The Star's Dream

The stars are glimmering in the night as 14-year-old, shy, and insecure Emily is lying down out in her backyard. She’s reflecting on what happened earlier that day.

       She had taken an interest in baking and had been asked by her best friend, Mel, to make cupcakes for her birthday. At first, she hesitated to do it but her parents encouraged her to do it.

        “Come on Em, this is your big chance to show that your hard work and practice has paid off” her mom would say. “This a great opportunity to show everyone and especially those bullies at school what a great baker you are” her dad added. Emily’s parents kept encouraging her to do it, so she finally took on the challenge.

   She stepped into the kitchen, took a look at the light blue cabinets and beautiful marble counters and said to herself, let’s do this!

She tied her yellow and blue striped apron on and began to bake. “One-fourth cup of oil, two tablespoons of vanilla, three cups of flour…” she mumbled. It wasn’t long before all forty-eight vanilla cupcakes were in the oven and the house started to smell like a bakery. With a sprout of courage and success growing inside her, she moved on to the frosting. “Mel wants whipped cream not buttercream frosting” she reminded herself.    

    By the time she finished the whipped cream the cupcakes were cooled and ready for pipping. A few minutes later beautifully decorated cupcakes were in the fridge, ready to be taken to Mel’s party.

       Emily rushed upstairs to get ready for the party. She desperately needed a new outfit. The apron appeared to have no use as her black basketball shorts and purple tank top were covered in flour and cake batter.

       “Emily, we’re waiting in the car!” her dad yelled from downstairs. Almost done!” she yelled back. She had spent almost an hour fixing her hair into two French braids, slapping on some foundation, blush, and carefully applying eyeliner, mascara, and eye shadow. When she was finished, she grabbed the boxes of cupcakes and hopped in the car.

       The seven-minute drive felt as if it were a seven-hour drive. Soon they were finally there. She got out of the car with all four boxes of pineapple topped cupcakes. Mel loved pineapples, so Emily thought it would be nice to add some to her cupcakes. She saw all of Mel’s family, friends, and even some of the bullies from her school there. They would always make fun of her dream of being a baker. But Mel explained to Emily that her parents invited the bullies’ parents. Together, Mel and Emily set up the cupcakes on a white, round cupcake stand that had four stories. Mel’s parents bought if for her cupcakes.

Kayla, one of the bullies from Emily’s school was present. As Emily approached the punch which happened to be by the cupcakes, Kayla stuck her foot right in front of Emily’s. Emily went charging through the air and landed right on top of the cupcakes. 

       As Emily stood up and looked down at the smashed cupcakes and dirt-covered pineapple chunks, she heard gasps and sighs. She felt everyone’s eyes staring dead at her. Emily realized that her face was covered in yellow whipped cream. Her hair had chunks of pineapples and cake crumbs in it. She froze until she heard Mel finally say, “Oh no!”. That’s when Emily turned around and said, “Mel, I-I-I-I’m so…” “It’s ok Em, it was an accident” Mel said compassionately.

       Emily took off running until she got to her house. She took a shower and talked with her parents, explaining how Kayla tripped her and that’s why she fell.

       And now here she was, staring up at the stars. A shooting star came from behind her house and she watched it fly across the sky, disappearing behind the trees. She noticed how fast it was going, flying past the other stars. They seemed not to notice it. She wished she could be like that star. She wanted to run so fast, away from everything, run from embarrassment and then disappear.

       A week had passed from the tragic accident and Emily’s mother came home from grocery shopping holding a flyer of some sort in her hand. “Emily! Emily!” she called. “What?! What’s going on?” Emily replied frantically. “There’s this baking competition for youth, ages 14-18. It says you need to bake a sweet treat and enter. The first-place winner gets to meet the mayor and bake him your sweet treat. The second-place winner gets a $100 reward. You should sign up!” Her mom explained. 

Emily remembered her cupcake episode at Mel’s party and wanted nothing to do with baking for big occasions. But she knew that is she could win this she can prove herself to Kayla and Mel and everyone else. “I’ll do it” she said. 

       Once again, she stepped into the kitchen, slipped on her apron, and got to work. She decided that she would make a Ferrero Rocher trifle with strawberries. She got straight to work and soon a yummy-looking large glass bowl was filled with glory. There was four layers: Vanilla cake, Nutella whipped cream, freshly cut strawberries, and crunched-up Ferrero Rocher pieces.

       Emily set the trifle down onto the table where the judges would come and try it. She took a long look at it and prayed for a miracle. There wasn’t much chance for her to win since she was one person in thirty. 

       After what felt like a whole eternity the head judge, a tacky-looking woman wearing a dull green dress and bright yellow heels that were the width a magnolia tree’s leaf, took the mic. “The winner in first place of the Summer Fest for Youth Baking Competition is…” she shuffled to open the purple envelope holding the names of the winners. Emily’s heart was pounding so loud she thought her parents could hear it. The winner is… Jacob Sassafras!” Emily watched in disappointment as Jacob was rewarded with a gold trophy the size of his head. The tacky judge congratulated him and finally said over the mic, “And in second place we have…. Emily Holbrook!” 

       Emily was in total shock. She had lost hope of any chance of her winning second or third place. Her mom and dad were clapping so loud that she was a little embarrassed but couldn’t hold her laugh in. 

       Walking up with a somewhat proud stride, she took the check of $100 and was rewarded a silver medal and trophy. 

       When she got home, she placed her awards where she would always be able to see them. Emily’s parents called her outside to eat the leftovers of the trifle on a picnic blanket. They exchanged laughs and hugs and Emily’s mom said, “We’re really proud of you Em” then her dad added, “Very.”       

       Emily lied back looking up at the stars and once again another shooting star passed over her. She didn’t win first place, but she knew one thing, she was that shooting star. Not the one to run away from everything 

And disappear, she was the one to run to something, her dream. She was so fast that the other stars couldn’t help but watch her in amazement, so, they did. She was the star who was running, running to her dream. 

       She took one last look at all the stars and thought to herself, “I am a shooting star.”