Jasmine Makes Me a Beauty Queen is the thirteenth chapter of The Gift of a Best Friend. It was first published on July 8, 2016.
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Chapter Sometimes, it’s not easy to like Jasmine. Like, for instance, when she wants you to do something with her, but you don’t like it. Like a beauty pageant. “No,” I told her when she asked me for the hundredth time. “Please,” Jasmine begged. “I’m not falling for that this time, so don’t even try.” She pouted. “Please. It’ll just be this once.” “You know I don’t like dresses.” “I know, and I don’t care. Please.” “If I do it, will you please stop saying please?” “Yes.” “Fine. I’ll do the stupid beauty pageant with you.” “Yay.” I fell for her begging again. How does she do that so well? “Let’s get ready,” Jasmine said. And off we went to her house. The pageant was in two days, and Jasmine was helping me find a dress and to find herself one too, with her mom’s help. “What’s your talent going to be?” Jasmine asked me. “My talent?” I asked. “Yeah. Mine’s going to be dancing. What about yours?” I shrugged. “I don’t know. You put me in this. What do you think I should do for my talent?” “Hmm. Mommy, what was your talent when you did this?” “The same as it is today,” she replied. “Singing.” “You can do that, Annabeth. Mommy won singing, and you can too.” “You do realize that we’ll be going against each other, right?” I asked. “Yes. But you’re the only person I don’t care about losing to.” “I thought you’d say ‘Best friends don’t go against each other.’” “They don’t. But this is different.” “How?” Jasmine shrugged. “I don’t know. It just is. So are you going to sing?” “I don’t know,” I said. “I sang and played the piano,” Sarah said. “You could just play the piano and not sing.” “Really?” “No!” Jasmine said. “That sounds boring.” I looked at her. “You think I’m boring?” “No. I just think that only playing the piano is boring.” “What if I decide to just play the piano for my talent? Will you think I’m boring?” “Careful, Jasmine,” Sarah warned with a little smile on her face. “Don’t get yourself in the dog house.” “What?” she asked. “We don’t have a dog house, Mommy.” “It’s a figure of speech.” “What’s a figure of speech?” “It’s—never mind. Just be careful with what you say to her next.” “Ok. Annabeth, I don’t think you’re boring. And if you want to play the piano for your talent, you can.” I smiled. “Thank you, Jasmine.” “You’re welcome.” “Aww. That’s so sweet,” Sarah said. “But, Jasmine, do you think it’s boring when I play the piano?” “You never just play the piano, Mommy,” Jasmine replied. “You sing too.” “True. Except for when I’m making a new melody. But I may have another idea for you two.” “What?” we both asked. “How about you do your talents together?” “That’s a great idea!” Jasmine said. “Are we allowed to?” I asked. “I don’t know,” Sarah replied. “But I don’t see why you can’t. Do you girls want to try?” Jasmine and I looked at each other. “Yes.” “Great. Now, have you two picked out a dress you want to wear yet?” “I think so,” Jasmine said. Jasmine grabbed a sleeveless yellow dress with sparkles and a flowing attached skirt for me. And for herself, a flower print, shoulderless purple dress. We both tried our dresses on, and I’ll admit, we looked pretty in them. Jasmine made me do a twirl, but she did one too. We bought the dresses and prepared for the pageant. Sarah suggested that we do a music duet together, and she would play the piano for us, and we agreed. But we had to find a song and agree on it together. I didn’t know any songs, but Sarah and Jasmine both did, of course, and they thought it would be good for us to sing a song from Disney. I don’t like Disney, but it’s not like we could sing any other kind of songs. We tried a few and decided on one we both liked singing together and went with it. It was actually a song we’ve done together before, and it was always fun to play it with Jasmine. She always makes me laugh in one part. A couple days past and the pageant was finally here. My dad and Savanna came to support me, which really surprised me, and Magnus and my aunt Natalie too. “Jasmine’s good at getting you to do a lot of things you don’t like,” Magnus told me. “I know,” I agreed. Savanna offered to do my hair for me, and I let her, which surprised me even more. She put my hair in bunny ears, which I didn’t really like, but I accepted it. Sarah put Jasmine’s hair into a bun, and she looked good. A lot of the other girls had on makeup, but Jasmine and I both passed on that and only put on lip gloss. The competition began and we hugged each other for good luck and waited for our turns. After the first few girls did their talents, it was mine and Jasmine’s turn. The judges didn’t like that we were doing our talents together, but Jasmine wouldn’t accept it any other way and even they were smart enough not to argue with her. My heart was beating really fast, but I walked to the middle of the stage, holding Jasmine’s hand, which was comforting. I’m glad she was there with me. We had our microphones, and Sarah started playing the piano and we started singing: Elsa? [Jasmine] Do you wanna build a snowman? [Annabeth] [Both] [Knocks] [Annabeth] [Jasmine] [Annabeth] [Jasmine] [Annabeth] [Jasmine] [Annabeth] [Jasmine] [Annabeth] [Jasmine] [Annabeth] [Both] I couldn’t help but laugh during the song with some of Jasmine’s turns, like Joan and the tick-tock. It was funny, and the crowd and judges agreed. When we finished the song, everyone in the audience clapped, even the judges. I even noticed my dad and Savanna stand and clap for me. When we got back stage, Jasmine told me that my face was red. That comment made me turn redder. We both laughed. After the rest of the girls showed their talents, we all gathered on the stage and the judges declared the winner. Jasmine came in third place and got a small bronze trophy, and I came in second place and got a silver trophy a little bigger than Jasmine’s. Some other girl named Drew, who was too pretty if you ask me, won first, got a tiara, a big gold trophy, and a sash. I don’t remember what her talent was and didn’t care. It was over now. But I did like it and I was a little upset that neither me nor Jasmine won, but it was fun. But I still don’t want to do it ever again. Jasmine and I took a picture together with our trophies, but I didn’t need one. I knew that I would never forget the day I was a beauty queen, no matter how much I wanted to. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I would usually do a trivia to have you guys guess who sings the song that Annabeth and Jasmine sang, but it's probably pretty obvious where it came from, so I'll just leave it at that. It was the only song I could think of for them to sing, especially as young as they are. What did you guys think about it? Please review here. |
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Trivia[]
- Annabeth and Jasmine are in a beauty pageant together.