Ava, St. Cyprian’s School, South Africa
As swift as the wind, he bolted down the track and suddenly a root seized his ankle. As he laid there face-first on the ground his dreams of winning the Nationals vanished into thin air. And from that day on Brave Ben didn’t feel quite so brave anymore.
It was the first day back at school and Ben felt like everyone was staring at him and talking behind his back. Had they heard? That was a terrifying thought. As he stumbled towards the Science block, he caught a glimpse of Courageous Collette. Would she still want to be friends with me after what happened? She tried to chat to him but he just marched along.
After what had commenced earlier, he felt awful about rejecting Collette, so after school he stopped by her house on Round Square Road and buzzed the ruby red doorbell followed by a rambunctious roaring all through the house. Then in the blink of an eye he examined Courageous Collette pry the door open with a intense creak. At first he was utterly joyful to see her gleaming white teeth grinning back at him then he told her all about what had happened at the Nationals. “So is that why you have been giving me the cold-shoulder all day.” Collette murmured, “I’m sorry Collette I didn’t realise that you would still want to be friends with me after what had occurred.” Ben blurted out. “Of course I would still want to be friends with you! Who wouldn’t want to be friends with the most charming, inspiring and funniest person that I’ve ever known.” She claimed “really” “Yes and you know what, I bet that if you block out all of those negative thoughts, then you’ll finally realise that.”
So the following day, he did as Collette advised and clogged up all of those gloomy feelings inside and carried on with his athletics training but soon after it all came back to him like lightning, the root, the Nationals and he couldn’t endure for much longer. Before long he scrambled off the track, keeping his eyes on the grass for any thing he could topple over, then… BANG! He had collapsed into Collette, both of them crumpled on the fresh, muddy grass. Collette was flabbergasted. Speechless. Well, until she cried “Ben, what is going on!?!” “Collette, I need to talk to you, can swing by my house later today?” Ben stated. “Well, okay but is there something you need to tell me Ben?” Collette asked, “ I said I’ll tell you later, okay.” “Fine”.
Later that day, at Ben’s house there was a heavy, intense hammering at the polished oak door. It was Collette. Ben gestured for her to come in and sit by the balmy, inviting fire. For the first few minutes they just sat there on the soft, snug leather chairs staring at the scorching flames dance like ballerinas, until they just couldn’t stand the silence any longer. “Collette, I’m sorry about earlier, I should have just talked to you.” And Ben soon explained that it didn’t feel first-rate keeping those emotions kept entombed inside. And soon they both concluded that you should always express your feelings, but at the same time you can’t hold on to them for too long either. “Collette, I still don’t understand one thing, how did you, Courageous Collette, give the wrong advice, aren’t you always right?” “Well, I guess not even the smartest people can always make the right decisions.”
And from that day onwards, not only was Ben a little braver, he also ran every single marathon with Collette, by his side.
The end.