Shadowing Practice: Mom is too noisy - Learn English Speaking with Video

When I was eight, my parents took me to Italy on a family holiday.

It was all fun until I saw something I could only imagine in my worst nightmare.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa!

I ran to the building and started pushing against a wall.

Mom!

Dad!

Please come and help me get this straight!

It's all wrong!

What's wrong with that girl?

Is she possessed?

That kid's a freak!

But Mom went mad hearing them.

She's a perfectionist, not a freak, dumbhead!

Dad dragged her away and took us both home before we could make a bigger scene.

Hey friends, my name is Bella and I'm from Manchester.

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Ever since I can remember, I've been a perfectionist, like my mom.

She owned a small bakery and everyone loved her cakes.

Growing up, my place always used to be squeaky clean.

And I hated visiting other kids just because their homes weren't as tidy as mine.

But it wasn't just that.

I couldn't sleep at night without the TV on.

I needed to color code my entire closet, and I had to count words on signboards while I traveled in a car.

When I was in the ninth grade, another bakery opened up right across from ours.

When mom saw the long lines outside, she was furious and wanted to check out what they had that we didn't.

But when I entered the shop and I saw the slightly tilted balloon arc, I felt my eye twitch.

I just had to fix it.

As I tried to, the entire thing fell on a table of cupcakes.

And then a girl standing nearby started to yell at me.

Are you crazy?

My parents worked so hard to set everything up and you ruined it.

But I swear, I just wanted to fix the ark.

I'm so sorry.

Wait a minute.

Aren't you from the bakery across the street?

You guys were jealous.

And you did this on purpose.

What?

Of course not.

Let me just tell you, the whole decoration looks ugly.

There's no color coordination, everything's off.

No way we'd be jealous of this place.

And before I knew it, the girl had pounced on me with her gross, sticky hands.

Oh, God.

Our parents pulled us apart, but our moms were glaring at each other.

Get out of our shop, now!

Yeah, yeah, we're leaving.

It's not like it's something special.

On our way home, I was so mad at that girl and I hoped I'd never see her again.

But the very next day in school, someone entered the classroom.

And it was her!

The teacher introduced her as Maya.

And just then, our eyes locked and she glared at me.

When she sat down, I noticed her odd-colored nails and cringed.

Like, who did that?

I tried avoiding Maya every day, but she was so loud and messy.

One day, the math teacher asked everyone to take out their homework assignments, and she just couldn't find hers.

I promise I did it.

I'd put it in here.

And then what happened?

Your dog ate it?

An elf came at night and stole it.

A kidnapper is holding it for ransom.

I make myself laugh.

Well, at least you make someone laugh.

And then Maya turned over her entire bag on her desk, and I was horrified at all the trash she had inside.

she found her filthy assignment and a half-eaten donut.

Want some?

I'm sure it's only two weeks old.

No, three.

Okay, a month tops.

The teacher looked as disgusted as I felt and made Maya stand at the back with her face to the wall.

She deserved it.

But the next day, I saw a bunch of kids gathered around Maya before math class, and they were all laughing.

The teacher walked in, and everyone ran to their seats.

A few moments later, I saw Maya take out a freaking mouse from her pocket and quietly slip it into the teacher's desk while her back was turned.

Seconds later, when the teacher turned around, she screamed and fell back in fright, while the mouse started running everywhere.

And I panicked.

Maya, catch your stupid mouse right now.

I can't stand it.

Mice are dirty.

Catch it now.

The whole class turned to me in shock, and the teacher was about to explode.

Maya got two months detention, and she and the entire class turned on me.

You're such a snitch, Bella.

Everyone knew it was me, but you had to announce it.

I didn't mean to.

Do you ever mean to do anything?

Save it, weirdo.

As if having her in school wasn't bad enough, I found out that she was also my neighbor.

Mom was even more annoyed than I was.

Oh, God, are they following us or something?

That hot mess now lives next to us.

I felt the same way about Maya.

But for some reason, all the kids and most of the teachers became her fans.

It was like Maya was the real perfectionist because she could have fun.

And she was an A student who was giving me tough competition.

One day during lunch, I was sitting at my usual spot when suddenly Maya came over and sat across me, grinning.

What are you doing here?

100

Oh, I just came to see if you'd like the surprise I planned for you.

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What surprise?

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Why don't you look up?

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I looked up and saw a balloon coming right at me.

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And suddenly, I was drenched in paint.

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My hair, clothes, face, it was everywhere.

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Oh, God, oh, my God.

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No, no, no, no, what did you do?

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Um, hey, Bella, I was just messing around.

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Can you relax?

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But it was like I couldn't hear her.

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And suddenly, I attacked Maya as I screamed and cried.

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I don't remember what happened next, but as the teachers were taking me away, everyone was looking at me like I was some kind of alien.

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I was taken to the hospital, and I found out that I just had a panic attack and that I had OCD.

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Turns out, even mom had it and never knew.

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I had a breakdown and needed to take some time off school.

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I returned after two weeks and could feel everyone giving me weird looks, like I'd go mental any second, and it was all Maya's fault.

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But the moment I entered class, she stepped forward and smiled at me.

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Hey, Bella, I'm so glad you're back.

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I hope you're feeling better.

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Whatever, Maya.

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Don't pretend like you care.

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Look, I'm just really sorry for that day.

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I was only having fun, but I didn't know.

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Oh, please, just get out of my way.

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But after that day, Maya kept being nice to me, even though I kept trying to ignore her.

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A few days later, we were having art class, and Maya took a place next to me.

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Sometime later, she looked over my painting and said, That looks really good.

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You're talented.

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Can't say the same about you.

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What did you even make?

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A dog with a horse's body?

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Maya just looked at me and then burst out laughing.

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She laughed so hard she fell on the floor.

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And I started laughing too.

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Ha ha ha ha.

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OMG, you are so mean.

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That was my puppy that died a few years ago.

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But jeez, it does look like he has a horse's body.

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Maybe Maya wasn't so bad.

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Soon we started hanging out together, and she kind of started to grow on me.

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One time I was in the cafeteria eating my lunch when I realized Maya was staring at me.

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What?

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Why do you finish your fries first, then the burger, and cold drink in the end?

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I...

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I don't know.

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I always eat it like that.

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Everybody does, no?

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Why don't you try this?

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Maya ate a fry, then took a bite of the burger, and took a sip of her soda.

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Though I hated the idea of trying all three together, I did it for Maya.

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Holy moly, it tastes amazing!

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Told ya.

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Maya was the friend I needed.

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She accepted me for who I was, but also made me try different things.

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One day when I was home, I suddenly heard Mom screaming loudly.

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She was arguing with Maya's mom, who was washing her car while playing loud music.

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I asked you to keep the music down and stop making a mess.

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You're wasting water, you dumbhead.

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Who are you calling a dumbhead?

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And then she turned the hose to mom, completely soaking her.

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Mom was furious and tried to snatch the hose from her.

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As they both fought, I saw Maya come out.

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Jeez, Maya, tell your mom to stop.

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Look at her.

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She's messy and crazy.

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She's crazy?

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See?

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Well, at least she's not a robot, like you and your mom.

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And just like that, we both got into a fight.

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I was so angry at Maya.

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I totally ignored her at school the next day.

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And she was doing the same.

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In our science period, the teacher announced how there was going to be a science tournament and we needed to pick teams.

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Even though Maya and I were the smartest kids in class, everyone wanted to be on her team.

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You're going to make the project so fun, Maya.

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I want to be with you.

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Me too.

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Pick me, Maya.

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So I had to choose from three backbenchers.

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And as we worked together, I realized my team really needed to learn the basics.

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I could see Maya's project was almost done, and I was so far behind.

182

So just one day before the submission date, I became a dictator.

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Listen to me loud and clear.

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We will get this done today.

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You got it?

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Go, go, go!

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I pushed those guys so hard, and by some miracle, we finished it.

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Well, team, I'm proud of you.

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I'm sure we'll win tomorrow.

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But Maya's project looks so much better.

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Ours is really good too.

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Come on, we can win this.

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I was feeling confident, but something totally unexpected was waiting for me at school the next day.

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Maya was screaming while her project lay broken on the floor.

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It was fine when we left it yesterday.

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How could this happen?

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We worked so hard.

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What do we do now?

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Who did this?

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Do you think it could be Bella?

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Oh, shut up.

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She would never do this.

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I felt my heart swell hearing her words.

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She wasn't talking to me, but she still defended me.

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Just then, I spotted my team member snickering on the side.

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Ours is the best project now.

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What do you mean now?

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What did you do?

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Bella, we just wanted to win.

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What did you do?

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Spit it out.

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We kind of broke it yesterday before leaving school.

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Oh my God.

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I couldn't believe they'd do such a thing.

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I was beyond furious.

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I didn't want to win this way, so I walked over to Maya's stall and told her everything.

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You can tell the teachers, I'm really sorry.

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Well, that was a nasty thing your team did.

219

But I appreciate you being honest.

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Help us fix this and we can forget about it, okay?

221

I helped Maya and her team fix the project right before the exhibition started.

222

And after the teachers judged everyone's project, they got first prize.

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And I was so happy for her.

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Just as I was walking away, Maya suddenly pulled me into an empty classroom.

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And she kissed me!

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Whoa, what just happened?

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happened.

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I just wanted to do that.

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Did you like it?

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Um, Maya, it's not a really good idea.

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Our moms hate each other and wouldn't even want us to be friends.

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Why don't you loosen up for once and stop caring, Bella?

233

Did you like it or not?

234

I looked at her and smiled.

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I think I did.

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I'll have to try it again to be sure.

237

And then I kissed her.

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The next few weeks with Maya were amazing.

239

We kept it completely secret from our moms, and we were always sneaking around them.

240

One time, she asked me to come over at night, and I nearly passed out when I saw her room.

241

There were clothes everywhere.

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Oh my god.

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Listen, I'm helping you clean this.

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Otherwise, I'm gonna have to break up with you.

245

She laughed, and we spent the whole night sorting out the mess.

246

Best date ever.

247

Sometime later, Maya and I were selected to be part of a quiz competition that was gonna be broadcast live on a local TV channel.

248

I was nervous, but so relieved to be doing this with Maya.

249

It was going great till there came a moment when I pressed the buzzer to answer a question.

250

But suddenly, my mind went blank.

251

I started to sweat and felt breathless as I sensed all eyes on me.

252

Oh, God, not another panic attack.

253

Do you know the answer?

254

I do, but I just need to count to 50 first.

255

What?

256

We don't have time for that.

257

If you don't know the answer, just pass.

258

Suddenly, Maya leapt up from her seat.

259

She does know the answer.

260

She just needs to count to 50, okay?

261

Can you give her some space and let her do that?

262

The host gave her an impatient nod, and I closed my eyes as Maya took my hand.

263

Once I'd counted, I gave the answer, and it was correct.

264

We won!

265

I stepped forward as team captain to receive the trophy, when suddenly, Maya's mom jumped onto the stage and tried to snatch it from me.

266

Why do you get to receive it?

267

My daughter should.

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You wouldn't even have one without her.

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Loser.

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And then my mom was on the stage too.

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Who are you calling a loser?

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She's the team captain because she's better than your daughter.

273

Oh my God.

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Shut up.

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Both of you.

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We dragged our mothers backstage and I turned to them furiously.

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Thanks a lot for embarrassing us.

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You know what?

279

You want to fight and compete and rip each other's hair out?

280

Go ahead.

281

But Maya and I are friends.

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In fact, we're more than friends.

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And with that, I took her hand.

284

What?

285

What do you mean?

286

Let me make it clearer.

287

And with that, Maya kissed me.

288

And our mom's faces were priceless.

289

No way.

290

Not happening.

291

Bella, have you lost your mind?

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Yeah, maybe I have.

293

Deal with it.

294

I put my arm through Maya's and we walked off to celebrate our victory with ice cream.

295

We'll get three scoops each.

296

Vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate.

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exactly in that order.

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Don't mess it up, okay?

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I love you, Maya.

300

Yeah, you're okay, too.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing Practice: Mom is too noisy - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Grammar & Expressions in Context

Common Pronunciation Traps

What is the Shadowing Technique?