“Unlucky"
By Christina Adepoju
At exactly 8:25am, the school bell rang ,the sound of a
death bell sounded through the hallways as the students sluggishly made their
way to the auditorium to test for the next 3 ½ hours. Somewhere among the huge
crowds of sophomores, Carlie and Shane managed to somehow find their way
through the clump, making their way to the front of the massive group.
“Oh
my gosh, how long is this going to take? Carlie exclaimed. “If people would
just MOVE their feet instead of walking like penguins, then all of us would be
able to get inside and take the stupid AP exam. Gosh, I can’t even breathe with
all these people rubbing their skin against me.”
The shoving, the pushing and
the clamoring were really irritating to Carlie and she found it annoying, but
Shane found it amusing to poke fun at her claustrophobia.
“Wow,
Carlie! It’s not even that bad,” he said. “Stop overacting over the slightest
things, it’s not that big of a deal.”
Carlie rolled her eyes and pretended to
ignore him for the time-being. The administrators finally came around and
opened the double doors, kind of like how a zoo-keeper opens a cage to capture
the animals. As they walked in through the doors, the school administrators and
proctors handed each of the students a chiseled, wooden # 2 pencil, a scantron,
and the AP test booklet. The fear in
each and every one of those students began to arise as they received their
materials, and made their way to their assigned desk, prepared to take the exam
of their life. The administrators thought it would be encouraging if they
posted posters with quotes like “ACE THAT EXAM” or “YOU can do it” as a way to
“boost the students confidence in the exam.” It was nice of them, but it didn’t
calm their nerves down. It was funny to
see how easily people got lost trying to look for the seat, because they went
by alphabetical order. They were running like chickens without their heads. Carlie was able to find her seat within no
time, while Shane was walking around with a bunch of other students like little
lost children, trying to find their way. Everything was awful in the
auditorium; they gave the students broken chairs to sit on, where the back of
it was broken into pieces, piercing through the student’s back as they sat
back. Carlie was playing around, fiddling with her pencil and playing on the
table while waiting for the administrators to give the instructions, when she
felt something stick and gooey under her fingertips.
When she removed her fingers
from under the table, she saw a huge, moldy, sticky wad of watermelon-scented
gum. The contents of the gum were now stuck under her fingernails, and she
could see the teeth indents in the gum from the person who chewed it, and left
it so graciously under the table, as she tried to peel it off with the top of
her eraser.
Shane was able to locate his seat after wandering for
about two minutes. His seat was directly across from Carlie, and started scribbling
little notes on the desk as he waited.
Carlie laughed. “Hah,
luck is for unbelievers, my darling. I don’t need luck, I got everything I need
up here,” she said as she pointed towards her brain underneath her curly, brown
mane.
One of the administrators grabbed the microphone off the desk, tapping it
before speaking into it and said, “Okay, students. This is the day you’ve been
anticipating for! It’s time for the AP EXAM!!” Her words echoed through the
auditorium as the students idle chatter quickly turned into a deafening
silence.
“Now, I know that all of you have worked “very” hard this
school year, and I just want to let you know that I’m proud of each and every
one of you, but remember to always, always do your best, no matter what,” she
said gracefully.
For the next ten minutes she began to read the
instructions printed on the exam booklet. Out of all the administrators doing
the proctoring, they picked the one who reads the slowest to read the
instructions to the students. She would spit while talking, sending spitballs
through the microphone and take really, deep breaths as she pronounced the words.
It was complete torture and many of them wished to take the exam right then and
there. Once she was done reading, she had to grab a small
ladder to set the time on the alarm clock because of her short stature.
“You have approximately 3 ½ hours to do this exam. Good
luck,” she said.
These people don’t
realize that luck is only for unbelievers, thought Carlie. But I’m for one, am
a believer and I know that in my heart I’m ready for this exam.
The clock began to tick, seconds slowly turned into
minutes, and minutes turned to hours. One could dread what they were feeling in
that testing room. The room felt icy and cold; their souls were nothing but
clouds of mist because they were all mortified by what had taken place during
the exam. You could hear the tiniest drop of sweat fall to the floor, boom like
a canon piercing through the skies on the battlefield. Feet tapping, scribbling
on paper, hesitation, rocking back and forth in the chair, all the signs of
nervousness began to show on each and every one of their faces. Carlie had
trouble getting past the first five questions, and looking at the clock wasn’t
helping. It was only 30 minutes ago that they started. She looked around the
room and began to scour to see her classmates. She looked at Shane, and saw how
confident he looked; moving his pencil from left to right, quickly bubbling in
the answers, his eyes glued to the booklet show that he was focused and
determined, whereas Carlie had wandering eyes looking for a source of
inspiration.
Maybe
if I just rest a little, I’ll stop stressing myself out and finish the exam,
Carlie thought. All the late-night cramming and last
minute study session had now begun to take a toll on Carlie, her eyes red and
puffy, bags drooping underneath her eyes, and her constant yawning. She pushed
back her materials and slowly put her head on the table, trying to make
herself comfortable because the table felt like a bed of rocks. Her heavy
eyelids soon followed after and knocked her into a tranquil, deep sleep. The
next thing she knew, someone was shrugging at her shoulders.
“Miss Bacon, please
wake up,” one of the administrators said.
She stretched out her
arms in front of her and let out a big yawn.
“Okay, I think I’m
ready for this exam!” she exclaimed. She noticed that her scantron, her scratch
sheet of paper, and her pencils had been removed from her desk. Carlie was
perplexed.
“Umm, where are my
materials? I’m ready to finish the test,” she said
“The test is over,”
exclaimed the administrator. “You slept through the entire exam.”
“How’s that possible? I
only put my head down for 10 minutes.”
The administrator motioned her hand
towards the large timer clock that had laughed in the students faces.
Carlie's face became as pale as a ghost; the time said 12:30 when she laid her head
down, and now the time was now 3:45. In a state of shock and confusion, Carlie
finally snapped back to realization and couldn’t help but blame herself.
“Please, please! May I
please take it today or tomorrow? I can come in early tomorrow morning, like
6:00am! I didn’t get a chance to finish it!” she said.
The administrator shook
her head. “Today was the only day to do it or make it up. Sorry. Next time,
don’t fall asleep, especially during a major exam like the Advance Placement.”
Carlie then fell back
on the table, banging her head over and over until it didn’t hurt anymore.
The empty seats and the
buzzer began to haunt her as she walked down the hallway to the double-doors.
As she approached them, she pushed it with so much force, that they flung wide open
and hit the side of the wall, causing a few brick blocks to chip and fall off.
“That exam was easy, I
mean it wasn’t hard as I thought it was going to be, but it wasn’t super easy,
it was right in the middle. I’m glad it’s over with! How do you think you did,”
asked Shane noticing Carlie's lack of disappointment.
“I’d rather not talk
about it,” Carlie replied.
“Ok…you want to get
some ice cream? My treat,” said Shane.
“Sure, that sounds
great.”
Carlie couldn’t help
but feel of sense of disappointment, but also humiliation. She was probably the
only sophomore who fell asleep during the exam. What was worse is that she
probably failed it since she only answered five questions and didn’t even get a
chance to write the essays. But how could Shane, who knew nothing, feel so
confident about a terrifying exam he didn’t even prepare for? Maybe luck is for believers.
(c) 2013 | Christina Adepoju
(c) 2013 | Christina Adepoju
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