I could feel my tiny heart
beating so fast in my tiny little chest
just like a hummingbird
I could see my tiny little eyes
in the mirror, so big and excited.
I took deep breaths
to calm myself down
In and out, I thought
In and out

In about two minutes
I would be sitting in my new chair
in the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Concert Orchestra
I knew in my mind
that these next two minutes
would be the longest in my life
I was trying to concentrate
but my mind kept wandering

I stared at the conductor
waiting for him to say something
that would kill the anxiety building up in my stomach
My viola started to slip away
from the sweat on my hands
I gripped it harder
only to realize that gripping it too hard
made the string pop loose with a sudden TWANG!
As I fixed the broken string
I glanced up at the conductor from my chair right under his nose
I focused my eyes
so that I could see the funny jagged lines on his face
where he had cut his face shaving earlier this morning

He slowly began to c*** his head
wrinkling his brow
He frowned
and I wondered what had gone wrong
Then, he squinted at the large yellow clipboard
that held the results
of the chair auditions
and soon began to nod, obviously satisfied
He looked away from his chart, and stared at me
through my hazel eyes right down to my toes,
laced up in my brand new shoes,
the ones with the perfect pink sparkle laces.
His mouth slowly spread into a friendly toothy grin
He said
“Everyone, welcome the new principal Violist
This, is Emily.”