From the time she was in middle school,
she had anticipated being queen of her high school.
It all started the summer she turned twelve.
She had been visiting her grandparents for the school break.
One afternoon, she heard a song on the radio that stirred her emotions. It reminded her
of how she had been sneered at through the years by some of her peers as well as some adults.
She silently vowed...
"I'm going to sing this in my high school pageant and it's going to move everyone to tears and I'm going to be the school’s queen."
By mid-September, in her first semester
of her senior year in high school, her homeroom teacher, Mr. Dufford, announced "It is time for the annual Miss Shamrock Pageant."
He wrote the names on the board of the students who wanted to participate in the pageant.
Then he commanded everyone to put their heads down and raise their hands to vote.
"Oh no! No one likes me. How am I going to be able to run for Miss Shamrock?"
The process to become a contestant never occurred to Nita until now.
A guy blurted...
"Y'all, let’s vote for Nita. That would be a trip to see her walking on stage.”
They laughed and snickered but it did not bother her. She hoped they would do just that. Vote for Nita.
"If they vote for me, I got it from here."
When Nita got home and told her mom she was going to be a contestant in the school’s pageant, her mom bought her the album that included the song she wanted to sing.
A week later, Nita's mom bought the music sheet and made an appointment for her to rehearse with a music teacher who played piano.
Nita's friend, Melissa Jones, loaned Nita her blue chiffon gown for the evening wear segment of the competition.
A friend of the family, Lorraine Hancock loaned Nita her gray tweed skirt and jacket for the business wear segment of the competition.
The typing teacher, Ms. Vivian Greene (who was also the head of the modeling club) taught Nita how to walk in the pageant.
The pageant organizer, Ms. Patricia Gold (who was also a gym teacher and athletic coach) set up a meet-and-greet with the judges who candidly spoke with the contestants in the school’s library the day before the pageant.
On the night of the pageant, as the contestants awaited their turn to grace the stage, their faces beamed with happiness.
When the time had come for Nita to sing her rendition of "At Seventeen" by Janis Ian, she took to the stage and poured her heart into the song, while Ms. Carolyn Cleveland grandly played the piano.
Nita's eyes were teary, but she dared not cry to keep her voice from breaking. She wanted the audience to hear every word of the song that resonated with her.
The audience was moved to tears.
A junior named Nicki Boyd met Nita backstage in the petitioned hallway.
As the tears streamed down her face, she exclaimed, "Nita, that song was so beautiful, but you're not ugly."
"Aww Nicki, don't cry. I'm fine."
The two hugged, then Nicki walked away.
Nita's mom returned to where the contestants prepped and waited.
"Nita, when you were up there singing, the audience got so quiet, you could hear people sniffling."
Nita's eyes stretched as she murmured "Wow."
That night, Nita won Grand Talent.
The crowd cheered as she took her walk down the ramp with a crown on her head and a bouquet of carnations and the Grand Talent trophy in her arms.
The jazz ensemble band played their instrumental version of "One in a Million You" by Graham Central Station and Larry Graham.
It was the music Nita had hoped to hear for that special moment.
As she took her seat on the stage to have her picture taken with the class queens, a crowd rushed to congratulate her.
A girl (who had graduated a year earlier) hugged Nita with a firm grip around her neck as she uttered "I KNEW YOU WERE GONNA WIN (WITCH)." It was actually the B word, but anyway...
The next day, some of Nita's peers greeted her with praise, and others with criticism.
"DID YOU HAVE TO BE GREEDY AND TAKE TWO TROPHIES?" a guy yelled as he passed her in the hall.
"I DIDN'T PICK MYSELF" she yelled back.
A girl who sat in the back of her vocabulary class smirked "How did Nita win? She doesn't even have the looks."
Another girl pranced her way to the front to relay what was said and who said it. Then went on to say "What do you have to say to that?"
"I don't care," Nita replied, then drifted back to daydreaming about being a famous singer. Then, on second thought, a writer.
Nita's desire to enrich the lives of others made the idea of writing a splendid way for her to do so.
Her writings are designed to inspire and enlighten.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
AC McCants (aka Anita Cullum McCants) created The Tactile Vision Board and The Tactile Vision Book Project for the purpose of igniting ideas for a vision board project for The Blind and The Visually Impaired.
The Tactile Vision Board and The Tactile Vision Book are perceived by touch.
To check out stories, songs & more by ac mccants, visit...
https://linktr.ee/acmccants
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