This World That Divides Us

CHAPTER 33

I'm making my way over to the front of the building when I hear "Ms. Moore". I turn my body around to find Professor Withers peering out of her office right after I pass the room. "Can I have a word, please?"

She goes back into the room as I stand in the hallway worriedly, unsure what this could be about.

I slowly make my way into her office and she gestures to the chair across from her desk. "Have a seat."

I drop my backpack to the floor and follow her order as she also takes a seat.

She slides a piece of paper across her desk and then gestures to it, indicating that I should pick it up. "It's your exam from last week."

My eyes glance to the corner of the paper, where I notice 'C minus' circled in red. As much as I want to say that I'm surprised by the poor grade, I'm not. If I'm being honest, I wasn't prepared for this test at all. I was at Jack's house the night before and forgot to study.

"For a second, I thought I had graded the wrong exam," she says, looking at me as my eyes continue to scan the paper. "I don't know what happened, and while I'd love to offer you extra credit, if I do that, I have to extend the opportunity to the rest of your classmates, and I already did that a few weeks ago."

"I understand," I tell her, and she gets up from her desk, rounding the corner and leaning against it.

"You understand?" she repeats.

"Yes," I nod. "Don't get me wrong, Professor, I'm not happy about a C minus either, but I already submitted my application to Dartmouth."

"Just because you submitted your application, Ms. Moore, doesn't mean that Dartmouth won't be tracking your grades for the rest of the year." She scratches her neck as she watches me stay silent. "Is everything okay, Anastasia?"

"Yeah. This was just a careless mistake on my part. It happened once. It won't happen again."

She nods as she crosses her arms together. "I don't want to put any more pressure on you that I'm sure you're already putting on yourself, but exams in my class are 30 percent of your grade. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't want once to be a recurrence. Not with Dartmouth in the picture."

I slowly nod as her words hit me. I don't want this to be a recurrence, either. Dartmouth is and was always the goal. I can't forget that.

"Thank you, Professor," I say, and she hesitantly smirks at me.

I leave Professor Withers' office and make sure to fold up my graded exam before sliding it into my backpack.

I meet Molly outside, at the front of school, where she's sitting on the top step.

"I was starting to think you left me hanging. What took you so long?" she asks, coming up to a stand.

"Sorry. Withers wanted to talk to me about something."

"Everything okay?"

"Yup. Fine," I lie and she looks at me skeptically.

"Okay...Henry texted us in a group chat and asked if we wanted to stop by Ground Central. He's offering free brownies."

"You know I'm never one to say no to free brownies."

***

It's hard for me to sit at Ground Central with a smile on my face. All I can think about is my grade on Withers' exam. I'm mad at myself for acting so irresponsibly. I guess I figured I was set with Dartmouth once I submitted my application, but Professor Withers is right...just because I applied, doesn't mean that I'm in. And it's definitely not a good look if I fail to maintain my 4.0 GPA.