Dear Brooklyn,
It’s always refreshing to see someone who’s focused on their studies instead of the party scene. So as a reward, this week, we want to give you a break! Simon says abandon that admirable work ethic we all love, and focus your efforts on bringing your grades down instead of up. Just picture this as us making the playing field more even for the rest of Oakview. That GPA of yours is great and all, but think of everyone else!
-S
brooklyn sat rigidly straight in her seat as her teacher passed out tests. when they got to her, she cracked her knuckles (a pre-test ritual), before skimming it over. though simon had told her to ‘abandon her work ethic,’ she knew it was going to take just as much effort to bring her grades down than up. if she wanted to avoid suspicion, she couldn’t just throw the test completely; she had to answer just enough questions wrong, just wrongly enough, to make it look like a sincere failure. so she took her time, even going back to check that she wouldn’t get anything more than partial credit on anything. still, she finished well before everyone else, biding her time until the 2nd and 3rd best students in the class turned theirs in before bringing hers to the front. and though she nearly turned around, twice, on the way up, she eventually (against her better judgement) got her body to cooperate in delivering the paper to her teacher’s desk. the easy part was over.
the hard part didn’t come until that friday, when the tests were handed back. brooklyn’s stomach was in her throat as she watched the teacher weave through the aisles, dropping papers on desks. that was usually when brooklyn would look away, feeling like it was disrespectful to watch other students’ reactions to their grades. but today, she watched every minute of the ritual, analyzing her classmates facial expressions for clues as to what grades they’d received. there were smiles, frowns, a few criers but, still, she didn’t look away. because, for the first time, she understood how people found comfort in the failure of others.
unfortunately, it did nothing to ease her nausea. by the time the teacher reached brooklyn’s desk she was sure she was going to throw up -- until the test was set on her desk. then her heart took her stomach’s place, sinking to the pit of it.
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