Aldin and The Power Keys

Aldin and the High School Graduation

A teacher was standing in front of her class with a stack of papers in front of her. The students were sitting in their seats, some on their phones, some were asleep, some were listening to music, and one was waiting anxiously.

"Alright class. These are your grades for your final exam. I'm very proud of all of you for the hard work you've done. Now, come to the front and recieve your papers when I call your name. Let's see.." She fiddled around the papers and sorted them, she put one paper on the bottom of the stack, then she began calling names. "Maya."

Maya walked up to the front and received her paper. The teacher was smiling at Maya when she walked up to the front. Maya was the smartest person in class. She was always called first and usually favored by her teacher. She was a hard worker, but she wasn't too determined and often got frustrated when things didn't immediately go accordingly.

"Jamal." She called.

Jamal, who was tapping his foot to his music, walked up to the front with small headphones in his ears tied to a chord that wrapped around the back of his neck. He took the paper without looking at it and sat down and resumed tapping his foot to his music. Jamal was a cool kid, he usually didn't try hard in class. He wasn't incompetent, but rather very laid back. He always found a way to pass a class.

"Aldin." She called.

Aldin sat in the back of the class. He gathered his confidence and stood upright and walked to the front of the class. He grabbed his paper, to which he didnt look at, nor reveal to anyone else. He held his paper close to his chest and walked to the back of the class. When he reached his seat again, he folded his paper and put his head down. Aldin was a troubled student. He wasn't the quickest to learn, and the pressure of being in a school and having attention around him made him anxious.

After the teacher was done calling the students she dismissed the classroom. The students were whooping, cheering, groaning, and laughing all at each others grades. The noise in the class slowly came to a breeching silence as they all left and closed the door behind them, no one remained in the class, except Aldin and his teacher. The teacher walked over to Aldin's seat and sat beside him.

"Hey Aldin, how are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm okay. Mostly."

"Thats good. Did you look at your grade?"

"No."

"Don't you want to?"

"...not really."

"Well, I'm gonna need you to, because its something we need to talk about."

Aldin groaned as he unfolded the paper on his desk and placed it face up to the both of them.

"A 61/100?"

"That's right. That's your last grade."

"So...I passed it? I'm good?"

"Well...yes you passed it. But you're grade in my class was a 57%. You needed at least a 68/100 to bring you to a D."

Aldin burrowed his hands in his pockets and leaned over on his desk. "...oh."

"I wanted to wait until the class was gone, I know how much it bothers you to be put on the spot."

"I appreciate that."

"Now listen, I'll give you a list of people for you to speak to about retaking the class, but for now you'll have to wait before you graduate."

Aldin sighed and put his head down in his chair. The teacher tilted her head over towards him. "I'm sorry Aldin."

"Its...." Aldin stood with the paper with the list of names she had given him. He walked towards the door and stopped before leaving. "Thanks for being so nice. And thanks for tolerating me. Although, this probably won't be the last time I see you."