by Rohan Garg ’18, Creative Fiction Editor

“Have a nice day at school today, Nathan,” my mom said just before I left for school that morning. I hopped onto the school bus that waited for me at the end of the driveway, and I sat down in the back of the bus. I had my last test of the year today, a vocabulary test in Biology. As I ran my fingers through my brown hair, I remembered what the headmaster had announced in assembly earlier that week. He said that the valedictorian of the eleventh grade class would be recognized at the Final Awards Assembly two days from today. Other than me, the only other student with all A’s was Steven Walker, a short, studious kid who participated in almost every extracurricular activity available to him. The valedictorian would be either Steven or me, and I knew that the biology test would determine which of us would receive the accolade at the Final Awards Assembly. However, I hadn’t studied for this test. I had gotten home at 9:30 the previous night from a track meet, and by the time I had finished my homework for all of the other classes the clock had struck midnight. Although Steven had recently been struggling in Biology, today the likelihood of me performing better than him on the test was not very high. I knew that I had to do better than Steven at any cost.
The bus came to a screeching halt and I got off. As I entered through the school’s tall double doors, I stopped and looked to my left. There on the wall was a long marble plaque bearing the names of all of Jefferson High School’s eleventh grade valedictorians since the year 1971. I ran my thumb over all of the engraved names until my thumb finally reached a smooth spot next to the year 2015, a blank spot that would be filled either by the name Steven Walker or Nathan Snyder. I would do anything to have my name engraved on the blank spot.
At 2:00 pm the bell rang, signaling the beginning of the biology test. I walked into the spacious biology classroom with a pencil, an eraser, and no knowledge of the vocabulary that would be on the test. Dr. Kevin , my biology teacher, was a tall and skinny old man who had been teaching science classes at Jefferson High School for nearly three decades. He handed me the test and wished me good luck. I quickly wrote down my name and the date, and began the test. I had no clue about any of the first ten questions. I tapped my fingers on the table and scratched my head, trying to jog my memory so that I could at least answer a few of the first questions, but nothing came to my mind. I glanced at Steven, and I saw him flying through his test. He was already on the second-to-last page and I hadn’t even answered a single question. I squeezed my pencil as hard as I could, but I couldn’t think properly. Time was ticking away. I had to do something about this. I couldn’t just sit idly in my chair for the entire forty-five minute period. I needed a break. I asked Dr. Kevin for permission to get a drink, and I left the room.
I walked down the narrow hallway with doors leading to other science classrooms on both sides. When I reached the water fountain at the end of the hallway, I bent down and let the cold water flow do wn my parched throat for ten whole seconds. I stood up, and I felt like I could think clearly again. I wiped my mouth with my sleeve and closed my eyes. What could I do? How could I get out of this mess? How can I do better than Steven on this test? Then the idea suddenly hit me. I could sneak downstairs, look at my biology no tes in my locker, and then come back to the test equipped with enough knowledge to score at least a 90%. I turned around and headed downstairs. I inspected the Lower Commons to see if there was a teacher wandering around. After seeing only a few students busy on their computers, I quietly tiptoed to my locker.

To Be Continued.