It?was?early?in?my?first?year?of?middle?school,?6th?grade,?and?I?didn't?know?a?lot?of?people?except?for?some?friends?from?elementary?school?and?a?small?number?of?new?people.

Because?of?that,?I?did?not?show?my?real?side?to?everyone.

Instead,?I?kept?to?myself?as?a?shy?kid?who?did?not?talk?too?much.

One?day?in?October,?the?principal?announces?over?the?loudspeaker,?We're?going?to?have?our?first?school?dance?of?the?year,?so?get?ready?to?come.

Over?the?next?couple?of?days,?I?kept?thinking?to?myself,?there's?going?to?be?a?lot?of?people?there?that?I?don't?know.

What?if?they?make?fun?of?me?and?think?I'm?weird?

What?if?I?embarrass?myself?and?become?known?as?that?kid,?the?one?who?had?the?epic?fail?at?the?school?dance?

All?these?thoughts?were?stressing?me?out.

But?finally,?I?shut?those?thoughts?out?and?said?to?myself,?okay,?I'll?go.

On?the?day?of?the?dance,?I?was?still?pretty?nervous.

My?mom?dropped?me?off?at?school,?and?I?met?my?friends.

The?first?hour?was?actually?pretty?fun.

We?ate?pizza,?joked?around,?and?laughed.

But?for?the?most?part,?I?still?kept?the?real?me?hidden?inside.

And?then?I?saw?a?sign?on?the?wall?that?said,?sign?up?for?the?dance?contest.

And?I'm?thinking,?should?I?sign?up?

Is?this?the?time?to?show?people?the?real?me?

I?thought?about?it?some?more?and?said,?you?know?what?

I'll?do?it.

And?I?signed?up?with?one?of?my?good?friends.

We?were?waiting?for?what?seemed?like?forever?for?the?contest?to?start,?and?I?was?freaking?out.

I?thought?about?erasing?my?name?from?the?list?and?started?to?walk?over?to?where?it?was?when?the?teacher?called?my?friend?and?I?up?to?the?stage.

Suddenly,?I?got?so?hot,?I?could?feel?everyone's?eyes?on?me,?and?my?heart?was?pounding?in?my?chest.

I?fought?through?the?fear?and?stood?there?with?my?friend?in?front?of?the?whole?school.

The?music?started,?and?we?started?to?sway?to?the?beat.

Then,?the?beat?dropped,?and?we?exploded?into?our?moves.

We?were?doing?the?whip,?the?nay-nay.

We?were?bouncing?all?over?the?place,?hitting?the?kwan,?too.

And?then?when?I?looked?up,?everyone?was?laughing?and?cheering?us?on,?saying?things?like,?Hey!

Oh!

It?was?such?a?good?time.

We?ended?up?winning?the?contest.

People?came?up?to?us?and?said?that?we?did?awesome.

I'm?so?glad?I?took?the?chance?that?I?did,?because?now,?everyone?knows?the?real?me.