Ten Lords a Leaping

Of course, if one had to go to Arthur's Christmas thing, then they had to go to D.W.'s too. D.W.'s gymnastic class was showing off what they had learned during the semester and were quite excited about doing it, including the Tibble twins. Arthur had no problem going to the thing at all, unlike D.W. had been to his.

D.W. though was a whole lot more nervous about this then he was, but then this was her first live performance doing something she really liked doing and was actually sticking too… though she had wanted to switch a few times; her mother had made it clear that there would be no more switching of activities.

Emily, D.W.'s friend, had gone and gotten a brand new gymnastics outfit for the special occasion, making D.W. a little jealous, until the teacher said that the girls would all be wearing red and the boys green… plus the Tibble scarves to tell the Tibble's apart of course. D.W. was still freaking out even though she had gotten her new ensemble and Emily had to go pick yet another one.

Things were defiantly though not going as they had been planned. Mr. Read actually overheard the Tibble Twins speaking with Buster, Arthur's friend over the fence. They had some how convinced the boy that they were going to be doing some amazing stunts, which the Tibble Twins probably believed they were, but Buster ended up believing and wanting to come too.

The next thing they knew was that the Tibble Twins hadn't shown up in their bandanas. Instead, they were wearing red and green because that was what made them stand out more and their Grandmother didn't feel that the bandanas went with the event at all, much to the boys' disappointment.

On top of that, Tommy was teasing Timmy about being a girl. If one can guess, it was Timmy that was in red while Tommy was in green. Timmy was actually close to tears for once and his Grandmother was trying to consol him along with the teacher in the fact that it was alright, but Timmy really didn't think it was.

That was until Emily came in wearing a green outfit. The teacher ended up slapping her forehead. She asked Emily why she ever thought it was alright to wear green. Emily first pointed to the Tibble Twins, to which the teacher commented that they had an excuse… what was hers. Emily then said that her mother said that red clashed with her completion.

It then turned out that Emily's parents had chosen not to show up, but that was quite expected. But everyone knew that she had been hoping that they would and could see it in her eyes that she was upset. But Emily was used to them not really showing up and just brushed it off… at least her nanny was here and her nanny cared.

There were then a lot of bumps and bruises as the kids fumbled their way through the whole mess of getting through their routines, but they were still in pre-school and doing quite well at what they were doing. Their parents all clapped… oh, and Emily's nanny too, so that little bit wasn't a big deal.

However, Buster was scowling because he had been expecting some very great stunts. To D.W. and Arthur's embarrassment, he let the Tibble Twins know what he thought of their lies. To which Tommy poked him in the chest and commented on the fact that their stunts were amazing.

Nothing else could go wrong, except that Tommy and Timmy had decided to show off their new trick that they had designed themselves. So, back to back they did a cartwheel… right into Buster and the fruit punch bowl… it was quite possible they had done this on purpose, or so Buster commented on the way home.

Meanwhile, D.W. was counting on her fingers and Arthur asked what she was counting, "My nervousness, Emily getting a new gymnastics ensemble, Buster thinking what the Tibble's said was what he thought they said, the Tibbles showing up in red and green, Tommy nearly making Timmy cry, Emily showing up in green, her parents not coming, falling down a few times, Buster saying dumb things and then the punch bowl…"

"In other words even with those things you had fun," Arthur nodded in understanding. "That's what I found out… it's not always about the performance, but about enjoying yourself and having confidence."

"And Buster ending up in the punch bowl," D.W. laughed.

"Ha ha… it wasn't that funny… though it was delicious!" which brought laughter from everyone.