“I don’t want to wake up!” Said Amanda very pleadingly. “You need to go to school, you need to prepare for tomorrow” Her mother said. She jumped out of bed excitedly, and started to get ready quickly. Tomorrow is the big day, the day where Amanda is going to audition for her future as a dancer. She's been dancing ever since she was a little girl, and has big dreams to become a professional one day. But being in the top of her class, she still has her doubts here and there.

On the way to school, she plays her audition music and marks the moves in her head. Her mom smiles and says, “I’m so proud of you, I know you will be amazing tomorrow. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise”. Amanda has been slowly losing her confidence because of one girl in the class, Rachel. Since they were little, they have always been neck and neck in everything. Rachel always puts Amanda down, just to try and be better than her. 

After school, she heads to practice. Thinking it’s going to be a good practice, Rachel suddenly appears out of nowhere and bumps into Amanda, on purpose, while she is practicing her choreography. “Oops sorry, I didn’t see you there, I was too busy focusing on the outstanding dancers” Rachel says. “Well remember to watch yourself sometimes too” Amanda says sarcastically.

“You know what?”

“Tell me what”

“I am tired of you always thinking you’re the best of the best. Everyone here knows you won”t make it through tomorrow, you’ll just make a massive fool of yourself. You know it and we all do, you’ll never make it. You're just..”

“Weird”

“Annoying”

“Dumb”

“Scared”

“Try hard”

“A failure”

“Dreadful”

“Horrible”

“And not good enough”

Amanda stays quiet after that, and Rachel laughs and walks away feeling supreme. Amanda knows if she shows her true emotions it would only get worse. So she continues to practice alone.

Once practice is over, she gets in the car with her mother. She was silent the whole way while her mother was talking about things they have to do. She finally gets home and goes to take a hot shower to relieve her stress, but she is still shaken up from the battle of words. But the words replayed through her mind. Wet droplets race down her blue face. What’s wrong with me? She asked herself. Why do I put myself through this journey to follow my dreams, to sadly only lose my confidence and determination? 

 Her head starts to wander around like a new person at school… Did she really mean all those horrible things? Probably. She’s been that way ever since you were younger. But how can I get her out of my head? These words hurt so badly. She started to question herself, Can I even make it? Enough Amanda!

She ran downstairs to talk to her parents, but her mom was out busy with plans. Tearing up, she tries to explain everything to her dad. He suggests taking a drive, and without another word she quickly says yes.

In the car, her father explains that people like that are the ones who would probably not make it far. He tells her “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent” a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt. He gives her more advice that makes her feel better, So they head back home to get ready for the big day.

Early morning comes and Amanda is packed and ready for the day. She arrives at the practice area, and starts to warm up. She plays some soft music to get herself relaxed and to clear her mind. Avoiding Rachel at all costs, Amanda makes eye contact with her cold, mean eyes but just brushes it off. 

“Number 01, please come to the audition room.”

Rachel quickly gets up and heads in that direction nervously. As confident as she always looks, she looks like a whole new person. A few minutes goes by and a girl with an upset face walks out of the room as slow as a sloth. She goes to sit in the corner.

“Number 02, please come to the audition room.”

Amanda, with the most confidence she has had in a while, walks in with a smile on her face. You can hear cheers and applause from underneath the doors. And Amanda walks out of the room glowing with excitement and joy. But they have to wait a little longer to hear the results.

All the dancers are sitting and hoping for the best. The judges and directors come out from behind the magical doors with a list with only a few names on there. The paper is now posted on the wall, the dancers move towards it cautiously with a sort of fear and excitement. Some jump with joy while others walk with wonder. Rachel walks up to Amanda and congratulates her for making it, and walks away before she could even say thank you. It has been a few years since then, and now Amanda is now a well known professional dancer helping little ones reach for their dreams, And for Rachel, she's been avoiding Amanda as much as she could, still being the same old girl she was back in school.