It was the day after I received the news that Trenton broke up with Britt and I was still confused about my feelings for her. Did I like Britt again? It seemed that whenever we dated it always ended in heartbreak and us being uncertain whether we are friends or not. Was it worth risking our steady friendship for something that might push Britt away for good?
These thoughts were swarming my head as I walked into my first hour class, math. I sat down in my assigned seat in the front right section of the room. I looked over my left shoulder and saw that Britt was sitting in her assigned seat in the back left corner opposite of me. I smiled as she looked up at me. I waved as she returned the smile. She stood up and began to walk towards me.
She reached my seat and sat down in the desk next to me. She smiled, nudging my shoulder with her's.
"Are you ready for the Chapter 7 test today?" Britt asked, smiling a bit. I sighed, slouching down into my chair.
"I studied really hard last night," I said, tiredness seeping through each of my bones. "I hope it pays off."
Britt sighed. "Me too. You better be right next to me when I graduate from high school." Britt said as she ruffled up my hair. I groaned, smiling.
"Don't mess with the hair." I said half jokingly. She giggled, flipping her straight hair over one shoulder. Butterflies swarmed in my stomach temporarily as I felt a tiny grin creep into my face.
The bell rang signaling that school was about to start. Britt got up from the desk next to me and began to walk back towards her's.
"Later, Sagittarius." Britt said as she winked, walking to her desk in the back. The butterflies began to freak out in my stomach, then my old, ancient teacher, Ms. Rosburg, began to talk.
"Today, as you all should know," Ms. Rosburg began to say, scanning the classroom behind wire glasses, "Is your third to last Chapter test before you all graduate in three weeks, so I encourage you to study for the final test, which will be on everything we have learned this semester. This could either make or break your grade."
Ms. Rosburg looked at me knowingly, frowning. I smiled slyly, waving at my rude teacher mockingly. She scoffed and went to her desk as the class snickered. I smiled, proud of myself for embarrassing our mean teacher.
"Before you take the test, I will be handing back the Chapter 6 tests from two weeks ago." Ms. Rosburg said as she took out a stack of papers from out of her drawer. My stomach lurched as she began calling out names.
"Brittany, Hunter, Samantha..."
One by one, the students went to the front of the classroom to receive their tests from the teacher, then walked back to their desks looking down at their paper to see how they did. I watched, my fists clenching into tiny balls as she kept on reading off people's names.
"Katrina, Jacob, David..."
My eyes widened and I felt myself subconsciously get up and walk towards the front of the class. Everyone watched as I stood up, knowing that I was not the best in math. My feet stumbled as I got closer to the teacher, her gray hair becoming more vivid as I got closer and closer.
I finally reached the teacher, who was shorter than me by almost a foot. She looked up at me through cold eyes and shook her head so slightly that I wasn't even sure if she had at all.
I took my test hastily from her hands and looked down at the score. The muscles in my jaw tightened as I ripped my eyes away from the score in dark red ink. I tried to play it off, smirking as I went back to my seat.
The guy next to me, who was very popular, looked at my quizzically. I smiled, mouthing the words 'one hundred' mockingly, giving him a thumbs up. He laughed approvingly, shoving me lightly with his hand as his name was called to receive his test. I nodded my head, the smile on my face slowly erasing from my lips.
I looked back at Britt, who was already looking at me. She had a worried look on her face, her eyebrows all scrunched up. She mouthed 'What did you get?'. I shook my head the smallest bit, frowning. Her shoulders dropped and her eyes grew dimmer. I turned away from her quickly. I hated the fact that my failure hurt Britt.
Once Ms. Rosburg had finished handing out the tests, she returned to her desk and grabbed a different stack of papers pristinely stacked on top of one another. She turned back to the class and sighed.
"Most of you did good on the last test," Ms. Rosburg said, focusing her gaze on the back corner. I looked back to see who she was looking at, only to see Britt returning an awkward smile to the teacher. I rolled my eyes.
"Some of you did not do well." Ms. Rosburg said, swinging her eyes all the way across the room to look at me. I looked behind me dramatically, pretending to be confused. The class laughed as I swiveled back around in my seat. I smirked at the teacher who looked as if smoke was about to erupt from her ears.
"Silence." Ms. Rosburg said strictly. The whole class became completely silent, so silent you could hear a pin drop on the floor. Even I became silent and my quirky humor seemed to evaporate into thin air. Ms. Rosburg had a sinister glare on her face as she scanned the classroom for any rebels, but everyone was completely still and staring nervously at her. She took a dee breath and allowed a pleasant smile to form onto her cracked lips, which honestly scared me more than when she was yelling at us.
She began to silently pass out tests, one by one. When she reached my desk, she looked at me with pure hatred. I know it's not right to think that teachers hate some of their students, but Ms. Rosburg did hate me. I bet that if she had the opportunity, she would fight me, even in her old and weak condition.
"Jacob, please come by my desk after class." Ms. Rosburg said in her normal voice, which seemed even more magnified in the silent classroom. A few boys made noises, pumping their fists in the air and yelling "OOOHH!". I laughed, even though I was dreading having to see my teacher after class.
"Do you want to stay after class as well?" Ms. Rosburg yelled at the boys. The boys stopped pumping their fists in the air, but as soon as the teacher turned around they snickered and made rude gestures towards her. Normally, I would've found this funny, but now I was thinking about what I was going to be in trouble for.
I began my test and the questions were even harder than the homework. Each equation that I had studied so hard the night before seemed to have just gone into a dark part of my brain and wouldn't come to the light; I couldn't remember a single one. Some of the questions I felt somewhat confident that I got, but the rest were just a bunch of typing random things into my calculator and hoping that they were correct as I scribbled them down onto the paper.
After ten minutes, I finally finished my test. I stood up cautiously with my test in hand. I looked around and realized that everybody else was still working hard on their tests. I gulped nervously as I walked slowly to the turn in bin. I looked down at the bin and my fears were confirmed: nobody had yet turned in their test. I sighed, throwing my test down into the bin. If I had finished first, I had definitely done something wrong.
I pivoted around and walked back to my seat glumly. I slouched down in my chair, fiddling with my pencil. After a few minutes had passed, a few people began to turn in their tests. I watched glumly as more and more people began getting out of their desks and filing to the front of the room, turning in the papers with hundreds of equations and number jotted down on them. I sighed, looking down at my lap.
After what seemed like an eternity, the bell finally rang. I smiled out of relief, grabbing my heavy backpack and walking towards the door when I stopped.
Oh yeah, I have to stay after class. I thought. I sighed, turning around slowly. I jumped when I saw that the class was nearly empty and Ms. Rosburg was standing right in front of me at a dangerously close distance.
"A word, Mr. Sartorius." Ms. Rosburg said in a monotonous voice. I frowned.
She turned around and walked towards her desk. I trailed unwillingly after her, leaning against a nearby wall. She sat down in her comfy chair and looked up at me through her slim glasses.
"Do you know why you're here?" Ms. Rosburg asked me, a hint of annoyance in her voice.
I shrugged my shoulders. "Why should I know?"
The old woman frowned disappointedly at me. "First of all, that little stunt you pulled today in class caused a Saturday detention."
I scoffed, looking at Ms. Rosburg incredulously. "I literally did nothing, you-"
"That's enough, Mr. Sartorius!" Ms. Rosburg said loudly, cutting me off. Her face was in a contorted, wrinkly mess. "Otherwise it will cost you another Saturday."
I clamped my mouth shut, but didn't stop looking at her through eyes of pure hate.
"Also, I don't know if you realize this," Ms. Rosburg said angrily. "But you are failing this class with a fifty eight percent as you grade. Now, if you don't raise your grade before June, you will not be able to graduate!"
I bit my lower lip, my stomach tying itself in tight, little knots. I took a deep breath, asking, "Well what do you think I should do?"
Ms. Rosburg looked at me through cold eyes. "Start accepting the fact that you are not going graduate this year. Unless you can pull your grade up to a seventy percent or higher."
I groaned, my shoulders falling. "Is that even mathematically possible?" I said sadly. Ms. Rosburg grinned evilly.
"Well, we have two more tests that go into your test category, which is worth fifty percent of your grade. If you get over 90 percent on your last two tests," Ms. Rosburg paused, slowly killing me with anticipation. She took a deep breath and said, "There is a chance you can graduate on time and with a seventy percent in this class."
I smiled brightly, probably the only time I ever smiled genuinely in the presence of that horrible woman.
"Thank you so much!" I said, extremely happy.
I turned away from the teacher, ready to leave just as she said, "Don't thank me yet. You have a long ways to go, Rolf."
My eyes widened and it took everything in me not to rip off her wig. I groaned, clenching my fists as I walked out the door.
"And don't forget about Saturday!" Ms. Rosburg yelled after me.
Once I was a good distance away from her classroom, the happiness began to fill inside me again. I still had a shot of passing the class. I still had a shot at graduating on time!