A Girl with No Talent

This is the first chapter of my new book. The piano teacher is based on my mom, Jillian is based on my friend Hannah, Hope is based on my friend Meghan, and Nicole is based on my friend Bailey. Gia isn't based on anybody. The dance teacher isn't based on my dance teacher. My dance teacher isn't mean like the one in this story.

Hi! My name is Gianna Morgan Brown but you can call me Gia. I am twelve almost thirteen (although my parents won't admit it) and I have positively no talent. I am not joking. I have tried many different activities but none of them work for me. Believe me, I am not exaggerating. Let me explain.

My mom always wanted me to take dance classes. she signed me up for a ballet class. I was okay with it... at first. First of all the teacher started the class by giving a lecture.

"I want you to be here every week," said Ms. Angelica. "Ballet requires commitment and I am not going to teach a class where girls don't come."

She went on and on. Finally we started doing something. I was no good. Ms. Angelica kept telling me to flatten my thighs and not to sickle when I was trying my best. Everyone else seemed to be doing beautifully.

After class was over, Ms. Angelica talked to mom.

"You daughter is not going to be successful in dance," said Ms. angelica.

"I'm sure if she works at it Gia will do fine," said my mom. As I said, mom always wanted me to take dance classes.

"No she won't. You will be wasting your money."

"How can you tell if you've only seen her do it for an hour?"

"I will not let her in this class again and that's final."

So that was the end of ballet for me. Mom tried to get me into tap, but I refused. I wanted to put as much space between Ms. Angelica and myself.

I didn't only try ballet but many other things. I tried gymnastics, horseback riding, piano, basketball and more. Here is what happened with the one's I mentioned.

Gymnastics seemed like something I would be good at. I was flexible and I loved to watch it during the Olympics. I did well when we all had to stretch at the beginning. The trouble started when we got to the beam exercises. I have no balance when I have to balance on a four inch beam of wood. The bar was just as bad. I couldn't hold myself on the bar or pull myself up on it.

When I got home I told my mom how it wouldn't work. It took me forever to convince her to let me quit. that still wasn't the end of my pursuit to find my talent.

You know how I said it took me forever to convince my mom to let me quit gymnastics? Well that was only because I told her I would try piano which happened to be another thing mom wanted me to take. I happened to want to take it as well. I was anxious and excited to try piano.

Piano got off to a good start. My teacher, Mrs. Donna, was very nice. I was very excited until I found out that I wasn't going to be doing very interesting songs at the beginning. I was highly disappointed but decided to keep with it. I wasn't doing too bad, but I wasn't enjoying it. I kept at it for a week. I thought I might eventually start to enjoy it. I continued to think optimistically until I saw my theory homework. I didn't understand any of the different beats or notes. I couldn't even remember where the notes were. I figured the only reason I had survived this far was because I hadn't had any theory homework. I tried to get out of it but my mom wouldn't let me.

"You are going to stick with this, Gianna," said my mom.

"But I can't remember anything from it and I don't enjoy it," I said.

"If you keep at it you will enjoy it. I regret not continuing piano and now I want you to. Besides, the only reason why you can't remember any of it is because you don't want to."

"But, Mom..."

"Gianna, you are going to continue piano."

You've got to understand that the only people who call me Gianna are people I just meet, strict teachers and my mom when she really means something. Whenever she calls me Gianna I know I can't argue anymore.

I still take piano but I still don't enjoy my lessons.

My parents wanted me to do something active in the summer. Before I knew it they had signed me up for horseback riding. I was not excited about this. I am deathly afraid of horses. I think my parents signed me up for it to help me get rid of my fear of horses.

I was scared to death when I walked up to the horse I was going to ride. The horse itself didn't exactly look like it wanted me to ride it. As soon as I got onto the horse it took off. I somehow got hooked on the horse so when it streaked away, I fell down and was dragged along with it. I'd prefer not to go into details of what happened. Let's just say that my parents let me quit and join a summer basketball team instead.

Basketball seemed like fun at first. The only problem was that none of the girls liked me and I was the slowest player on the team. Because of that I sat on the bench every game except for one. That time was a mistake anyway. Everyone else that could possibly take my place was either mysteriously hurt or fouled out. When I did play in that game, I kept fouling other people and getting behind. I kept with the team for the rest of the summer. I told my parents when it was over that I would have been more active that summer if I hadn't played basketball. They said I was active during practice; then I pointed out that I had to sit out of most practices because I had injured myself when everybody came running my way and knocked me over. They couldn't disagree with that.

Currently the only things I have going for me are my best friends Jillian, Hope, and Nicole, and my straight A's in English and literature. What do I have that isn't going for me, piano and no talent?