All of the Above

This was it, the dreaded moment. You shift uncomfortably in your seat. You watch the faces of your classmates as they receive their test back with that awful equation. Even if you want to deny that your heart sank when you got yours back, you can't. Because you'd be lying. It didn't matter if you thought you aced it or knew you completely bombed it, there was still that bitter feeling in the pit of your stomach. You told all of your friends that you didn't care about your score because you didn't want to seem like a nerd, a geek. Deep down, though, you were sweating bullets as you looked at the face-down sheet of paper. One. Two. Two and half.. THREE! There, sitting out in the open was your test, the world able to see how many points you missed and the grade you earned. You look at the total point value for the entire test and silently thank God that it was a lot, something that can help your grade out a bit because, boy, are you terrible at this this subject. After accepting the outcome, you skim the front and back to see why you missed a couple points here and there. The next page is where that damn problem is, though. You remember exactly where it was. After all, how could you forget? You smile to yourself, both surprised and happy that you managed to earn some credit on this stupid problem, even if you didn't get it right entirely. Finally, you flip back to the page with your name and date, not bothering to check the rest of the test because nothing else mattered but that problem.

Jordan Staal did, in fact, solve me, even if it did take him nearly thirteen years to figure out and work up the courage to tell me.