It was Thursday, like any other Thursday. I had my usual soggy cereal, which gets mushy way too fast. The sky outside looked completely confused, as if it couldn’t decide whether it was sunny, cloudy, or somewhere in between. At the time, I had no idea that by the end of the day, I would feel like a lion. Not the kind that roars and scares everyone away. The kind with wobbly knees, a thumping heart, and sneakers that somehow felt just a little bit braver than before. It was the day of our school play. I had been cast as a tree. A plain, leafy tree in the background. Not a magical tree that dances or talks, just a regular old tree whose one important job was to sway like the wind… and definitely, not trip over the stage curtain! Everything was going fine… until disaster hit! The girl who was supposed to play Princess Mirabella got sick. Really sick! Her nose turned as red as a tomato, her voice completely vanished, and tissue papers flew around backstage like a blizzard made of confetti. For a moment, everything froze. It felt like someone had pressed the pause button on the whole world. I was sitting quietly in a corner, nibbling a saltine cracker, when Ms Jasmine, our director, turned and looked straight at me. “Sophia, now you’ll play the princess. Since you have been in the rehearsals and know the lines, you can do it,” she announced. My mouth dropped open. So did my cracker. My stomach flipped like it was doing cartwheels at the Olympics. I wanted to shrink into a tiny seed and sink right into the stage floor. But then I saw the costume, a sparkly pink dress and a glittery cardboard sword that shimmered under the stage lights. And somewhere deep inside, a small voice whispered, “You can do this, Sophia!” Before I could change my mind, I slipped into the dress, grabbed the sword, and took a giant breath. My heart was pounding, but somehow my feet carried me onto that bright, blinding stage. The lights felt hot, and the crowd looked huge. But when I spoke my first line, even if it squeaked a little, the audience clapped. And something magical happened. I felt taller, stronger and braver. In that moment, I wasn’t just Sophia, I was Princess Mirabella. I fought the dragon (which was really a giant green puppet with googly eyes). I saved the kingdom. I waved to the king and queen (a.k.a. Mum and Dad, grinning like two proud suns in the second row). When the final scene ended, the applause rolled over me like a warm, thundering wave. It filled the room with so much happiness, it made my chest feel bigger than the whole school. Even Ms Jasmine had tears of joy sparkling in her eyes. That day, I learnt something, which I’ll carry with me forever, being brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared. It means you step forward anyway, even if your voice shakes, even if your knees wobble and even if you were only ever supposed to be a tree. Published in Dawn, Young World, May 17th, 2025