The sound of music surrounds me. I’m in band playing a piece that used to be very difficult for me, but now I’m getting it. It’s finally sounding right. The feeling fills me with joy as I realize that the other band members have practiced their music as well and we’re making beautiful sound. Suddenly, the director cuts us off. Why is he stopping us? I think. We were sounding so great. I hear a loud CLANG sound, like someone dropped their instrument. Everyone looks at me. I look back at them, confused. Surely someone must have dropped something. I look down towards where my trumpet should be and it’s lying in a heap of metal on the floor in front of me.
   

I jolt awake and instantly look to my trumpet case. I jump out of bed and slowly open the case. My trumpet is still there, in one piece. Nothing seems to be wrong with it. I inspect it carefully until I’m sure it doesn’t have a single scratch. I let out a breath, sitting back against my bed. After rubbing my eyes, I look at my alarm clock. The numbers 4:00 a.m. glare out at me, the normalcy of them mocking my racing heart from my panic inducing dream. Today is the talent show and I had signed up to play a piece of music on my trumpet. I know I’m not the greatest at soloing, but I figured it’d help me become a more independent musician. I’m starting to regret my decision, seeing as I’m so nervous I’m having dreams about it. Deciding that waking up two hours earlier than I planned won’t affect me, I start getting ready for school. After changing, brushing my teeth and hair, I gather all of my things for school, double checking to make sure I have absolutely everything I’ll need today. The stress of the talent show is enough stress for me; I don’t want to have to deal with forgetting something.
   

I head downstairs into the kitchen, looking for something to eat. My stomach is already in knots due to nerves. If it’s this bad now, I can’t imagine what it’ll be like later, I think. As I eat my cereal, I look out the window and think about my dream. It seems bad luck for me to be having dreams about my instrument getting destroyed right before I’m about to have a big performance. With this thought, I decide I’ve had enough cereal although I haven’t even eaten half the bowl yet. As I’m dumping my cereal down the sink, my mom comes into the kitchen. “It’s not right to waste food you know,” she tells me, starting her regular speech about wasting things. “Sorry… I’m just nervous,” I mumble, putting my bowl in the dishwasher. “Oh, that’s right you have the talent show today. You’ll do great! Just relax and breathe,” she assures me, like it’s that simple. I look at the clock. It’s 6:50 a.m. My bus comes in five minutes. In my nervousness I took more time to eat than I normally do. “Dang it. Gotta go, Mom. Love you, bye!” I shout to her as I run out the door. She says something else once I close the door, but I don’t listen to her. I don’t have time to take the dog out, Mom! I think. She’s always telling me to take the dog out right before I get on the bus. Normally I have time, but due to my preoccupied mind I took 30 minutes just to eat.
   

I run down our long driveway. Why, why must you be so long driveway? I think as I see the bus pulling up at the end of it. The bus driver sees me though, so she doesn’t leave before I can get on. When I finally approach the steps, I jog up them gasping a “thanks” to the bus driver. She nods and closes the door. I find my way to my seat. I feel like I have more room in my seat than usual. That’s odd, I think. After thinking about it for a bit I realize what has happened. I FORGOT MY TRUMPET! I scramble to get out my phone and call my mom. It takes 4 rings before she finally picks up. “What is it honey?” she asks. “I FORGOT MY TRUMPET!!” I whisper shout so the people on the bus won't hear me. I already see some of the kids looking at me strangely. “Okay, don't worry. I'll bring it. Just calm down. It'll be okay. Your assembly is in the afternoon anyway, right?” She continues talking in a calm tone when I don't respond, as if she can sense that I'm on the verge of tears. I have band today as well as the talent show, but we probably won't be playing since the period is so much shorter. I look out the window, biting my lip to keep tears from going down my face. You'll be okay.. it's not like you're dying, I think.
         

I manage to hold back my tears for the rest of the bus ride. As I enter the school, I see my friends group huddled in our usual spot, waiting for the bell to send them to class. “Hey Jade,” my best friend, Phoebe, says. She looks at my face and her face crinkles in concern. “What's wrong?” I almost lose it at that, but I manage to just make a pouting face. We step away from the rest of our friends who have resumed their previous conversation. “I left my trumpet at the house and now my mom has to bring it. I just hope she can get it here before the talent show,” I mumble in a whiny tone. “I'm sure you'll be fine. Just relax and breathe,” she says as the bell rings, leaving me thinking about how my mom had said the same thing earlier. Relax and breathe. Psh, I probably still won't be relaxed even after the talent show, I think.
         

The morning passes relatively quickly due to the shortened classes. Luckily, I was right about band; we weren't playing, but I felt like everyone was shocked that I didn't take the time to practice for the talent show since I got done with the assigned worksheet so quickly. I look at the clock in English class, waiting to be dismissed to lunch. My mom told me she would bring my trumpet during lunch. I'm hoping she will. The bell rings and I get up and out of the room as fast as I can. I practically run to get my lunch from my locker. “Woah, wait up!” Phoebe says. “Where's the fire?” She looks around as if literally expecting a fire. I give her an are you stupid? glare. She knows I'm nervous about the talent show! “I still don't have my trumpet and the talent show is right after lunch,” I grit my teeth and practically snarl at her. “Woah, woah, okay. Look I get it you're stressed out, but seriously dude; it'll be ok,” Phoebe exclaims. Suddenly, the announcements come on; Jade Evans please report to the office. Jade Evans to the office. I jump into motion and almost sprint to the office until I remember my manners. I quickly power walk my way into the office where I see my mom standing with my trumpet. I walk into the office and hug my mom, thanking her over and over again for bringing it. “You're welcome, Jade. You'll do great for the talent show, I just know it.” She says goodbye and smiles at me as she walks out of the building.
         

I head out of the office to take my trumpet to the band room. I'm so relieved I don't even think to look in my case to make sure my trumpet is there. After carefully placing my trumpet on the instrument shelf, I skip back to the lunch room. Now that I have my trumpet, all I can think about is my hunger.
         

Phoebe sees the joy springing from me. “I take it you got your trumpet then?” she asks. “Yes. I'm so relieved I can't even describe it.” I smile at her and we sit down, starting our usual banter. Our chatter makes the lunch period pass much quicker than it usually does. After I got my trumpet, I'd forgotten about my nervousness for the talent show. It all comes rushing back to me now. The announcements come on once again; When the bell rings all students participating in the talent show please report to the auditorium. Students who are not in the talent show should report to class. You will be called down shortly. They repeat this three times making sure everyone has heard. “Well good luck,” Phoebe says. I just smile at her, the butterflies from my stomach silencing my “thanks”.
         

I head into the band hallway and into the instrument storage room. I grab my trumpet from the shelf and put it on the ground. Opening my case, I inspect it to make sure everything is in its place. My eyes roam over my trumpet and land on my mouthpiece. I remind myself to keep an eye on it because if it falls out… I don't want to think about that. Closing my case, I head down to the auditorium. There's only about 7 kids participating in the talent show. One hour of our assembly is dedicated to the talent show and the second hour is for announcements. “Okay, gather around. So first off is..” the choir teacher looks down at her clipboard and tells a girl who's playing cello that she's first. She nods and wipes her hands on her pants.
         

I end up being the seventh person. I don't really know how to feel about it. I look around at the other kids, looking for someone to talk to so the time passes faster. Everyone else seems to be either singing or playing a string instrument. No one from band…
         

I stand backstage as the cello player sets up on the stage, behind the curtain, while the principal introduces her and the talent show. Our school isn't very big so the roughly 400 kids sitting in the audience know what's going on. The cello player is followed by a boy with bright blue hair playing electric guitar. The next few people have oddly colored hair as well. Did I not get the memo or something? Is everyone in the talent show supposed to dye their hair? I think. Blue, orange, pink, purple. They make my head spin. Finally, it's my turn. Suddenly, all the nerves that I had forgotten about because of their distracting hair come back in a giant wave. I see someone going on stage in front of me. No! I want to say. It's supposed to be my turn! I watch as another trumpet player named Jade sits up on the stool on the stage. She begins to play the most beautiful melody I've ever heard. I feel myself weeping along with the songs melancholy tone, completely swept up in the music. As she brings it to a glorious finale I find myself drifting off. It won't hurt anything if I fall asleep, I think. So I close my eyes and let the world fade to darkness.

…..
       

“Jade. Hey, Jade wake up. Come on. Wake up. Jade?” Someone is shaking me. I peel one eye open. “What?” I croak. “Hey! Great job! But are you okay? You kinda passed out…” Phoebe looks at me, concerned. “What do you mean ‘great job’? I PASSED OUT. OH MY GOSH I FELL ASLEEP AND I DIDN'T GET TO PLAY IN THE TALENT SHOW, WHAT AM I-,” Phoebe puts her hand over my mouth. She looks at me like I'm crazy. I slap her hand off of my mouth. “You did amazing, Jade. You won the talent show as a freshman! I know there weren't that many people but still; you're awesome. I'm so proud of you, man.” She says, patting me on the back. “What? I played?” She nods. “Hmm.. did you see the people with the weird hair before I… supposedly… performed?” She looks at me like I've lost my mind. “No everyone had normal-looking hair.” “Huh.” I guess I imagined it all. “Did you see the other trumpet player?” I ask, just to be sure. “No? Jade, there were no other trumpet players. It was just you. Now come on, let's go get your award and listen to the announcements.” She helps me up from my napping spot and drags me back out to the stage.
         

As soon as the students see me, everyone starts clapping like I've done something miraculous. I smile and realize that maybe I was that girl I saw go on before me. I proudly accept my award, knowing now that I was and still am that girl. I'm only slightly worried about my hallucination-like experience. What matters the most is that I overcame my nerves and performed as well as I knew I could.