Rocky Road by Susannah McFarlane Page B

beaming because they were all so excited at the thought of performing at the competition but Emma was worried. She loved playing with her friends but the idea of performing in front of lots of people scared her. What if she messed up the performance? What if she let her friends down? Emma still remembered the Kinder concert where everyone was singing, ‘Ifyou are happy and you know it, clap your hands’. Everyone except Emma, who was not happy and was not clapping her hands. She had just stood there, mouth open, eyes wide with fright, staring out into the audience, not singing a word, and then bursting into tears, ruining the performance. She felt that she’d let everyone down then. Would she do it again at the talent competition? She would hate to let down her friends.
    â€˜It’s a fantastic idea, don’t you think Em?’ said Isi.
    â€˜Maybe we can wear the costumes we created at your house,’ said Elle. ‘We will rock!’
    â€˜Yeah, it’s great,’ said Emma trying, rather unsuccessfully, to sound as thrilled as the others. But it was no good, she had to tell her friends. ‘Except what if I can’t do it?’ said Emma.
    â€˜Do what?’ asked Elle.
    â€˜The competition,’ replied Emma.
    â€˜Why not, are you going to be away?’ asked Hannah looking confused.
    â€˜No, I’ll be here but what if I can’t perform, youknow, on stage in front of everyone. You guys are all so excited about it but I’m nervous that I’ll get stage fright and freeze and ruin it for us,’ said Emma, her eyes stinging a bit. Oh no, she thought, I am not going to cry as well, am I? What a baby!
    Elle must have sensed her friend was getting a little upset because she put her arm around Emma.
    â€˜Why wouldn’t you be able to do it, Em?’ asked Elle. ‘We play all the time and you love it.’ ‘And you’re great,’ said Hannah.
    â€˜Yes, but then it’s just us. This is in front of the whole school,’ said Emma.
    â€˜And all our families,’ piped in Isi.
    â€˜Isi, that’s not helpful,’ said Hannah.
    â€˜But Isi is right, there will be lots of people. What if I just freeze and mess everything up?’
    â€˜But it’s no different from gym competition, is it? You don’t worry about people watching then,’ said Elle.
    That was a good point and, typical of Elle to be so logical, but somehow it was just different. Emma couldn’t explain why.
    The school bell went and the girls bounced into their classrooms, still bubbling with excitement. Only Emma was a little less bouncy than the rest of them.

    At lunchtime, everyone was still talking about the talent competition. The entire school was completely obsessed with it and almost everybody was going to be performing. In the playground, everyone was arranging groups and talking about what they might do. Some kids were going to dance, some sing a song and some were going to do magic tricks. One boy was going to burp the entire alphabet.
    â€˜That is so gross,’ announced Nema who had just flounced by. ‘Of course I don’t know why anyone else is bothering, or at least bothering to try winning the competition. I think we already know who is going to win.’
    â€˜Squishy Music!’ cried Isi.
    â€˜Oh really,’ said Nema, ‘I don’t think so, Dizzy.’
    Dizzy was one of Isi’s nicknames; she got it because she was always running around so much that people thought she must get dizzy. Dizzy Isi. It was funny when her family and friends used it but Nema made it sound mean. Isi glared at Nema, who glared back.
    â€˜Whatever,’ Nema said, ‘my band will just be too, too good, too pretty, too awesome. We should probably be going on the competition on television, not just this silly little school one.’
    â€˜What’s your band called, Nema?’ asked Hannah.
    â€˜Oh, I thought you knew, I