Standing in the hallway by the gym I look out the open door and watch my fellow senior William Harris rocking a hula hoop. I look out and see the crowd laughing and enjoying themselves, and I realize that I’m up next. My stomach drops, and I can feel the butterflies. The next thing I know Mrs. Moore calls out my name and introduces my talent.
“Ben is one of only two veterans of the Mr. HBHS pageant and will be singing a song to someone special for his talent,” said Moore.
Walking out onto the court I’m suddenly aware of every eye focusing on me. I knew what I was going to do, but I couldn’t forget what had happened to me last year. In the 2010 pageant I became overcome with my nerves and completely forgot everything I was going to do. I had planed on singing a song, but half way through it I fell silent. My nerves had gotten the better of me, and I was terrified that something similar was about to happen this year.
As I took each step I continually told myself to simply chill out and that it was just a small crowd. When I made it to the center of the gym, I thought my voice and memory was once again going to fail me. I opened my mouth to start my song and couldn’t remember a single word. I just started talking to the crowd trying to recover the words of the short song that I had chosen to sing. Finally I remembered the words and started my song. The next thing I knew I was back in the hall watching the other contestants take their turns in the spotlight.
Sitting there in the hall waiting to be called back out to participate in the question and answer part of the night, I began to laugh at myself. I had been so nervous that I had trouble singing a 15 second portion of a song and now that I was done I looked back and wondered what I had possibly been nervous about.
I realized that the worst part was waiting. No one in the crowd judged me for what I had done. They were just there to watch, support, and laugh at their friends or family members perform in a humorous way.
At the beginning of the year I told myself I would enjoy my senior year and that I wouldn’t care what anyone else thought or said about me. To me the Mr. HBHS pageant was an opportunity to just go out and make a fool of myself for no other reason than to have fun, which is exactly what I vowed I would do with my year.