"I'm done!"
It was Wednesday night, and Lily had just finished typing her report on icebergs.
For a moment she was relieved.
But then her heart sank.
On Friday she would have to stand in front of her class and present the report.
She hated speaking in public.
What if she made a fool of herself?
On Thursday Lily was talking with her friends.
"The Green Guys are coming to our school tomorrow," Sandeep said.
The Green Guys were a theater group.
They acted, played music, and performed magic tricks.
"That will be fun," Lily said.
Then her stomach did a flip.
Tomorrow was Friday—she had to present her iceberg report to the class.
"I'll be so nervous that I won't be able to enjoy the Green Guys at all," she thought.
That night Lily practiced reading her report.
She hated the sound of her voice, and at one point, she said "icebug" instead of "iceberg."
She groaned.
"I'm going to make so many mistakes.
Everyone is going to laugh at me."
Lily watched some public speaking tutorials online.
They all said basically the same thing: be prepared, be relaxed, and be confident.
In the morning Lily's stomach was in knots.
"Maybe the school bus will get a flat tire," she thought.
"Then I won't have to go to school."
An hour later Lily was in the school auditorium.
Everyone laughed as the Green Guys did a silly dance.
Even Lily was enjoying the show.
One Green Guy walked into the crowd of students.
He needed a volunteer.
All around Lily, kids raised their hands and shouted.
"I'll volunteer!"
"Pick me!"
Lily sank as low as she could, trying to be invisible.
She gulped when the Green Guy looked directly at her and waved her over.
Lily wanted to escape.
But everyone was staring at her.
Reluctantly she followed the Green Guy up onto the stage.
The Green Guy handed Lily a jar of jelly beans and then ran to the other end of the stage.
He opened his mouth and pointed at it.
Lily threw one of the jelly beans, and the Green Guy caught it in his mouth.
Everyone cheered.
Lily was amazed.
She threw another jelly bean, and the Green Guy caught that one too.
When Lily threw a third jelly bean, however, the Green Guy missed.
"Oops!" Lily thought. "He messed up!"
But the Green Guy didn't seem to care.
He was already waiting for the next jelly bean.
Lily quickly threw it.
The Green Guy caught it, and everyone cheered again.
"He missed one," Lily thought, "and the audience barely noticed."
The jelly beans looked good, so Lily ate one.
The Green Guy put his hands on his hips and pretended to be angry.
Trying not to giggle, Lily pretended to be angry too.
Everyone in the audience laughed.
"This is kind of fun," Lily thought.
Now the Green Guy was staring at her.
He squinted as if he were wondering what Lily would do next.
Lily stared back, grabbed a jelly bean, and ate it.
The audience exploded with laughter as the Green Guy waved his arms around, pretending to be furious.
A moment later Lily and the Green Guy bowed.
As Lily returned to her seat, everyone applauded and cheered for her.
Sandeep clapped her on the back. "You were awesome!"
Lily beamed.
She thought about her presentation on icebergs and realized something:
she wasn't nervous about making a mistake anymore!