Pauline was an intelligent student. She kept on getting A*'s in all her subjects. She studies every day and always did extra work by herself. Pauline was always obsessed and was such a keen learner in all subjects. Recently the students at school did an exam to see who represents the school to join the Student Genius Competition which is like an inter-school competition where 7 different schools in a country compete by answering many questions for a range of school subjects and instead of writing the answer down the students would have to speak the answer into a microphone. This will be the first time the Student Genius Competition will take place in England. Pauline really hoped that she will be selected and its selected by the principal and all the Head of Subject teachers. They all had a meeting to check on which student got the highest score for the Student Genius exam and who should represent it.
The next day, Pauline was just about to walk to her first class. She heard a voice behind her calling her name. She looked back and it was the principal Mrs. Thomson who had a big smile on her face with her glamorous white teeth sticking out.
"PAULINE!!!! THERE YOU ARE!!!!!" Mrs. Thomson called smiling at Pauline. "I just want to congratulate you to say that you will be representing the whole school for the Student Genius Competition! You will be against 6 different secondary schools and will be answering lots of questions for each school subject. The whole school is going to watch you and we will cheer you on!"
"Really?" Pauline smiled with delight. "Thank you very much, Mrs. Thomson. This is such an honour. It's really a dream come true!"
"Definitely. You are going to get announced in the following assembly and the whole school will know all about it. This wouldn't only happen but you get to pick your own dress for the school representative and you will be attending lots of training sessions as the competition will happen in 3 weeks from now." Mrs. Thomson explained in a very happy voice. "You even get to earn your personal name badge to say you represent the school and all the Head of Subject teachers are wanting to know more about you by asking you to be interviewed by them."
"Thank you so much, Mrs. Thomson. This is so exciting! I honestly never thought this will happen and I am already bursting about this!" Pauline replied.
Pauline thought to herself; 'this is such a dream and I can't believe I'm part of the competition.'
On Friday, Mrs. Thomson went on stage and Pauline was standing beside her feeling proud.
"This young lady Pauline Dixon who's standing next to me," Mrs. Thomson announced, "is going to be the representative for the school on the Student Genius Competition which will happen in 3 weeks from now as she achieved the highest score for the exams within the school in all subject areas."
The whole load of applause was happening as Pauline was thanking the school so much. She even said that she felt speechless and said that she couldn't really say how she felt with being selected for the Student Genius Competition out of thousands of students.
In the end, her friends Amy, Crystal and Emma went up to her:
"Congratulations Pauline!" Amy smiled giving her friend a hug.
"Pauline, we are so happy for you!" Crystal exclaimed with a huge smile.
Emma was even crying with joy over Pauline's big achievement.
"Thank you so much. I'm so delighted about this." Pauline said. "This is so unbelievable! There is way more to it. I will get to pick my own dress for the school representative."
"That's so cool," Amy commented.
"Also I will be attending lots of training sessions." Pauline smiled even more.
"You will be really busy," Crystal said.
"I will get my personal name badge to say I represent the school.." Pauline said with a happy grin.
"That's wonderful!" Emma beamed with happiness.
"Now all the Head of Subject teachers are wanting to interview me and want to know more about me." Pauline exclaimed, "I even get to pick my own dress...."
"You told us that already." Crystal said.
"Oh did I? Well I'm bursting about this and everyone is going to come and watch me answer a whole load of questions into a microphone so you should be ready to cheer me on as well as seeing the way I would answer a question correctly!" Pauline smiled with joy.
"Pauline, we know how its like getting such a big achievement like this. We need to go to class now." Amy said looking unhappy.
Pauline was looking back seeing her friends looking blue and walking with their heads down.
Right after assembly before the competition, Pauline wasn't doing well in classes due to her over-excitement within the competition.
One day in English class, Pauline was asked to read a page of a book to the class but Pauline wasn't following it as she was just too slow to start so another student had to do it instead. In Maths class, the class was supposed to do page 34 on their textbooks but Pauline did page 24 instead and had to attend a lunchtime session for this. In Science, the class did an experiment on mixing food colouring and milk. They were only asked to put 6-8 drops of each colour into the milk but Pauline poured the whole food colouring from each bottle into the milk and it was really difficult for her to evaluate about it. Pauline had to do it again at a lunchtime instead. In Geography, the class was supposed to do a poster on all types of pollution; air, water and land. But Pauline only did her poster on air pollution. She had to get a make up lesson by learning about air, water and land pollution again as well to make three different posters of each. In History, the task was to write an essay on Queen Elizabeth II but Pauline did Queen Elizabeth I. Pauline had to get a make up lesson on Queen Elizabeth II by having to write an essay about her.
This was very unusual of Pauline to be getting make up sessions and having to see teachers at lunchtimes. This was all due to her being super excited about the Student Genius Competition. One day, Pauline was called in to see Mrs. Thomson.
"Pauline, please come and take a seat. I would like to speak to you." Mrs. Thomson said sternly.
"Is this about the competition or you telling me that there is more about it?" Pauline questioned eagerly.
"No, I feel shocked about you these days. From all your teachers, they have been informing me about your progress and you not doing the tasks being set to you." Mrs. Thomson said being firm. "They say that you've been acting really strangely. Can you explain to me why is that?"
There was a few seconds of silence.
"Maybe I was too excited about the competition and I could not think of anything else besides that..." Pauline answered looking down.
"Well young lady, I'm really disappointed in you. About your progress, you have not been doing the tasks that were set and not only that, I heard that you were bragging to a few students about the achievement. Students have been getting upset over this." Mrs. Thomson replied with disappointment.
Pauline was about to cry.
"I'm sorry to upset you but after all the teacher's comments, you wouldn't be part of the Student Genius Competition and instead it will be the student that got the second highest score in the exam for it which is Elena Paine. Elena will just have to represent the school instead."
"But, but, but," Pauline stuttered. "I, I, I"
"No buts, no I's. You are not participating anymore and Elena will take your place. Leave my office now!" Mrs. Thomson shouted loudly.
"Yes, Mrs. Thomson." Pauline said nearly in tears.
Once Pauline left the office, she burst into tears and began to cry. Her friends went up to her and wanted to know what happened.
"Pauline, what happened?" Emma asked her with concern.
"It's ok, guys. I just wanna be alone." Pauline burbled.
"You have to tell us; you are our friends!" Amy said.
"Well," Pauline sobbed, "I'm not in the Student Genius Competition anymore. Mrs. Thomson said that my teachers told her that I was acting strangely and not doing their tasks. She said that I was bragging to some students about it. Well sorry about that."
"You did to us..." Crystal said in a little angry voice. "But we forgive you."
"Mrs. Thomson now said that Elena Paine will represent the school and not me anymore." Pauline sniffed even more.
All the friends hugged Pauline and now Pauline has learnt her lesson to keep calm when there will be something exciting and not think about it too much until nearer the time.
Moral: Never brag about things and concentrate on things that will happen presently and not things that will happen in the future.