True colors.

This story is based on my experiences while on a trip for competition. It's about how sometimes, we don't really know people as well as we think till they show their true colors to us.

May  24-25  2014

                             *sigh* Here  I  go  again,  unappreciated, unaccepted  and  most  of  all  betrayed. As  I  sat  there,  thanking  the  people  who  have  made  the  journey  so  interesting  for  me. I  was  greeted  by  dead  silence. "Urm..... Hello?" I  said  to  the  audience. It  was  the  end  of  competition  season  for  my  entire  choir  and  I  and  let  me  be  specific. We  did  not  win. And  so, it  became  reflection  time  for  the  entire  group. So, far  no  one  had  even  thanked  me  for  all  the  hard  work  I  had  done, taking  care  of  the  younger  ones  in  our  group. Even  though  we  had  gotten  lost  one time, but  it  was  by  accident  and  it  was  in  a  really  big  mall. The  more  people  had  come  to  thank  the  seniors  for  all  their  hard  work, the  less  appreciated  I  felt  and  the  more  useless  their  comments  became.

                          It  started  one  evening  when  I  was  convinced  by  my  god-sister  to  enter  the  competition. I  had  absolutely  no  intentions  to  do  so  because, as  a  dancer, I  was  devoted  to  dance. Dance  had  become  such  an  important  part  of  my  lifestyle  that  I  couldn't  live  without  it. Every  morning, I  would  wake  up  earlier  than  most  people  and  do  my  stretches. This  would  be  repeated  at  night. My  dreams  of  becoming  that  prima  ballerina  was  so  strong  that  I  would  willingly  use  2  hours  a  day  to  practice. I  had  8  ballet  classes  a  week  and  4  of  them  were  held  between  Saturday  and  Sunday. And  so, i  was  reluctant  to  enter  a  competition  which  was  held  on  those  two  days  but  after  a  lot  of  convincing  from  my  god-sister, I  entered  the  competition  with  her  and  the  rest  of  the  choir.

                           We  continuously  practiced  day  and  night  for  the  competition  and  at  last,  it  came. I  excitedly  got  on  the  bus  with  my  friend, Ooi  Yan  and  we  started  talking  about  the  competition. We  took  a  bus  down to  our  competition  centre  and  in  the  meantime, did  some  sightseeing. At  the  mall  tower, I  hurriedly  bested  Ooi  Yan  in  points  for  foursquare. We  laughed  as  we  checked  into  every  location  we  entered  in  the  mall. However, we  were  asked  to  go  into  groups  and  I  was  put  in  charge  of  6  other  young  ones. I  had  been  totally  fine  with  that  except......

                            The  young  ones  were  too  overactive  and  dragged  another  senior  and  I  along  instead  of  the  other  way  around. We  had  an  hour  to  go  shopping  and  eat  lunch. The  other  senior  and  I  had  suggested  grabbing  food  first  but  the  young  ones  hesitated, instead, we  ended  up  walking  past  10  different  stores  for  them  to  search  for  clothing. Not  being  a  person  who  loves  to  shop--except  maybe  in  a  bookstore--I  hung  outside  and  waited  for  the  others  to  shop. But  by  the  time  they  finished, time  was  up  and  I  went  without  lunch. We  started  searching  for  the  meeting  location  only  to  find  that  we  were  lost. And  so, I  called  my  god-sister  and  she  came  looking  for  us. Annoyingly  though, at  that  moment, the  young  ones  found  another  thing  they  liked  and  rushed  toward  the  shop, ignoring  my  calls  for  them  to  remain  where  they  were. 

                            I  sighed  as  I  followed  them. They  left  to  'Candylicious'  to  buy  some  candy  and  I  followed  them,  being  dragged  like  the  owner  who  had  6  dogs  but  no  way  to  control  them  on  their  walk. However, during  which, my  god-sister  had  already  came  to  find  us  and  had  called  me  on  the  phone. Being  the  hot-tempered  sibling, I  told  her  where  we  were  and  she  got  extraordinarily  upset. During  which, my  juniors  had  found  the  others  and  I  called  her  to  tell  her  we  were  there.

                             When  she  finally  got  to  the  meeting  place, she  yelled  at  me  and  scolded  me  as  if  I  was  somehow  to  blame  for  not  controlling  the  young  ones  better. I  argued  that  I  couldn't  yet  at  them  as  they  would  hate  me  for  it. That, was  how  we  grew  apart.

                               After  that  'incident', we  left  up  to  take  a  tour  of  the  highest  part  of  the  tower, where  I  kept  with  Ooi  Yan  and  decided  not  to  participate  in  the  tour  because  of  the  incident. Evidently, we  were  forced  up  the  tower  by  our  teacher  and  afterwards, the  other's  left  to  the  science  museum  and  thankfully, we  were  asked  if  we  wanted  to  participate  which  Ooi  Yan  and  I  didn't  and  we  left  to  the  bookstore  instead. There, I  looked  around  the  fiction  section  and  found...'Yes!' I  thought  when  I  saw  the  book  which  I  had  been  wandering  around  bookstores  for  2   years  to  find. I  quickly  took  it, checked  the  prices  and  decided  I  was  going  to  get  it.

                               I  left  to  find  Ooi  Yan,  who  was  in  the  Chinese  section  of  the  bookstore, also  checking  out  a  book  she  liked. I  talked  to  her  for  a  while then  left  to  the  performing  arts  section  to  see  if  I  could  find  a  book   on  ballet. Oddly  enough, I   found  a  book  on  it  but  couldn't  buy  it  because  it  was  too  expensive. After  2 more  hours  in  the  bookstore, Ooi  Yan  and  I  left  to  find  the  others.

                               Once  we  found  the  others,had  dinner  and  checked  into  the  hotel. Sadly  though, I  was  put  in with  the  6  young  ones  who  shared  the  same  group  with  me  before. We  had  supposed  to  be  in  bed  by  11.00  but  instead,  they  partied  till  1.00--during  which  two  young  ones  openly  expressed  that  she  hated  my  guts  which  had  upset  me. Trust  me  when I  said  I  had  tried  to  control  them  by  telling  them  that  they  should  be  refreshed  before  the  competition. However, they  ignored  me  and  the  next  morning, they  all  woke  up  with  coughs  and  once  again  i  was  blamed  for  not  taking  better  care  of  them. We  participated  in  the  competition, lost  and  Ooi  Yan  and  I  openly  expressed  it.

                               It  seemed  like  it  wasn't  that  bad  right? Wrong! I had  thought  it  wasn't  that  bad  till  reflection  when  everyone  came  out  and  said  what  they  had  felt  about  the  competition  and  some  openly  expressed  of  their  hate  for  my  guts. During  that  time, I  regretted  entering  the  stupid  competition. Even  my  own  god-sister, though  not  openly  but  I  saw  it  in  her  eyes, had  expressed  her  annoyance  for  me  in  the  two  days, betrayed  and  humiliated, I  wanted  to  cry  and  tune  them  out  but  that  had  never  been  my  way.

                               My  teacher  had  talked  about  a  competition  coming  up  and  Ooi  Yan  and  I  groaned  in  reply. During  which, I  swore  that  no  matter  how  much  convincing  my  sister  did  to  sway  me. Never  again  would  I  enter  a  competition  or  go  on  a  trip--as  a  matter  of  factly--in  which  I  wouldn't  be  appreciated  for  the  things  I  had  done. 

                               Sometimes, you  think  you  know  people. But  take  it  from  me, you  don't  really  know  them  till  you  spend  a  day  with  them  and  they  show  their  true  colors  to  you. Whether  intentionally, or  unintentionally. Before  the  trip, I  was  friends  with  most  of  the  choir  girls  and  no  one  openly  expressed  their  hate  for  me  because  I  felt  they  had  none. But  during  this  trip, I  had  really  gotten  to  see  them  for  whom  they  were  and  now, I  feel  distant  from  them. Never  again  would  my  trust  be  placed  on  any  of  them  except  for  the  few  who've  shown  me  they  truly  cared  for  me  and  appreciated  me. 

Author's Note

This is based on a true story of my trip to a choir competition and the people whom more or less shown their true colours. Please, I know it's a bit emo but tell me the feeling you get when you read the story. What do you think about the way I had described it and other comments. Thanks. By the way, the young ones refer to those that are 13-14 not actually 6-7