Shannon

I remember my first exams. They were pretty nerve racking but I was pretty sure I was well prepared. My first grade 9 math test was actually way more stressful! But I blame my math teacher for that. The week before he would go on and on about how students always underestimated the seriousness of their first high school math test and how it was so much harder than they thought and how they'd often fail if they didn't study hard enough!

Way to make me stress for nothing!


Exams had finally come. Shannon walked nervously to school that day. She was alone. Eddie and Amanda didn't have exams today. Aberdine only had the math exam that she and Shannon would be going to. Shannon, however, had math in the morning and science in the afternoon.

"I'll have no time to brush up on my science before the exam!" She lamented to Eddie before she left. The science exam was only 1 hour after her Math Exam finished. She'd barely have time to get to the science room for her exam.

When she got to school Aberdine was waiting in the line up outside the math class.

"Ready for our first ever math exam?" Aberdine grinned.

"No." Shannon admitted. "I'm not ready for ANY exams, actually! What if I studied the wrong material? What if I didn't pay attention during the most important part of the class? What if I fail horribly and have to go to summer school?"

"Woah, now you have me nervous." came a voice from behind.

Shannon turned to find Jeremy standing there. Shannon turned red instantly. Here she was, inches away from the boy of her dreams and she couldn't think of what to say to him.

"Hey, relax!" Jeremy said patting Shannon on the shoulder. "I'm sure it'll be fine. Besides, if enough of us fail, they have to pass the lot of us!" Jeremy smiled.

"You're talking about the bell curve." Aberdine interjected.

"Yeah, my older brother taught me about that." Jeremy grinned his handsome grin. Shannon still was too flustered to talk. "Is she gonna be ok?" Jeremy asked Aberdine gesturing to still as a statue Shannon.

"She'll be fine. She just needs to remember to breathe." Aberdine violently jabbed Shannon in the side. Shannon gasped for air. She turned to glare at Aberdine.

Mr. Newport, their math teacher, came out of the classroom. "Ok everyone, you can take a seat. No talking!" He ushered them into class where all the desks were now separated into rows. Shannon took the first free desk she could find.

Aberdine sat in the back corner by the window. Jeremy took a seat next to Shannon.

Mr. Newport began handing out stacks of paper barely stapled together. "Leave it face down until I tell you." he commanded as he set down the papers on each students desk. "You're allowed a calculator and one piece of scrap paper for doing your work on." He droned on but Shannon was too lost in panic.

Despite everyones reassurance she couldn't shake the feeling that she was going to bomb the test. She reached into her bag and pulled out her pencil, eraser, and calculator. She could feel her face turning even redder. She didn't think she could take failing a class. She'd never failed a class in her life. What would Meredith and Fredrick say? She could feel tears welling in her eyes as the scenario played out in her head.

"Psst! Hey!" Jeremy whispered at her.

Shannon snapped out of it and looked at Jeremy.

"You'll do fine! Good luck!" Jeremy gave her a thumbs up and smiled.

Shannon smiled back. For the first time she forgot about how nervous she was about her the exam. All she thought about was the spot on her shoulder where Jeremy had touched her.