The Dream that Came True

I never used to understand how children always got so lucky at winning competitions and got
prizes that I could only dream of having. How could I, a young, careless girl with her head
constantly in the clouds win a competition and finally be able to have the things the other
children had. It wasn’t until that one lucky day I was finally blessed with the gift I always dreamt
of.

One a hot, sunny morning at my school, I was casually talking to my best friend Maddy, who
was just as careless as me but popular and gorgeous all the same, when we happened to pass our
English teacher, who was passing out fliers to students. With a gentle smile, he handed me and
Maddy a flier and we went on our way to class.

‘Ugh, you gotta be kidding me, does it look like I want to be in a dumb speech competition,”
Maddy sighed as she threw the flier in the bin as soon we entered class.

I decided to keep the flier for a bit, and while I was reading the flier my jaw dropped open as
soon as I saw what the prize would be. A two week trip to Barbados! I immediately imagined
myself at Barbados at the beach, eating all the popular food there. At that moment I immediately
decided to participate in this no matter what.

“Maddy, I gotta do this speech. This prize is literally the best thing I’ve seen in my entire life.”
“You better win this competition girl, or there is absolutely no way I will forgive you for it, like
ever.”

For the rest of the school day, I spent all my sessions daydreaming about what it would be like in
Barbados. As soon as I got home, I started writing my speech, the topic being “Global Warming
and its many threats”. Although, I only had one week to complete the speech, with support from
Maddy and assistance from my dad, I wrote the speech with ease and pure excitement in around
4 days. The other 2 days I spent my time at Maddy’s house in the afternoon practicing my
speech, which didn’t go too well as she constantly made me laugh while practicing. However, on
the day before the competition, I started panicking. What if I did terribly during the competition?
What if I messed up the speech? What if something happens to me on that day?

To take my mind of those terrible thoughts, I decided to play my favorite game ever, Animal
Crossing, which rapidly calmed my nerves and made me happy again. I then went to bed and
dreamed once again about Barbados and the cute boys I would meet there and date. I woke up
early in the morning and ate a hearty breakfast and rushed to school to meet Maddy.

“Good Morning Maddy! Honestly I have no idea if I’m ready for this speech. I’m feeling
nervous already! What if I-”
“Oh my god, relax a little please. You got this, seriously. I’m cheering you on, okay?”
As the competition started first thing in the morning, we headed to the hall after roll call to wait
for the competition to begin. After a couple minutes, the competition started and the judges
began to call names on who to come up first.

“Cassie! Come on up first!”

“Ugh, why me…” I grumbled to myself as I walked up to the stage.

The moment I got on stage, I started shaking. All the terrible thoughts I wanted to avoid rushed
back to me and at that moment I was terrified. However, I started imagining Barbados again and
the thoughts went away, and I began my speech. When I was finished, everyone started
applauding me with big smiles on their faces. I officially had nothing to be anxious about
anymore, only who won. As the other students gave their speeches, I sometimes thought that
they were much better than mine, but that soon went away as Maddy slandered them with no
hesitation.

When the speeches were finished, we had an intermission before the judges finally announced
the results.

“In third place…. Vanessa Stewart!”

“In second place…… Serena Glasgow!”
“And in first place….”

I was practically on the edge of my seat, waiting eagerly with anticipation while Maddy held my
hand.

“Cassie Brown! Congratulations on winning this year’s speech competition!”

I was ecstatic. I walked up the stairs to stage attempting to keep myself calm. I received the
envelope as well as the trophy and was once again applauded. At that time, I felt like I was the
luckiest and happiest girl in the world who just had their best dreams come true