wanted to do my best just for her and for Mrs. June and for my classmates.
Emma shouted to the class, “Let’s do this!”
We all cheered.
We walked together onto the stage as a group and heard them announce our class. I grabbed Jason’s hand and as the curtain lifted and the bright lights shone down on us, I looked down the row at my classmates and decided that people could be so surprising.
Making new friends could be fun, stressful, and downright confusing, but at the same time, it is important to let people in because how else are you going to figure stuff out?
And accepting people is really important because sometimes what you see isn’t all there is or what you thought you knew. Plus, learning more about people can teach you more about yourself.
But while I’m trying to figure it all out, I need to remember who and what is important to me. I can have lots of friends, but I only have one best friend, and my best friend is Jason. He likes me in my beat-up running shoes, jeans, and t-shirt. And that is how I like myself too.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am deeply grateful to the team at Second Story Press. Your passionate desire to bring diverse stories to young readers is inspiring.
about the author
Angela Ahn is a former high school English and social studies teacher. She worked in the Canadian public system as well as for two years in Hong Kong teaching English as a Second Language. She later went back to school to earn a Masters of Library and Information Studies from the University of British Columbia. Angela worked in all types of libraries, but only discovered the joy of children’s literature when she had her own children. She has been at
