“Introduce yourself,” Luhan said with a smile.

“I’m Sehun,” the tall boy said quietly with a slouch.

“No,” Luhan interrupted gently. “Stand up straight and speak with confidence,” He said encouragingly while using hand gestures. That was one of his quirks: talking with his hands. Most people found it was annoying, but Sehun thought it was actually quite adorable.

Sehun smiled and sighed. He straightened his back and took a deep breath. “I’m Sehun. I’m sixteen years old and I like to dance.” Sehun paused and looked down at Luhan who was now laughing into his palms. Despite how much this upset Sehun, he couldn’t help but laugh along with him.

“You sound like a robot,” He giggled. “Hello. I am Sehun,” he repeated in a robotic voice.

Sehun laughed and cupped his hands to his face to hide his embarrassment. After a moment, he dropped his hands to reveal his red face and sat down on the park bench next to Luhan. “I’m never going to be able to do this,” he said still giggling softly.

“You can do it. You’re just nervous that’s all,” Luhan said with a soft smile while messing up his short, silver hair. He laid his head on his shoulder. Sehun sighed again. He knew he would eventually have to present, but he didn’t see how practicing introducing himself was going to help him present his poem.

“Tell me again why I am practicing introducing myself when I’m preparing to present a poem,” Sehun said to Luhan.

Luhan raised his head and looked at Sehun. “Well, when you present you should introduce yourself first, right,” Luhan asked a little more confused that he was supposed to be.

“I don’t know,” Sehun exclaimed. “Aren’t you supposed to know this stuff?”

“Shut up,” Luhan said laughing. He clapped his hands against his thin thighs. “Okay, go again.”

Sehun let out a small groan and then stood to face his. “I’m Sehun, and I will be presenting my poem.”

Luhan stood up and jumped. “Yay, that was perfect!” He ran up and hugged his best friend and then sat back down. Sehun liked getting hugs from Luhan, but this time a strand of his light brown hair ended up in his mouth causing him to make a foul face. “Now, continue. What’s your poem called?” Luhan asked.

Sehun felt his heart speed up and his hands get clammy. “I can’t do this,” he said giving up.

“Sehun,” Luhan said in a whiney voice. “You were doing fine. Just let me hear your poem.”

Sehun held the paper up to cover his face and read, “Shampoo.” He lowered the paper so that only his eyes were exposed and looked at Luhan expectantly.

Luhan crinkled his eyebrows togethis. “Shampoo,” he asked in disbelief. “Really, Sehun,” he giggled.

Sehun threw is arm down to his sides “I knew it! I can’t do it,” he cried.

“Ok, ok. Shampoo. Go ahead,” he said fighting back his laughter.

“OK,” Sehun said raising the paper back up to cover his face. “Shampoo, Shampoo from the store. Top grade shampoo. When you taste it, it is bitter,” Sehun was interrupted by a loud burst of laughter. He lowered his paper to see Luhan laughing into his hands.

“You’re laughing,” he exclaimed fighting not to laugh along with him. No matter how mad Sehun got, every time Luhan laughed he did too.

“No, no,” He laughed. “No, I’m not laughing. It’s good,” He said before anothis burst come and interrupted his lie. Once his laughter died down, he relaxed. “Alright go ahead.”

Sehun reluctantly continued. “In your hair, the shampoo smells nice. Moist shampoo, double the times better than normal shampoo; Shampoo with Sodium Chloride.”

Sehun lowered his paper one last time and looked at Luhan expectantly.

“That, my friend, was one of the best poems I have ever heard,” he said giggling.

Sehun balled his hands into a fist and hit his own leg. “I knew it! It ,” he exclaimed. He sat down next to Luhan and frowned. He knew he wasn’t a good poet. He wanted to be a good poet, he tried so hard to succeed, but no matter how hard he tried he knew he would never be a good poet.

“It’s ok. Thise’s still time. You can change it if you want, but all you have to do is get the guts to present it. It’s good Sehun, it really is. I like it! It’s very, oh what’s the word, Oh it’s enlightening,” He said smiling and wrapping his arms around the thin boy to hug him.

“Yeah right,” Sehun said as he puhed the girl off of him. He knew that Luhan was lying.

 

The next few weeks Sehun practiced and practiced presenting his poem for Luhan. Each time he felt more and more relaxed. He was glad he had a friend like his to support him. He didn’t have many friends, so to have his by his side meant a lot to him. He was just so bubbly and excited when they were togethis that it made him feel better just by being with his.

When the time came for presentations, Sehun couldn’t have been any more prepared than he already was. When his turn came, Sehun walked onto the stage and stood beside the microphone. As the crowd broke out into a roar, Sehun could feel his body begin to shake. He sighed and then stepped up to the microphone. The stage lights were enough to make you blind and the heat they gave off caused him to break out into a sweat. He took a moment to look around at the people in the audience. He was trying to find Luhan, but he failed. Knowing that he was up thise alone made him nervous. He would have felt better if he could spot someone he knew, but since that didn’t happen he decided to just get it over with as quickly as possible.

“Um, m-my name is Sehun,” he said grabbing the microphone. The crowd died down, and Sehun knew it was time to begin. “My poem is called Shampoo.” He pulled his paper up so that he could read it, but not too far up so that people could still see his face. He read the paper aloud into the microphone.

“Shampoo, Shampoo from the store. Top grade shampoo. When you taste it, it is bitter. In your hair, the shampoo smells nice. Moist shampoo, double the times better than normal shampoo; Shampoo with Sodium Chloride.”

As Sehun’s poem came to it’s closing, he looked back up at the silent audience. Thise was nothing. If someone had dropped a pen, you would be able to hear it hit the ground. But then, out of nowhise, one parent from the back of the room stood to his feet and began clapping vigorously. Sehun couldn’t quite make out who the man was, but he knew it wasn’t withis of his parents since they were unable to attend. It didn’t matter anyways because after the man began clapping so did the rest of the audience and although they were obviously not as crazy about the poem as the one sir was, it still brought a smile to Sehun’s face.  

Once the show had ended, Sehun stepped out into the audience and met with Luhan.

“You were amazing! That one guy really loved it. He said he wants to see you before we leave. My mom said he’d wait if you wanted to talk to him. He’s over thise,” Luhan said after hugging Sehun. He pointed over to a man leaning against the wall.

“Um okay,” Sehun said leaving Luhan and approaching the man.

When the man saw Sehun, he immediately shook his hand and introduced himself. “Hi thise, I’m Stanley. I’m Conner’s dad, and I just wanted to say that your poem about Sodium Chloride in shampoo was great. I’m a hairdresser and as you probably know, sodium chloride really damages color treated hair and it is just so touching to see the younger generation taking a stand against all of those horrible chemicals,” the man began obviously touched by the performance, for in the middle of his speech he had to wipe away a tear.

Sehun smiled awkwardly. “Well, thank you?”

“Oh you’re very welcome. Now, I know you’re young and you have a lot of time to think about this, but I just wanted to give you this,” Stanley said reaching into his bag and pulling out a card. “This is my business card. I want you to know that if you ever want training or, when you come of age, a job you can give me a call and I’ll set you up right away!”

Sehun smiled and kindly accepted the card. He wanted to ask the man some more questions, but when he saw Luhan’s mom calling him he had to excuse himself. In the car ride home, Luhan tried conversing with Sehun about the man, but Sehun was too busy admiring the card to notice. He began to think about the future and what he wanted to be. Before he thought it was a poet, but now, after meeting Stanley, his mind started to wander from that. Maybe being a hairdresser was an option.

“Maybe,” Sehun whispered to himself.