DuckTales One-Shots!

The play

The kids stood behind the curtain, ready for the play to start. However, their star was definitely not ready.

"I'm afraid I'll mess up," Alistair said. "I don't want to do this anymore."

"Don't push him," his mom said to the teacher. "Maybe there's someone else who can do it."

"He's the star," the teacher said. "No one else can do it."

"You mean no one else wants to do it. He's only the star because this is a play for The Ugly Duckling and he just happens to be the only swan in the class. I bet you chose The Ugly Duckling because of Alistair."

"No, we do this every year."

"Alistair has a friend that's a year ahead of him, and she didn't say anything about something like this. And she has an excellent memory."

The teacher muttered angrily. Alistair hid his face in his mom's sweater.

"Come on, Alistair, it's showtime," the teacher said, leading him to the stage.

The play began, and Alistair shyly danced onto the stage with the other children. Being the star, and having a more complicated outfit and dance from the others, meant many eyes were on him. He couldn't mess this up, or he'll be the laughing stock of the entire 1st grade class.

Everything seemed pretty normal, until halfway through; the play had stopped to give the children a 15-minute break, and Alistair wasn't feeling well. He was still internally freaking out.

"I can't do this," he told the teacher. "I can't do this anymore, let me go home!"

"There's not much of the play left," she said. "Go back out there."

Alistair tried his hardest to get through the next half without freaking out onstage. The play kept going smoothly, and it was eventually over.

"Now we can go?" the children asked.

"Sure, go with your parents," the teacher said.

The children headed home, but most of them waved bye to Alistair as they went, calling him "Ugly Duckling" as they walked away.