Pen to the Paper 5: The Announcement

Before reading this, you may want to read Never_more's post, as I consider it to be canon. On top of that, this is the third place entry. I bring that up here because, well, it does not make sense for the fictional me to have read this. He experienced it. Anyways, here is the link to the post https://theprose.com/post/405545/the-stylist .

Maya stumbled into the office the school that I hosted in allowed me to use. In fact, they had given it to me! "Oh, hey," I said, remembering the kiss that we had shared not long ago. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Maya said as she stood up, her face quickly becoming bright red.

I stood up and rested my arm on my new friend's shoulder. "This is Nick. I hired him to help me look through the entries and determine a winner," I said.

"Hi, Nick," Maya said, shyly pushing a strand of hair that had fallen out of place during her stumble back behind her ear.

"Hey," he said. He straightened his shoulders and walked forward. "You must be Maya," he said, sticking his hand out. "I've heard a lot about you."

Excitement followed by fear crossed Maya's face. "Oh-oh, really?" she stuttered, accepting Nick's handshake.

I checked my watch nervously. "Oh, look at the time," I said, gathering a few papers from my desk.

"Oh, yes, that's what I came in here to tell--"

"Don't you have something to tell her?" Nick said as I walked out of the small office.

"Nope, gotta run."

I walked through the hallway backstage and up to the curtains that lead to the stage. I took a deep breath, gathering courage. She likes me, why can't I tell her the feelings are mutual? I asked myself as I stepped onto stage.

The lighting in the room had been dimmed until it was nearly completely dark in the auditorium. I grabbed the microphone, and, as I did so, a spectacle of lights began flashing and zooming around the room, until one big spotlight landed on me.

"Laaaaaaaaadieeees and gentlemen… I would like to welcome you to the announcement for Pen to the Paper 5!" The second I finished, smoke erupted from the stage. Attached to strings that were hanging from the ceiling, I flew out of the center of the smoke.

Lasers shot through the smoke, and mock fireworks noises were sounded. I was gently lowered to the front of the stage as the smoke cleared.

"Let's get to the announcements, shall we?"

Cheering erupted from the crowd.

"In third, we have thatcher's story, Drastic Changes. It was very heart-warming, and the story sucked me right in.

"HelenaTherese's story Sand made second place. It was very well-written, and the detail was amazing. Her story nearly made first. It was a tough call between that and our first place winner…"

I smiled as the audience leaned forward in their seats, anticipating what I would say next. I let the silence remain just a little longer.

"In first, we have…" I shuffled through my cards, though they had been organized quite well, and I was currently looking at the name of the winner and the story. "The winner is… yummy_yning's Angels Fall!!! I found the imagery very effective, the story was interesting, and it was a little sad."

I paused as the audience clapped.

"Now, some honorable mentions. nightscribbler was one of the few I considered for third place. Self-Love was a beautiful read, with a wonderful message.

"GLD's post, Beating With Love was also great. GLD captured the mentality quite well.

"This Poem was Written by a Moth by Kacieluvara also deserves an--"

Maya ran onto stage.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Nick told me what you said," she told me. Then she kissed me.