I Found Myself

It is another beautiful morning on this side with the rising sun, the cool breeze which makes you feel you are at the centre of the world, the barking of the dogs and the singing of the birds which makes a beautiful sound just like in the studio. You can’t get it anywhere except in Rain town close to the beach where I live. My love for nature was right from birth; I guess it was because I was born here. This is the perfect place to spend the weekend with your family.

Guess who interrupted my favorite time of the day? It’s Mrs. Jones rather I call her my mum. Every morning she shouts with her soprano voice, ‘get up Shine, you will be late for school.’ You know she was one of the lead vocalists in church before she had me. I guess you know where I got my love for music from. It runs in the family; my dad was the choirmaster before he passed away few years after my birth. I still have a beautiful memory of my dad and me especially when he sings to me before going bed. He always say this to me before going to bed, ‘shine your light so bright until you get hold of the sky.’  I know he is dead now but I can still feel he is right here with me.

‘Hey! Young lady, will you stand up or you want me to drag you out of that bed.’

“Give me few minutes Mum; I want to take a quick shower before breakfast”. 

‘Sweetheart don’t forget today is your last day at school; you don’t want to be late.’

“I will be right there before you know it, mum.”

I ran to the shower to take a warm birth but I didn’t have much time to sing. This is the best place to compose a song. The song comes out perfectly well. All the song I composed was gotten right here; it is my secret studio. Don’t laugh at me: we all have our funny moments. 

 I took my brush stood right in front of the mirror then I pictured myself on a stage with so many people calling out my name and waving just to get my attention. Before I could start singing, mum called out to me again to hurry up before my school bus comes.

Immediately, I brushed my teeth and took a warm shower then I rushed to the room to wear my clothes. I called out to my mum to help me comb and style my hair.

Mrs. Jones is good at being a mother, house keeper, life saver, hairstylist, best cook and so much more. 

After styling my hair, mom told me about how she met my dad on Prom night. i told her, “mum you can tell me about it when I get back from school”. It was 7:15am and my school bus will be at my house by 7:30am. I grabbed my back pack and hurried down stairs to eat my breakfast. 

Wow, mum thank you for cooking my favorite meal which is spaghetti and her special orange juice because it tastes quite different from the once I bought in the school cafeteria. This is because she makes it with so much love. I took about two bites then I heard the horn. Mom said, your bus have arrived. I became so sad; I didn’t get to finish my favorite dish. What can I do now? It is time for school.

On my way to the bus, Mum grabbed me by the hand and gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. She said, ‘I can’t believe you are now leaving high school.’

Before I could say anything, I heard the horn for the second time. “Mom, I need to go we will talk when I get back and I told her I love her”. She smiled but she couldn’t say a world because her eyes were full of tears. She wanted to be strong by trying her best not to cry. I rushed into the bus and Mom waited in front of the house until the bus left.

For as much as I hated going to school; I enjoyed every single day of High school. Anytime I wake up, the thought of being bullied by Billy who thinks he is better than everyone else. He is the Principal son what do you except me to do to him? He plays the victim card every time he hurts me or insults my personality. Whenever I tried to fight back; I remember what my Mom always told me to never allow my anger get the better of me. Any time I remember this, I let go immediately. Miss Shine knows how to keep her cool.

We arrived at school few minutes to 8am; the national anthem was on so we waited till it was over to show that we are a patriotic citizen. Trust me I love doing it, it makes me feel that I will become a good citizen in the future. After the anthem, we prayed and the Principal gave the final announcement of this session. He said in his speech, ‘for those who are graduating aspire to be great and set examples for your juniors.’ Mr. Fred gave a wonderful speech which gave me a bigger picture of how my life was going to be after school and he told our juniors to study hard to be the best. Finally he bided us farewell and asked us to quietly go to our various classes. 

My principal called me out; I was shocked and surprised. He told other students to be like me for I came out being the best student in my class. It was all because of my mum, she was a great help to me. All thanks to her. I gave my finally speech by dedicating the award to my Mum and Dad. Some students were happy while others were sad. Everyone can’t be happy about your success. They wished it was them. My classmates ran to me by congratulating me and they wished me well.

We matched quietly to the class by putting on a happy face on. I can’t believe this is the beginning of being an adult. All I ever thought about as I matched to my class was life after school.

After we got to the class, I sat quiet reminiscing on what is to come then Sun appeared in front of me smiling. I was in deep thought that I didn’t even know she was right there. She snapped her finger and I got up in shock.

‘Hey shine, I have been talking to you but you aren’t answering,’ she said.

“Am sorry Sun I was carried away by the thought of being independent and leaving home to find my life and make my mum proud.”

‘Okay Shine, I wanted to invite you to my party after school.’

“Sorry Sun, you would have told me earlier my mum and I have planned my day already. I wish I could make it but I really can’t.” 

She was disappointed for we have been friends since childhood and I took her as my sister. Sun has been so kind especially when she helped me talk to Billy to stop bullying me and threatened him to tell her father. Sun’s dad was a Police officer. It was against the law for anyone to bully or make you feel less. This is because many students have lost their lives because of this. I can’t help but feel bad while we were talking, our teacher stepped in with our final result. Sun and I stopped talking then we both went to take our seat. She gave it to us and we all waited for our principal to ring the final bell.

While my teacher was giving us our result, Sun tapped me in the back, I turned then she said, “look at the time its remaining few minutes to our final day in high school.”

Before I could say anything, the bell rang and we jumped up and shouted in excitement. We took out our phones to take some pictures. After taking pictures I gave my friend a big hug and I promised to visit her then I hurried home to see my mum. We celebrated my victory together. She was really proud of me. I wished my dad was here with us but I know he is happy wherever he is.

The next day, I woke up late because I was so tired. I rushed to the dining table to eat breakfast. My morning was so peaceful for I didn’t have to run to the bus or hear mum call out to me.

After one month I became so bored at home. There was nothing I could do to fill in that vacuum. I decided to take a walk every morning.

It was a beautiful morning in Rain city especially with the cool breeze and waves of the sea. I was jogging down the street, my eyes caught something. This is where my life changed. I knew what I was passionate about. It was music, I spent a whole month trying to find out who I really am before college but I failed not until now when I saw a poster on the wall; they were looking for a music band.

At that moment my life changed, things started to fall in place. Here I found love and I discover what I can do and what suit me.

The audition was in two days, I needed to prepare. I told Mum to help me out. She was a great teacher even though I gave her a tough time.

After college you need to know more about yourself and how to be responsible. It is not easy to get to the top. You need to try out new things to know what truly suit you and makes you happy.

After two days, I was all set for the audition. I wanted to put in my best to be among the people who will be shortlisted. My Mum dropped me off at the studio very early in the morning where the audition will take place. There were many people on the queue that I felt discouraged. If you want to be great, you need to be patient with a positive mindset and you will definitely make it.

I imagined how many audition you needed before you become a star. We all just need one opportunity to showcase our talent. You need to take advantage of any opportunity which comes your way. I was in deep thought when someone bumped into me. “You again, what are you doing here Bill, I thought I told you to stop stalking me.” For the past one month Billy the bully has been making my life miserable. He still thinks he is better than everyone.

“Billy; am talking to you what are you doing here?”

“I am here like everyone else for audition; you should know I had a good voice while we were in school.” Don’t mind bill, he is a showoff. It was my turn to show the judges what I've got. When I got to the stage I was so frightened but I pictured my Mum and dad listening to me as I sing. Although, it was my first time on stage but I nailed it.

Few hours later, one of the judges placed the names of the shortlisted candidate. My name was among the ten people shortlisted; I was so happy that I scream, “Yes I made it”. Bill was shortlisted too. 

The judges called on all the candidates. They told us we are going have a competition and each of us will be grouped into two; team gold and team diamond whoever wins will join the band and get a cash prize of $5000. We will have to start practice the next day and each group will have a coach to help them. After the announcement, we were told that everyone needs to come very early.

I knew things will be difficult because I wasn’t use to stress neither have I auditioned for any competition except in school. When I got home I broke the news to my mum. She was so happy for me but she would miss me for one week because the competition was in 7 days. 

On the first day of practice I got to meet new people. My team mates were Dan, Gill, Best, Alice and me made up team diamond. We were so focused and put in so much work. Our coach was the best there is; he didn’t just lecture us on music but life too. He taught us how to make it in the music imdustry through hard work and consistency. As a rising star you need a platform to showcase your talent and the most important thing is to make your audience happy as they listen to you sing.

There were times when we disagreed on things especially when our Coach wanted to pick the lead singer for the competition.

In my group, I was one of the best singers and our coach like it when I sing so he chose me but Best and Alice were not comfortable with his choice. They had no choice even if I was given a hard time; our priority was to win the competition. It wasn’t easy to be a leader; I have to consider others even before myself. It helped to build my leadership skill: this will help me a lot in the future.

Today was the final day of practice. we were already prepared. I told my team members to put their costume in the dressing room and musical instruments. After doing this, we all went home to rest for the competition. I couldn’t sleep because tomorrow was a big day for me; I needed to win for my team.  

My alarm rang so early it seemed like I didn’t even have some sleep, I took my bath then I left a message for my mum to come to the competition and the address of the place.

On my way to the studio I got a call from Alice that our costume and instruments were gone. I didn’t know what to say, I cut the call then ran to the studio. There was always a way out of this; I remembered when we were in school something like this happened and the only way we used in solving the problem was using my special flute. It was always in my bag. So I told my team mate what to do and they agreed for the first time to do something different.

Thirty minutes we were called to perform after team gold, I was in the spotlight and I remembered when I use to sing in the bathroom. How I pictured this day to be; for me it was a dream come true. When we were about to sing the microphone went off another tragedy. My team mates became confused, i imagined when I was in the bathroom then I started singing. The audience became so quiet and listened carefully. Everyone sang along with me and those who plot against my success were exposed.

It was time for the judges to announce the winner, we were all shaken up and we couldn’t wait for the result. What caught my attention was when one of the judges said, "music is in the heart and the instrument were not the ones making the sound but your heart. If you sing from your heart then you are making music. It becomes so beautiful".

The next thing I heard was Team Diamond, can you come out to take your cash prize. We became quiet until our coach tapped me saying we have won this; thank you team we made it. I jumped for joy and Mum came to congratulate us even if she was late to the cometition. I was happy she was there to watch me. 

 It was Alice and Best. I can’t believe they would do this. When you stand on the truth and you are transparent no one can defeat you. We decided not to kick them out of the group. This was how I became a star and who I am today is as a result of making a good decision with the right people to help you get there.

You have a chance to discover yourself before college. It is good to value the time you have now and do what makes you happy. Your life depends on your choices; stay safe and make the right choice.