The Report

They were going by alphabetical order. Her name began with a W, she would be second to the last. If this was good or not she did not know. Is it better to drag out the wait? Perhaps not, but who wants to be first?

J. Adams report was perfect S. Conners forgot the words, poor kid almost cried.

A nervous knot formed in her stomach, her face turned white. There was no way she could do this. Studies show people fear public speaking more than death. It was cruel. What was the point?

G. Gander forgot to do his report. T. Grant's voice squeaked so bad he couldn't finish. It took awhile for the class to stop laughing. She could see he would never give a speech again. C. Jennings' speech was terrible, but she twirled her hair and flashed perfect teeth with such skill the class practically gave her a standing ovation.

Her turn was coming closer, and she was tuning green, her hands fidgeted on her desk, twisting a worn sheet of paper. The report she was waiting to give was excellent. Well researched, long, but not too long. It could have been one of the best reports of the class. An easy A. But no it was an oral report, and she could not talk in front a crowd.

She had desperately tried to get sick. The windows in her room had been open for a week. But, good health still plagued her.

B Karcher's report was mediocre at best. A Konner's stammered twice but was otherwise good.

She was getting nauseous, and her feet were twitching. Her report was racing through her brain. " The rain forest is rapidly disappearing due to..." Words, almost nonsensical words, tumbled, twirled around her mind. The report no longer made sense. She glanced at her sheet of notes to reassure her self of what she was going to say. The lines blurred. Spelling errors glared at her. It was bad, very bad.

Her head ached and her teeth hurt from clenching her jaw. Her classmates suddenly seemed to change. They were no longer the cruel teasing herd of kids that she could ignore. They were suddenly critics that could keep her from making good grades if they chose. This was not worth it.

G. Landers was called (he did well) followed by X. Livingston. T. Monroe, L. Morris and Z. Nims

She could no longer focus, all she could hear was a long drone form the front. 'It is amazing what nerves can do to the human body' she thought. She preformed a silent inventory of all her nervous ticks. There were 5 in all.

The reports seemed to move faster now. J. Quinn, R. Richards, V. Richardson, H. Rodriguez. O. Samuels......

Any hope of making a good grade had left her ( it was smashed by R. Richards funny and intelligent presentation) She took a dep breath and resigned herself to failure.

T. Wagner, C. Williams....

And than .... S. Winston

She rose, walked to the front of the class, took a deep shaky breath, and began.

"The rain forests are one of our most valuable commodities......"

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