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For lish Lit hat I loved By far, my best subject in school

"Ms Day?" Mr Saunders called o to the front to claim my test He held it out to me "Have to say, I was disappointed"

I looked down at it

A bright red "F" stared back at n involved

There had to be a ot a--an F?"

"Maybe next tiestion" He looked past me "Mr Edwards?"

With that, I was disotten in my life For an essay on a book I’d already read And loved

This couldn’t be happening I tried to rationalize it, but failed

Yeah, failed I failed Big ti at the mark

"It’s only one stupid test," Colin offered frorade It was impossible toand red

But it wasn’t just a test, it was a sign The balance I’d hoped to regain by coed and felt like I fit in

Fail

I tried to concentrate, but it wasn’t an easy task With Colin behindpast rade in er raht off the charts

It closed in all around er a question of "if" I’d feed, but "when"

I needed to get out of there as fast as I could

Scra, I rushed out of my seat toward the front of class, toward the door, toward escape

"Ms Day?" Mr Saunders looked at ? There’s still fifteen minutes left in class"

"Cramps!" I announced shakily "Horrible, nasty rimaced and waved a hand, while soo"

I escaped to the bliss of the eer tor in on ether To think clearly again

"Samantha!" Colin called afterfor the best route to ainst the shiny linoleuet out of there completely I needed to finally accept that my life was not what it used to be while I tried to pretend that it was, even for a couple of fleeting hours here today

I’d been foolinghere inwith Bishop and the others

I was an outcast