Conveniently Inspired

Chapter Twenty Seven

The night before the short story contest reading, Skylar traded in her sleep for some practice. She recited her story countless times again and again, in front of her mirror at first, and then in front of Aaron. She had to have read the same page five times to him, but each time, he listened like it was the first with a proud fatherly smile on his face.

Finally, the big day came. The entire school was called to the auditorium while Skylar, Mohammad Abdulleh and Sarah Farley waited anxiously behind the red curtains. They all listened to Principal Wagner introduce the three finalists. A thunder of applause ensued, and then Mohammad walked out first, followed by Sarah, and then, Skylar herself.

Staring out into the abyss, all she saw was darkness and shadows. She knew for a fact that Aaron had come. He'd told her the day before that he took the day off work just to come support her, which made Skylar feel both loved but guilty. As for her mother, she didn't know if she would take the same initiative to watch her mother. Her best bet was no.

As she reached the podium, she blinked twice and reshuffled her index cards. She tried to be present in the moment as Mohammad read his story first, which apparently was one of the few submissions in the paranormal genre. There was nothing but the occasional cough or sneeze in the audience. His voice was soothing and calm, and Skylar thought that she could fall asleep to his talking. Sarah focused hers on fantasy, and she seemed a bit more nervous, evident through her constant hair tugging, feet shuffling and shove of her glasses. But her story itself was clever, and Skylar found herself absolutely entranced by the poetic rhythm of her writing.

Skylar felt a bead of sweat slowly trickle down her back. "-and last but certainly not least, let's give our fullest attention to our final contestant of the day, Skylar Lin, who will be reading aloud her story titled Infinity." Somewhere, out in the audience, a hand waved. She wasn't sure if it was her mother, but it seemed like something her mother would do, and that alone helped ease some of her worries.

Inhaling once, then twice, Skylar's shaky fingers smoothed out her index cards. And then she was reading them aloud. Focusing on the words shifted her attention, which allowed her mind to suppress her anxieties. And for a good ten minutes, she wasn't thinking about what her classmates thought, or how silly her romantic short story sounded, or the person in the crowd who let out a fake snore, preceded by several chuckles. Rather, Skylar felt pride. She was standing in front of the whole freaking school, allowing hundreds of strangers to hear her intimate narrative. She was giving them the key to her vulnerabilities, to her very thoughts voiced aloud, and she was proud of the result.

The applause snapped her out of her thoughts. A couple whistles strayed out. She even jerked a bit, completely disassociated from reality. Looking to her left, she saw that even Mohammad and Sarah were clapping. They offered genuine smiles of encouragement.

And then she was done. The three of them walked off the stage, exchanging praise and congratulations for each other's stories, while Principal Wagner explained the voting process: people could go online to the school website and cast one vote. The polls would be open for one week, and then the winner would be announced. Skylar felt nothing but relief. At this point, she didn't even care about claiming the scholarship. She faced one of her gravest fears. She now knew with a startling certainty that writing was what she wanted to do. Maybe not for the rest of her life, but it was definitely something she' be interested in pursuing during her post-secondary. At this point, she didn't even care if she lost the contest. Both Muhammad and Sarah's stories were amazing, she wouldn't be surprised if the first place went to either of them instead.

As Skylar exited the stage wing and made her way to the side of the auditorium, in search of Aaron, she stopped short in her tracks when she saw not only him but also her mother. Skylar's heard began thudding. Aaron approached her first, clasping her shoulder affectionately. "You did amazing, kid. Everybody loved your story."