My whole body shook. It was the same jitters I got when every time I did something in front of a crowd. I wasn’t exactly terrified, more of a blend between nervous and excited, with a definite fear of the unknown.

I loved concerts, though. They also gave me an excuse to dress up. Sparkles lined my eyes and my black skirt swished beneath me. My hair was done up in a ribbon, with a matching one on the barrel of my clarinet (it was a little tradition of mine to dress both myself and my instrument up for concerts). I _felt _pretty, which gave me boost of confidence for the performance.

However, no amount of ribbons could distract me from the mounting nerves I had about the show. Among other songs, we were playing the _Pink Panther _, and i, as the only clarinet in our entire band, played the melody alone. This meant that literally everyone stopped playing and I was left vulnerable and alone, exposed to the entire audience. What if I play too quiet and they couldn’t hear me? What if I played too loud and I squeaked? What if I played the wrong notes? What if I played to fast? Too slow? Too-

We were called onto stage. _Shit. _I thought. _Here we go._

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This is actually all true, I’m very scared for the upcoming concert next month. This wasn’t a very interesting story, but the prompt made me think of this feeling. Sad part is, we actually are playing _Pink Panther_ and I’m the only clarinet, who has the melody alone😭😭😭 (I’ll never forgive the guy who switched to alto sax.)