Brave Enough

Chapter One: Day One- Not Just Another Day

It's 5:45 a.m. on a Monday. I slowly drag myself out of bed and start of the week with my usual routine... Brush teeth, wash face, put on my school uniform, and eat breakfast... You know, normal stuff. Before I leave, I look at myself in the mirror. "You are beautiful," I say a couple times over. Anyway, I tell my mom goodbye and I walk down the street to my bus stop. Oh, I forget to mention my name is Willow Jackson. I'm in eighth grade at St. Lucia's Elementary School. I'm in high school Biology and Algebra 1. Back on topic, the bus pulls up, and I sit in my seat. There are a few things I do on the bus... Sleep, read, study, review, and drawing. But the thing I do the most is listen to music but mostly Lindsey Stirling because I'm a huge fan of her music. And I mean HUGE.

So after an hour-long bus ride, the bus pulls up at the school and I get off. While I walk down a few flights of stairs, Zi-Zi's Journey starts to play on my phone. I sit down on the bleachers with the rest of the grade to what for my friend Nicholas and my best friend Yazmin. When they come in, Roundtable starts to play on my phone. She taps on my shoulder. I take an earbud out and keep the other one in the other ear in, "What's today's question?" "I got two," she says, " Litten, Poplio, or Rowlet?" "Litten is lit but it also depends on how the evolutions look..." Yazmin continues, "Also, do you know what is going today? Everyone seems to be whispering more than usual." "You forgot again didn't you," I sigh, "Remember a few months ago we had to write an essay to the state about our our favorite actor, singer, songwriter, or musician's virtues. Turns out that some in the school won and they're going to announce the winner during fifth period at an assemble in the high school auditorium And the winner is going to get a special prize. You remember who you chose, right?" "Yeah," she says, "I chose Toby Keith." I continue And you chose Lindsey Stirling didn't you?" I wasn't surprised. "How did you know?"

After a few minutes, we were allowed to go to our homerooms where the girls gossiped and the boys roughhoused and flipped bottles. For first period, we have ELA where we reading The Crucible. We had Science second period with Mrs. O' Donnell where we were reviewing over biodiversity. Next, we had Algebra for was two periods with Mrs. Sloski where we had a test on graphing slopes.

When the class ended, I walked over to the high school with the rest of the student body to the assemble. Dr. Robinson, our school principal, started the assemble with a prayer and the Sign that Saves Us (Sign of the Cross) like we always do. "As many of you know, the middle schoolers participated in a contest with many other middle schoolers about their favorite singer or musician and we have the winner's name right here," she waves around and envelope. "And the winner is..." In these few moments among a couple of words, the air is with tension and hopeful wishing. "Willow Jackson!" I was surprised. My classmates gesture for me to go up. While I walked I saw Yasmin shouting, "YASSS WILLOW!" When I got on stage, the head priest of the school's church, Father Joe, handed me a certificate and the vice principal, Ms. Kathleen, gave me a bouquet of roses like they usually do when someone wins a contest. "And I haven't forgotten the grand prize," she said, "So come on out, Lindsey!" I bunch of thoughts went through my mind, "I can't believe I won. No, they must have gotten it wrong. Wait, did she just say Lindsey?" V-Pop started to play on the speakers. I saw Lindsey run out of the double doors in the back of the auditorium. I did what any stirlingite would do... Fangirl. I hugged her, and I thanked Dr. Robinson, Father Joe, and Ms. Kathleen. "I'm going to be spending a week with you!" My idol is going to spending a week with me. Most fans wish to spend even a few minutes with their idols and I got a week which is 10080 minutes or 604800 seconds which doesn't seem like time, but I just have to make the most of the moment. We all walked of the stage except for Lindsey. "I guess some of you don't know who I am," she says, "For starters my name is Lindsey Stirling. I'm an electronic violinist. I have worked with many famous people including ZZ Ward, Zedd, Christina Perri, Celine Dion. But throughout all of the fame I still try to stay to my morals. And I believe Willow captured those perfectly." "Oh my gosh," I thought to myself, "She knows my name. She actually knows my name." I felt special. I felt as if someone noticed the things I can achieve. Or maybe I'm just overreacting... "I do believe in God and even joined a missionary right here in New York. I make prayer the center of my life. I pray before shows, I pray after shows, I pray when I need help, I pray for anything when know I need God's guidance. I always go to church on Sunday. I always try to stay positive. But aside from that, for some of you who still don't understand what I do for a living, I'll show you..." Lindsey was going play a song. For the school. Because I won.She walks to the edge of stage and she picks up a violin out of the case. "Willow," she calls to me. "Yes," I was surprised . "I gonna give a her a pop quiz," she says, "Are you ready?" I nod. "Number one. Who is this," she says referring to her violin. "Excalibur!" I say with enthusiasm. "Good job, young stirlingite! By the way, my fanbase call themselves Stirlingites. Ok, number two, what is my dog's name?" "Luna Latte!" I say. "Correct! You get great grades in school," She says, "And for the final question, what song am I about to play?" I thought long and hard. "Uh... The Arena?" I say questionably. "Some give this girl a gold star 'cause she correct! Man, you're practically Phelba level! So with further ado let's get on with the show!" She hands the mic do Dr. Robinson and gets into position. The music starts. The space fills with the sound of music. The music told a story. It was vivid. But then came the dancing. The movement. She painted pictures showing every struggle, every conflict, every resolution. The story of the music came alive. And I was able to experience this. Live. I watched as she danced and played. But there was one problem the audience. The were quiet. Not interested in what was going on. there was no clapping, no cheering. To them, it was nothing. I bet if The Weeknd or Kanye West walked in here, everyone would be obsessing, screaming, and grabbing them. Once the song was over, there was a round of applause not the "I enjoyed this" applause, it was the "I don't want to get in trouble" applause. I was called up to the stage, and was congratulated one more time for winning. Everyone walked back to the school, laughing and joking around. It was 11:30 with only twenty-five minutes until the period ends. I had Spanish. Dr. Robinson, Ms. Kathleen, Father Joe, Lindsey, and I stayed back. When Lindsey finished packing her things, we all started to walk back to the school.

Ta Da! IT'S THE FIRST CHAPTER OF MY FIRST STORY! I finally finished writing it. I know I said that I would finish writing like a month ago but life was like, "You're trying to write a story and you haven't saved yet? Here's a power outage, and a frozen computer screen, and a million and one exams!" But that didn't stop me. And it's here now. I hope you guys enjoy it. So if you have any questions put in the comments.

Question of the Chapter: What make you different? Embrace your uniqueness.

With tons of virtual hugs

-CJStirlingite