Part 3: Back on track

8th grade exams came along, and to be honest I tried. Everybody else might think I had only idled but I guess that was just a cover up so that most people didn't have high expectations of me. To be quite honest, I never like when people had high expectations of me at all. It made me feel uncomfortable and uneasy. I felt like my whole world would crumble if I had failed.

I can remember how sure I was that I passed Mathematics and Sciences. Those were the two subjects I really had the highest and most certain hopes for. At first I thought, it was solely my studying that lead me to have high hopes of those two subjects but I was wrong. Yes, studying was a major part but that wasn't all.

The decrepit shop that was attached to my house was responsible for my mathemical acumen; something that wasn't relevant then but completely essential now. It was for that small shop that I, at the ages ranging from 5 to 12, had to serve those annoying customers that came along; but I could not complain for it was for them that I had lunch money.

My friends and I said our goodbyes and farewells as we went off for the holiday. School work aside, it was time for me to relax and relax I did. Woke up late everyday and watched the days roll by. Sooner than I thought summer was over, and I didn't do anything productive even though I had planned to. Such a waste. Such a disappointment.

Back to school and as I reached in the morning I was so anxious to find out which class I was in. That year the names were announced in a general meeting. There were a few close first/christian names to mine; every time I heard a close name my heart would skip a beat, especially since they didn't reach the top class' list as yet.

There were two more classes left to put students in. The top class students were being mentioned first and my ears were crystal clear. All the unnecessary cacophony in the room didn't disrupt me hearing the names being mentioned. The names escaped the teachers mouth too slowly and I was becoming impatient but still willing to wait. Half way down the list there my name was. A small smirk on my face evinced my massive excitement. I lined up behind the rest of my fellow classmates as I thought to myself, I was back on track.