Maddies Big Day

• Jana Vassiliou, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2017

Bang! What was that?
This was how my day, started. The looming rain smattering against my window and the crash of thunder woke me up before I needed to.
I dragged myself out from under the covers and turned and buried my head back under my doona to find my other sock. The floor was cold on my bare foot.
Today was the day that I had practised for months. It was the day for our Leader speeches.
You see, I was practically a mute. Speaking was not really on my list of favourite things, especially in public. When a teacher asked me something , I would avoid eye contact and pretend I didn’t hear. There was always a weird, uncomfortable silence, but I didn’t want to say something silly. Yet I could scream the house down and I was an expert at yelling from upstairs to downstairs but at school... that was totally a different story.
When I arrived at school that morning, my friends Emma, Mia, Lisa and Heidi ran up to me bubbling about the roles they were going for. This was our big moment.
I was hoping for sports captain for Gold team or Social Justice leader. I thought that I had a good chance. I am sporty and competitive, just not a public speaker, more of a quiet achiever. My brother Alex was Sustainability Leader last year, if he could get a spot I had a good chance.
The nerves and excitement in the classroom were overflowing like an overfilled soft drink. My teacher, Miss Felis tried to settle everyone. Our speeches were to be read after morning tea. My stomach was filled with butterflies and I lost my appetite.
It was time. Everyone was getting out cue cards, when a terrible feeling overcame me.
I had left them at home! I had practised the speech for months, this was a disaster. “oh no, my speech” I exclaimed aloud. Mia grabbed my arms and stared at me “nooooo what did you do? I told her I had left it at home, “okay, okay” Mia said much more calmly because the class turned to stare. “Let’s work this out, since you’ve been practising for so long, surely we can write it from memory?”, she said.
So off we went and started writing my speech from scratch. I couldn’t help but feel bad – how could this day get any worse.
Our teacher announced its time! I was getting hot with nerves, fanning myself to cool down. We waited for our turn listening to the other speeches. Then, it was my turn. I waited for everyone to be quiet and then I began speaking, trying to slow down, as I was so nervous.
At the end of the day I didn’t get a role, my friend Mia did and I was so happy for her. She deserved it after helping me, she was a deserving leader. Meanwhile, for me, missing out meant I had a volcano erupting inside.