Am I a "Yes" or a "No"?

I remember the first time I was at the Academy of Art. It was 3 weeks before classes would start. I and more than 80 other people had to display our work in a large room. Everybody was told up front that only 22 people would be accepted that year.

I was early and got myself a good spot with good light.
While I was setting up the table, three teachers passed by the tables and I heard one say ”No… no… no… yes… no…no…”
My Stomach turned; I didn’t dare to look at them to see if I was a “yes” or a “no”. I wanted so badly to be accepted into the Academy. I swallowed my tears - yes I was that nervous - and pretended not to notice them.

Once the teachers had left the room, I turned around and I looked at the panic stricken faces of 5 other candidates. One asked “Does anybody know who is the yes, because I was too scared to turn around to see if I am a no…”
At that point I realized I was not the only scared one, we all were and we all wanted to be accepted. I think that realization hit everybody at that point because we all started to laugh (nervously of course) as neither one of us knew who was the yes.

To make a long story short: we finished our tables, we went out for a drink (we had still two hours to kill before the Academy members would go in to make their decisions) and all six of us waited for each other to see who was a yes. We all were nervous when one of us entered the room to hear the decision. We all cheered when one would come out with the acceptance paper and at the end of the evening all six of us were a Yes.