My Kind Of Perfection(EDITING)

67. My Kind Of Perfection

"Okay they're ready when you are." The voice crackles in my ear.

I smooth my hands down my light pink jumpsuit that the girls this morning convinced me looked good and made me seem approachable, yet professional.

The nerves are getting to me, so I'm beginning to panic a bit that they were all wrong. That I don't look good, that I won't be taken seriously, that I'll have wasted everyone's time...

We have a little tent area set up for those of us that have to wait, and I'm currently hiding out in it, even though, as the voice in my earbud is screeching, I gotta go out there because everything is all ready.

"Everyone is waiting for you, Kase." I tell myself.

"They are." Dakota interrupts, startling me as I let out a small shriek.

"KOTS! What the heck! I could have had a heart attack and died. How is this helpful?" I try not to laugh, instead putting a frown on my face.

"Well. It got you thinking about something other than messing up, didn't it?"

"For a second, I suppose." I agree grudgingly.

"Can I just be real with you for a second?"

"You always speak your mind, but I guess I can give you permission this time." I chuckle.

"I'm so so proud of you, Kase. I hope you know that you are amazing and this idea is amazing and I'm so incredibly happy you're my best friend." She grabs me and hugs me tight.

"Aw." I try to blink back the tears. "This seems right to me. It feels like something that I want to spend my life doing, you know?"

"I know. And I'm so happy you finally found your own passion. Listen. These past few days have been craziness, hell, these last few weeks have been insane." She chuckles, gesturing around her. "But you never get this anxious when you don't care about something. I know you. When something is important to you, you stay with it until the task is done even if it means sleeping poorly and skipping meals to do so. Which obviously is a bad idea but look how much you're stressing today!" She chuckles.

"You have a point."

"Course I do. I know you want this event to be perfect, but I've watched you over these few months realize that perfection looks different in every scenario. Even if you don't say the words perfectly, or the reporters ask you dumb questions, you just need to put your whole heart into this event, like you have, and when you speak from your heart, it becomes perfect." Dakota concludes, running a hand through her long dark hair.

"That's really deep." I laugh.

She giggles with me. "I know I think that last part is from a movie or some shit."

I roll my eyes at her. "But I know what to say. You're right. THis is something I love, something that clearly means so much to me. I don't need to act or perform. It's already my dream." I take a deep breath, ready.

"That's my girl. Go get 'em!"

When I walk out of the tent and onto the little makeshift stage, my family, friends, future students all start to clap for me. I have a mountain of support behind me. I'm done being afraid.

"Hey everyone. Wow, thank you for that. A few minutes ago, I was hiding out in that tent, stressing out about everything. About making this speech, about how I looked.."

"Flawless, babe!" Jake shouts from the side of the stage.

The crowd murmurs 'aw'. "Thanks, J." I turn back to them. "But the truth is I don't need to worry about everything that could go wrong or feels imperfect because this studio is my dream. Two days ago, I got the official picture of this." I gesture behind me. "Sent to me anonymously, wrapped up and framed. Honestly I cried for half an hour." I admit.