Something's up

It was third period. Just a normal third period right? Wrong. My french teacher was being extra nice today and I couldn't understand why. She wasn't normally like this. She was like a spider trying to make an ant its friend. All smiley and greeting like that, I knew something was up. "Hey look who's here" she said as I came into the class. "Yup, just like every other day" I say awkwardly not knowing how to respond. We had our french class and when it was time to leave, as we were getting packed up she said "Bobbi, I think your grandmother has some good news for you when you get home" I looked up from putting my binder in my schoolbag and was confused. I just smiled and left out of my class for last period. At the end of the day, I got into the car and picked my grandmother up from work. I decided to wait until we got home for her to spill the big news. Once we got into the house and situated, I asked. "Madame Salhi said you had something important to tell me." "Oh my goodness, me too!" My sister said jumping from her seat. My grandmother grinned and said to me, "well Madame Salhi picked you and Izhan'e (my sister) to sing the French National Anthem at Chestnut Hill College. I was smiling so hard that I am pretty sure I was the Cheshire cat's twin. 1was so surprised since me and my sister were chosen out of about 800 students to sing this. This was a special moment for me.

Our big day

The day came sooner than expected. Me and my sister had found out we were doing this along with another girl that goes to our school, Sophia. Sophia is a ballet major and a french major. She was basically Marie every single performance of "Balanchine's the Nutcracker" As me and my sister got dressed to go, I was extremely excited because this was the first performance I will have with only two other people. We drove 16.1 miles to Germantown. I saw it, it in big letters, "CHESTNUT HILL COLLEGE" I could have jumped if I wasn't in the car with my whole family. I saw Sophia going in with her pretty little dress and her hair in a high ponytail. We walked into this big building and went up flights of stairs to the room where our performance was supposed to be held. I saw Madame Salhi sitting across the room and we walked over where Sophia was already sitting next to her. We hugged and she handed us a list of performances that came before us. I sat there quietly and waited for the other groups to go. One group was playing violin and the other was singing some song about stars in english. Then, I heard it. "Can we have Madame Salhi along with a Sophia and Bobbi and Izhan'e Irving up singing the French National Anthem?" We stood up and walked to the stage as Ms. Salhi sat at the piano. It was time.

How bad can it be?

As we walked on stage, people were clapping. I didn't know any faces in the audience and I noticed this was nothing like our vocal performances in school at the Kimmel Center. For some reason it was more. There was more tension and I felt like all the focus was put on me. My heart was beating so fast it sounded like someone beating at a wooden door. The music started and we started our song. "Aux arms citoyens! Formez vos bataillons. Marchon, Marchon! Aux armes, citoyen. Formez vos bataillons, Marchons, marchons! Qu'un sang impur abreuve nos sillons!" This was Madame Salhi's part where she played the piano. When we heard the three notes we were supposed to start again. I was waiting then there they were "bum bum bum" I took a deep breath to sing but I noticed nobody else had started singing. I was quietly whispering the words and I turned to Madame Salhi, where she was mouthing the words to us. "Allon enfants" she whispered. We were just standing there so I just started singing the rest since we missed a small part. "L'étendard sanglant est levé
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes Mugir ces féroces soldats? Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras
Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes!" I sang. Slowly during that verse, Sophia and Izhan'e joined in. After we finished the song, everyone clapped. I was so happy they liked it.

Aftermath

After we were done, about two more groups went. That's when they started calling groups out to get awards. We were the fourth group to get an award. We got a medal and a certificate of achievement. I actually felt like I did something right and I felt like this was a major accomplishment.  Me and my sister congratulated Sophia then left for the car.