Chapter 16 : Courage

17th July : Sunday

The camp facilitator's decided to host an event for all the children today.

Actually, two events.

A TALENT SHOW.

&

A GAME SHOW.

The talent show was for people who wanted to share their talents with the rest of the kids.

The game show was for the rest who wouldn't wanna participate in the talent show.

It's like they didn't want anyone to be left out and made sure everybody at the camp had fun.

So as per the schedule, there would be a talent show first, then a game show, then a talent show, then a game show and so on.

Many awesome and famous figures amongst the "cool groups" of people in church, decided to participate in the talent show, and BOY were they super talented.

Rose had taken part in the talent show, where she'd be dancing with her group.

And me being the introvert I was, decided not to take part in anything.

Seemed fun.

When out of NOWHERE,

SUDDENLY, there occurred some technical errors with the next set of Talent show performers and to cover up the delay, the facilitator's decided to select Random three people out of the crowd to dance for them.

Hah. Ofcourse I wouldn't be chosen. I was that confident...

.....until

The bossy lady incharge laid her eyes on me.

I kept looking at her in horror as her smile grew wider.

And as she pointed her hand in my direction, I looked around hoping, PRAYING, that it wasn't towards me.

     "She chose you dude go!!!" said a guy beside me.

I was speechless. Let alone participating for a speech competition in school, I never danced infront of SO MANY PEOPLE.

I shook my head saying no, and that gave the bossy lady even more the reason to come up to me and pull me out.

Me, standing along two other guys,

I was shaking.

Everyone's eyes towards me.

I didn't wanna embarrass myself.

I was so not wanting to dance.

I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW ANY STEPS TO ANY SONG.

I was so scared I didn't wanna look at anyone's face.

Malcolm and Simon smiled the most evilest smile ever seeing me helplessly standing in nervousness.

One by one the two dancers apart from me were called on the dance floor.

They nailed it so bad, it was nerve-racking.

The crowd went wild, making my condition even worse.

"Next up we have our last contestant."

*Gulp*

The crowd goes silent.

"Everybody let's hear it for....WILLIAM"

And as the claps subside, I stand there, waiting for the song to play.

"It's.... it's okay William. Ju.....just do something cool to the badass song they're gonna play....30-40 seconds and you're good." I think to myself.

Imagine my horror when they played,

"I'm a Barbie girl, in my Barbie world.

Life is plastic. It's fantastic.

You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere.

Imagination, life is your creation."

And the music stopped.

And so did the laughter, as I stood there, speechless.

And did absolutely nothing.

        "Hey c'mon do something awesome   

      for us....", said the facilitator.

I looked over to her, thinking

"WHAT AWESOME COULD PROBABLY HAPPEN WITH THAT SONG WITH ME DANCING TO IT?"

"We'll give it a go again! All the best!" said the facilitator.

Oh my God what could I do to escape this situation?

The song's gonna be on in just a few seconds.

If I just quit I'll just be a boring guy who couldn't dance at the summer camp and spoiled the whole vibe.

But then if I do, I'd probably do something stupid and embarrass myself.

I was trembling.

WHAT DO I DO?

All these thoughts kept hammering into my brain, in the silence, just before the song could start.....

....when suddenly someone shouts.

      "WILLIAM!!"

I look to Malcolm, it's not him.

I look to Simon, it's not him either.

Was I hearing things?

          "WILLIAAAMMM!!"

This time I hear it, even louder.

Loud enough for me to locate exactly where it was coming from.

I turned around.

Rose?

Giving me a warm smile, beautiful as ever, she gives me a thumbs up,

And says

                  "All the best!!"❤️