Payne in My Ass.

I slid into my desk just before the bell for sixth period rang. I pushed my bag onto the floor and waited for Mr. Peterson to start the class. I grabbed my folder for the class and a pen before waiting patiently. Our middle aged teacher ran a hand through his short brown hair before grabbing a hold of our essays that we handed in last week. My stomach did a flip.

“Well class. It’s about time I hand back your essays.” he chuckled at the groans that half the class let out. “I am pleased to say that someone actually got an A this time.” his eyes scanned over to me, and then over to Liam. The top two students. I gripped tightly onto my pen as he continued to speak about the importance of this essay, reminding those of us who hadn’t handed it in already that it was half our final grade.

I sat silently in my seat as I waited for Mr. Peterson to pass our essays back. I had spent three weeks working on mine. I loved the book, loved the plot, the characters and I needed to get an A on this to get the best score in the class.

And beat Liam at something.

It just had to be me who got that A. Everything was riding on it. Liam couldn’t beat me in my favorite class. Well favorite besides choir, but he had already beaten me in that one.

Mr. Peterson placed my essay down on my desk upside down. I quickly grabbed the papers and flipped it over. A large B- was printed on the top and my heart just about stopped. All the time and effort I put into this damn thing and I only got a B-?! I quickly started to flip through the pages to see what he had to say about my work frowning as I read his notes which read “I don’t believe you understand the character well enough” or “This is not what the author was trying to portray.” It was supposed to be my viewpoint on the damn thing! Not his!

I was seething when I looked up from my hard work to see Mr. Peterson standing next to Liam’s desk with a smile. “And here we have our A paper!” he exclaimed with a smile, placing Liam’s essay in his awaiting hands.

Liam’s face lit up, “Wow, thanks Mr. Peterson.” he said, flipping open his essay and looking through it. I almost broke my pen as I glared at him.

“No, Liam, thank you. You understood the book and went beyond the limit with this essay. I am very proud of your work.” he said, patting him on the shoulder. When he was finally done praising him, Liam looked back at me with a slight smile.

I glared, wishing I could turn the stupid boy into a bug and squish him. Or light him on fire with heat vision. Or just get up and leave the class. But I couldn’t do any of those. All I could do was look away and let Liam beat me again.