A Short Story by Darcy Tyrrell and Hope Lerit
Edited by Darcy Tyrrell
The exam had just been handed out and sweat had begun to bead down the nape my neck. I have to do good on this exam in order to pass. My shaky hand picked up the mechanical pencil and brought it to the top of the page. I began to scrawl out the letter 's' -snap. The breaking of the lead made me jump.
The first question was easy. It made me worried. I was working my way through the second question when the sound of scratching of pencils turned into the flipping of pages. I froze. There were still five more questions on the page. My teeth chattered as I filled in 'c'.
The ticking of the clock and the sound of my heartbeat got louder as I finished the last question on the first page. I scanned through the short answers and filled them into the best of my ability- which was not great. I counted the remaining questions, I was half done.
I quickly glanced over at the window. My classmate who sat by the window silently closed his exam booklet. I let out a sob. It cut through the silence loud as nails on a chalkboard. Eyes zeroed in on my back or side.
My left hand grasped the periodic table to my left, my only comfort. The closing of more books overwhelmed me. My lips quivered and my hands began to write faster.
I had finally reached the last page of the booklet. "Explain the Cell Cycle from interphase to cytokinesis. Explain each process in between..."
"5 minutes left everyone," Mr. Cornell said softly breaking the silence.
At this point, I wasn't sure if I was writing English anymore. For all I knew, I'd slipped back into German. I had reached the intended middle of the question.
"Pencils down everyone! I will go around and collect all of the exams now. I'm so happy to have been able to teach all of you this semester. I hope all of you plan to take biology next year." His smile reminded me of a child begging for praise even though he had just broken an heirloom. Almost as though he knows this exam is too hard for grade 11 biology.
Not a chance Mr. Cornell. Not a chance.
*This was originally a single paged mood project done in my Grade 10 English class. It was a partner project but I took it and edited it.*
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One-Shots
RandomOne thing I've learned about writing is that I can't stick with it, I eventually lose interest or inspiration. So here are some one-shots that have gone through my brain.
