We had a last-minute practice, said our prayer and hoped for the best. I never thought we could go this far. I was kinda expecting that my groupmates would want to back out. But they didn't. They showed up early on Monday and gave their best in the practice.
Before we went to the venue I told them: Let's enjoy the moment na lang and have fun. We did what we could and we did our best inspite of our conflicting schedules and all. I guess we'll have to settle for third place this time, coz there'll only be three groups competing.
We were the last group to perform and we were all nervous during the performance of the first and second groups. I've lead this group for quite a number of times and the gig we did last year (for the cheerleading competition) was a mess. So I told myself to keep my expectations low. After all, there'll always be another competition like this and my group usually bags the top prize with our presentations during Christmas.
After all the intermissions, it was finally time to announce the winner. We expected our group to be called for the third place. But when the host did not announce our group, we were all jumping wildly.
We bagged the second prize... the group who did not hire an instructor... the group who didn't have enough time to practice... the group who had the least members... the group who enjoyed every minute of performance in the middle of the gymnasium. No props. No fancy costumes. We were all happy.
= =
Later in the day, people were congratulating me and saying I did a great job for leading the group. Most of the people who watched the competition told me that our presentation was better than the group who got the first prize.
After saying a modest "thank you" I told them that the credit must be given to my groupmates. They did a great job. They practiced on their own during my three-day absence. They did not back out when I thought they would. I may have all the ideas and the talent expected of a leader. But without my groupmates, the ideas and talent would be wasted. I am so grateful for my groupmates.
I remember the look on their faces when we were declared second place. If there's a word that has a higher magnitude than happiness, it would be what I saw in their faces. It was as if we bagged the top prize.
And for the first time, being runner-up felt as sweet as being the winner. It erased the bad feeling from having messed up last year's competition.
So what's wrong with being second best?
Nothing. Because the scores were added to the score we got from the games last June. We got the highest score coz we got first place from the games.
So over-all, we're still the winner!
after the games last June
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