In a normal-sized classroom located in Boston, there are a group of four students with an evaluator. They are all part of a much bigger free-for-all speech tournament led by the Massachusetts Middle School Speech League with about 50 contestants per event. All of the four contestants in the room, Andrew, Emily, Sid, and Dylan were seated on chairs against tables just like how they would be as if they were in school. The evaluating judge, however, was seated at the front of the classroom with a notebook and pen ready to take notes.

The judge said, “ Now, may Mr. Andrew Robb please come up to the front to give his speech.” Slowly and nervously, Andrew stood up from his seat and walked to the front of the classroom, where he prepared to give his speech. Sweat uncomfortably dripped down his forehead and slowly into the corners of his eyes. Andrew watched as Emily and Dylan snickered in the back of the classroom while Sid sat attentively showing the utmost respect for Andrew. Slowly, he started to give his speech, thinking about every single word until they just flowed out as if it were second-nature. He went on for about four minutes until he reached the end. He had completed his speech! The whole thing! The clapping and cheering coming from the judge and Sid eased Andrew’s tensions as he proudly walked back to his seat.

The judge then continued and said, “Andrew, that was an absolutely amazing speech! Now, may Ms. Emily Barnett come to give her speech.”

Quickly, Emily jumped out of her chair and confidently walked to the front. On the way, she dropped Andrew a slip of paper saying, “You Were TRASH! Go take your lame-o speeches somewhere else.”

After reading this, Andrew turned red, banged his head against the table, and started silently crying to himself.

Emily gave her speech right after dropping the mean note. The words flew threw her mouth so elegantly that Andrew started to feel even worse about his own speech. He put his head on the desk and started praying for the competition to end. That was, however, only until the end of the speech where Emily stumbled. She lost control of the words and mindlessly started uttering,  “I, uh…...um…...I don’t…..wait…..” She then briskly ran back to her seat. Andrew’s hopes suddenly went up and he thought to himself, “Maybe I can win this round.”

The judge tried comforting Emily by telling her the usual, “Emily, dont worry. Your speech was still fantastic. One of the best I’ve ever seen.”

Following Emily’s disaster, Dylan and Sid gave their speeches, none of them coming even close to how good Andrew’s was. And then, just like that, the speech competition had ended. It was time for the judge to decide who won the round.

The judge started off with, “First off, I would like to congratulate everybody for their terrific speeches! It’s not easy to give a speech of that length in front of people. No matter what happens, everybody should be proud of themselves.”

The judge then stole a glance at Emily only to see that she was still crying about her mess-up.

He decided to take pity on her. “In first place we have a contestant who delivered one of the best speeches I’ve ever heard. The words just seemed to fly out of this contestant’s mouth and although they stumbled a bit at the end, I have no choice but to give them the first place award. Congratulations, Ms. Emily Barnett!”

Emily’s crying stopped immediately as she started cheering for herself. She couldn’t believe it. She had won! “Wow! The judge must have thought that Andrew’s speech was even worse than it was if he still decided to give me the first place award!” she thought.

“And in second place, with another amazing speech, is Mr. Andrew Robb!”

Sid immediately started cheering, “Go Andrew! Congratulations!”

Although he hadn’t won, Andrew was also in a state of ecstasy. It was his first competition and he had gotten second place! The next time he came, he would be sure to win first.