School Talent Show

“Guess what? We are having a talent show next month!” Mrs Lee exclaimed.

The whole class sat up. This was really exciting. She told us that the talent show would be held in the school auditorium and parents would be invited to watch it! Everyone started talking about it at once.

“Quiet!” said Mrs Lee. “I’m not sure about other talents, but this class sure seems to have great talent for making noise.” Everyone burst out laughing.

During recess, my friends and I discussed what we would be doing for the talent show. Sophia said she would be doing a magic show. Tim was going to play the violin. Angela, the soccer star of our school, was going to showcase her amazing ball-dribbling skills.

“What are you going to do, Charlie?” They asked me. I wasn’t really sure, but an idea was forming in my head. You see, I do have a talent that no one knows of. My secret talent is juggling. I have tennis lessons every week, but more than tennis, I like to juggle the tennis balls. I had been practising for months and had gotten very good at it. I thought it would be a great surprise for my parents, teachers and friends if I showed off my juggling skills at the talent show.

I told no one of my plan and kept practising hard every day after school. Soon, it was the day of the talent show. My friends and I were backstage, waiting for our respective turns. We could hear the students performing and the audience applauding. Other than Mrs Lee, no one else knew what I was going to do. I had kept my three tennis balls in a black pouch in my bag and was only going to take them out when I was called on stage.

Soon, it was my turn. I walked over to the centre of the stage holding my pouch. Suddenly, I slipped and fell down. The three tennis balls tumbled out of the pouch, fell off the stage and rolled straight towards the audience! There was total chaos. For a while, I stood there, horrified and frozen. All I could hear was the laughter and chatter that the balls had caused. Some audience members started to look for the balls under the chairs. Others followed suit, and soon, almost everyone was crouching, bending and crawling in search of the naughty balls that were nowhere to be seen.

After a few minutes, two of the balls were found and handed back to me. There was no sign of the third.

I needed a third ball for my juggling act. I leaned in towards the microphone to apologise to the audience and was about to leave the stage when an idea struck me. I rushed backstage, opened my bag, fished out my snack box and took out the apple inside. I ran back to the stage and started juggling… with two tennis balls and an apple! The audience burst into thunderous applause and laughter.

I did not win any prize that day, but I got a standing ovation from the audience when I was done. I noticed Mum and Dad grinning and cheering loudly in the audience. Later, Mrs Lee told me that she was very proud of me for being so resourceful.