Speech |a.f.i au|

0.6

A month has passed since Speech and Debate started, which meant I had only been in there for a few weeks. Which made today was the first competition.  After my mom persuaded Mr. Winston that I was capable of speaking, he allowed me to go into competition.

We all worked hard, a lot of us would be texting in the group chat at four in the morning, explaining the information we had found. After our third meeting, we started meeting every day, including weekends. I went to speech therapy three times a week and therapy twice a week, making sure that nothing would go wrong.

Of course, at first, things were awkward. After Abbey's party, Luke, and Abbey just avoided each other, even in English. Jordan started skipping out on practices, but after Moon got us together and confronted us about it, we all got our shit together.

Ashton and I became closer. Instead of hitching a ride with my mom after practice, Ashton would take me home and most times he'd pick me up in the morning. He met my mom and they got along very well. I was getting to the point where my stutter wasn't becoming a problem around him. 

Jordan and Shianne were at a different location in the school for Extemporaneous speaking, as that was a separate category for judgment. Abbey and Calum were across the street for debate, with Mr. Winston. The rest of us were in the auditorium for Interpretational Speaking.

The humorous interpretation category was up first, and that was Michael's. He definitely earned many laughs, not as much as the kid after him, but it was good and Ashton didn't seem too worried. 

After Duo interpretation, which was Moon and Luke, lunch was scheduled and that meant we had a two-hour break.  We met with Mr. Winston at the front of the school where the competition was being held.

Abbey and Calum had a wide smile spread across their face and Mr. Winston had his head buried in a map, looking for the nearest restaurant we could dine at and end up at a Subway. The rest of us are crossing our arms across our bodies, shivering.

I sat with Moon, Madi, Luke, and Ashton in a booth, while Abbey sat with Jordan, Calum, and Shianne. The others sat with Mr. Winston at a nearby table. I could hear Michael talking about his performance and Moon and Luke was telling us how they were having trouble trying to pick the perfect script.

While the two explained, I could see Abbey shooting daggers at Moon, with her eyes. Truthfully, I'm not surprised. Since Mr. Winston paired up Moon and Luke for Duo Interpretation, Abbey has been on edge. Though she ignored Luke, she critiqued every little thing Moon did. Everyone knew Abbey was jealous, but no one said anything. Knowing that Abbey was jealous put Moon at ease because she genuinely liked Abbey.

"Are you nervous?" Luke asks me. According to the schedule, after lunch, I was up for Program Oral Interpretation and I was the first one up. My hands have been sweating since I woke up this morning.

"That's the dumbest question you could ask, Lucas," Madi says, rolling her eyes at him.

"For the last fucking time, my name is Luke!" he exclaims, and Madi playfully nudges his arm, mouthing the word, "chill" to him.

"Hey, don't swear!" Mr. Winston shouts, causing some heads to turn.

"You should eat," Ashton tells me, his head nodding towards my sandwich. I don't want to explain to him that if I eat, I will vomit everywhere and I don't want to open my mouth either. When I told my mom what school I'd be at, I stuttered in front of her for the first time in over a year.

I wrap my hands around my sandwich and take a few bites of it before my phone starts buzzing in my skirt pocket. I scrunch my eyebrows at the unknown number and click answer.