keep them falling

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mr. ridgeway was sitting at his desk, grading papers when i came in. "good morning, chloe." he said to me with a expressionless face.

"morning." i mumbled, scooting to my desk in the middle of the room. i noticed mr. ridgeway's face was always emotionless, like nothing was going through his mind. like he didn't have any feelings. like he lost his soul years and years and years ago.

i didn't want to be like him when i got older.

"all right, students," mr. ridgeway's voice filled in the quietness of the room so suddenly. he held a pile of papers in his rough hands, and started at the corner of the room to the first student, where maxwell m. hellen sat. "i'm handing back your quizzes, pretty much all of you did great."

behind him sat rosalie k. marshall. "congratulations, rosaslie, one-hundred percent."

"thank you." i heard rosalie say, clearly proud of herself. she smirked. i could tell she was expecting it.

i never really liked rosalie.

i got more and more anxious the closer mr. ridgeway got to my paper. i was never a good test-taker, no subject it was about. even when it was the easiest test, i still was uncertain whether i did well or not, and usually, my thoughts lean towards me doing horribly.

i began to pick my nails, something that became a bad habit years ago, when mr. ridgeway got to harrison j. matthews, who sit in front of me. he handed back his quiz, "nice job, better than before."

harrison nodded as a way to say thank you.

my heart was beating when he reached me. placing the piece of paper on my desk, he told me, "not your best, but it definitely wasn't horrible, you did well. nice job."

oh no. what did i do wrong?

"thanks, mr. ridgeway." i said in a quiet voice, already too late. he moved on to sarah b. fisher, who sat behind me.

i decided not to see what i did wrong, and slipped the paper in my binder, shutting my eyes.

it's better to keep the mistakes unknown.

--

Yay, quick update! Hope you all had a nice weekend or Monday.

-Maddie

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