OmG.

If you haven't read the comic Pearls Before Swine, you should. It's totally hilarious. My brother bought one of the books, and we were laughing so hard! There are some super funny ones in there, mainly the mavericks/lakers one, and the "opening statement". 

Well, my mom is randomly playing guitar hero, and I'm going to continue with installment 2 of my story! It will always be this color blue, unless something totally crazy happens, so if you see blue in the midst of black and white, read!

"Actually, I wouldn't mind listening to that," a kid said from the back of the room. "As long as we don't have to work."

Ms. Roberts smiled encouragingly and I shrugged, walking up to the front of the room.

The class reacted perfectly as I told my story. I added just the right amount of humor, making the story seem less serious. After I finished, Ms. Roberts called me up to her desk.

"Starr, you're a great storyteller. I don't think I've ever heard someone retell something like that."

"Oh, um...Thanks." I really wasn't expecting her to say that. 

"Would you like to join the impromptu speaking team?"

"No!" I shouted, making the rest of the class glance up. I continued in a softer voice. "I mean, I'm not a good speaker. I get super nervous in front of people."

"You didn't seem to be nervous today."

I thought back, remembering how I had laughed with the class. I didn't recall any traces of nervousness the whole time, amazingly.

"I wasn't, though I don't know why."

"Have you ever thought that you might speak well when it's something you've experienced? I've met many people like that. Do me a favor?"

"Sure, I guess."

"Tomorrow, I'm going to give you a prompt, and I want you to give a five minute speech to the class. You can relate to anything that you've experienced."

I blinked. That was the exact thing I didn't want to do. But I could try, right?

I nodded.

"Good," Ms. Roberts said, smiling. She had never been one of my favorite teachers, but today had made me see her differently. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll do fine."

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Despite her words, I worried. The whole rest of the day, even when I was lying in bed, I was trying to come up with every single possible topic that Ms. Roberts might choose. I was nervous, and starting to regret my decision. Maybe I could pretend I was sick. 

I sighed, wondering why I had to worry so much. No matter how hard I tried to think of something else, my mind continued to scroll through possible topics. When I finally fell asleep, I was thinking about ants.

-------------------

"Playground."

"..." Playground? What kind of topic is that? What in the world is there to say about a playground?

"Starr? The topic is playground."

I took a deep breath and started talking.

You shall never know what she says! Hehe. Just kidding. Tomorrow, probably. I'm about 500 words into my biology essay, and I still have to draw my picture, so I might be a bit late tomorrow. 

Listening to Grow Up by Simple Plan,

Kris.