A Valentine Rosie

 Here is my entry for Susannah Hill's Valentiny Contest.

Judging criteria will include:

1. Kid-appeal/Kid-friendliness – remember, this is a story for kids!
2. Creativity in using bravery and success in making us feel the bravery!
3. Valentine’s Day appropriateness – this is a VALENTINE story!
4. Quality of story – we will look for basic story elements and a true story arc
5. Quality of writing – use and flow of language, correctness of mechanics, excellence of rhyme and meter if you use it, PROOFREADING!
6. Originality – surprise us with something new and different!
   
7. How well you followed the Submission Guidelines – agents and editors expect professionalism. This is a chance to practice making sure you read and follow specified guidelines. If you don’t follow agent and editor submission guidelines they won’t even read your submission.

A Valentine Rosie

214 words

GULP, Valentine’s Day was coming . . . fast!

Invitations were delivered.

Bleachers lined the cafeteria.

And Rosie had a lump in her stomach.

Her class was singing an I Love You song to their families.

Rosie had to walk in front of everyone with a big glittery heart.

She hadn’t raised her hand, she’d done just the opposite.

But she was the tallest so Mrs. Bain chose her.

All the guests would see the sign, which meant they would all see her.

GULP!

At rehearsal she hid behind the sign and walked into Mrs. Bain.

She tried being invisible, Mrs. Bain noticed.

The night before the big day, Mom said, “It’ll be fine.’

Dad said, “You’ll be perfect.’

Her brother said, “You’ll probably trip.”

She hadn’t even thought about tripping, GULP!

She pretended to be sick.

She stayed awake so the morning wouldn’t come so soon.

It came anyway.

When Rosie got on the bus, she saw Lexi staring out the window.

“My mom can’t come,” she said when Rosie asked what was wrong.

‘I wish I didn’t have to look out and see she’s not there.”

Carrying the sign wasn’t so bad, thought Rosie, her family would be there.

She talked to Mrs. Bain.

Standing tall, they lifted the heart together.