“Will you stop pestering me?!” my exasperated mother said. “The call will come whenever the judges are finished deciding how good you played your piece at the Audrey Thayer piano competition!” I sighed with a mixture of fear, doubt, and apology. I’d already waited for 3 hours, and yet, the call I hoped for hadn’t came. The seconds seemed to grow longer and longer as I paced back and forth, as nervous as a mouse running from a cat. Then- RING RING RING! I jumped up and sprinted for the phone sitting next to my mom. I natched it from its cradle and listened hard, but instead of the machine reciting which place I got, I heard, “this week will be hot! Buy some poland spring water for only 1$ a bottle!” I threw the phone down in disgust.
The excitement inside me instantly went out the window.  The call was from my school about the weather being too hot, and they were literally selling water bottles through a school phone call. This just made me so frustrated.  I walked into my room, not listening to anyone talking to me. In my room, things just kept bouncing out of order in my head. Randomly, I kept thinking irregular things: “What if I don’t get in” or “What if I get last?” The possibility of getting last just grew more and more larger in my mind. The options in my mind gradually became true already. In the middle of my thoughts, my mom called me for dinner. I was actually surprised she would even call me after how busy she was,  but I told her that I wasn’t in the mood of eating. I mean my current mood was just to stay in my room. I really didn’t have any appetite at all.  I heard my mom ask why I wasn’t eating, and in  a couple of minutes I heard a faint knock.
I didn’t answer, expecting it to be someone annoying like my sister, but to my surprise, my mom came in, silently.
My mom sat down and she said quietly: “It’s okay. It’s not like they already told you that you lost. They just didn’t call you yet.”
I knew that she would just comfort me, being a mother, so I just stayed quiet. The call was supposed to be a couple hours before, but I didn’t get anything.
She sighed, and said, “It’s fine. Don’t get too overwhelmed.”
Then my mom left, inferring that I had no intention of talking.
I calmed myself, and tried to distract myself from being so hype and nervous. My mind instantly thought of sleeping, but suddenly in my mind, a voice told me to be confident and to be strong. I realized that I needed to really needed to be myself again. Quickly, I told myself to calm down and concentrate. I felt minutes passing quickly, because after I brushed my hair, and went downstairs into my golden dining room, everyone was done eating.I quickly ate a little, still really anxious to know the results of the competition.
I suddenly heard RING RING RING, disrupting my pep talk to myself. I jumped up too excited, and picked up the phone. “Hello, families of Audrey Thayer Competition” at the instant I was so happy I almost dropped the phone. “The winners are…” Things were said, as I didn’t listen until the words became real: “4th Grade, 1st Place, Jasmine -----, 2nd Place…” I jumped up and screamed so amazed that I won. The call told us that the results were really late, and they were sorry for the inconvenience. In an instant, I heard the results of my brother and sister:  8th Grade, 1st Place Jessica He, then immediately, they said 9th Grade having only one winner being my brother. Looking at my brother, I knew he was trying to act calm on his outside, but inside of him, he was really happy, and really proud of himself. My parents were too excited, and I wasn’t sure if they were going to start crying.
Finally, I really want to say that this piano competition was the first step of my piano journey, and every year, it was so regular for me to get 1st Place every year after, due to the hours I played every day. This made me believe myself more and have more confidence doing anything. Before this, I got only 2nd Place, and nothing in the Select Student Competition. At that time, my confidence level was less than 1, and now, it really grew over 8, to be honest.