Overcoming Defeat

It was a concours day. “What’s concours, Dontrae?”my brother asked me. “It’s a French speaking contest,” I said. I was excited. “What’s your topic?” “I'm presenting about concussions and their effects on professional athletes.” And we went to our classes. I felt scared when I walked into the class. “Hey,” Daniel said, “Are you nervous about concours today?” “Yeah.” “Why?” said Daniel. “It's because I’m going up against a great competition. Like Ojasvi who has won in our school before and went on to compete against other schools, while Isy had been on a television show.” I felt afraid and unincluded because I wanted to be one of the people most favoured to win. “Well, I hope you win,” said Daniel. “Thanks,” I said. The other presenters were really good but I was ready. After recess, Mr Herrington announced who won. I was so frightened of what was to come. “Ojasvi and Isy won, Dontrae and Niaomi got 2nd,” I was devastated! I put my head down as everyone clapped. “I wish they could have been clapping for me,” I said quietly. Then my friend came up to me. “Hey Dontrae,” he said. And then I started to sob. Then my teacher called me outside. “Why are you crying?” he asked. “I’m sad I lost because I put in a lot of work.’ I sobbed. “You did really well! Don't get discouraged. Next time, you can work on looking up at the class sometimes,” he said. I thought about how he was one of the first teachers to really make me feel at home. I was grateful because I had someone who cared. After that I was really determined to work harder for every presentation and cover up holes I made. I was ready for the future.