Jaisal Bhaskar - 8IG-A - 2018-19

Arnold had just finished his exams that day. As he walked through the alley, he thought that he had done quite well. He knew the paper wouldn't hold a gleaming A+ or even an A, but he  pictured a B or an occasional C somewhere.

"I'm just stressing myself out" Arnold assured himself as he exhaled a waft of air. He say his house up ahead and ran to it. When he reached his house, he burst through the door. He and his mother went through the daily routine.

"How's school ?" she asked him half-heartedly, reading the newspaper

"Fine" Arnold said going to his room and looked at the mirror. He was tall with shaggy, black hair that reached the top of his eyes in some places. Arnold did not really into what he looked like. That was one of the reasons that he usually wore solid colored t-shirts and either jeans or shorts. His room was pretty unadorned, with the only interesting object was Arnolds computer that he had made himself. Soon Arnold had dinner, had a shower and played video games until a point when he got tired and went to sleep, like any other day. 

The next day he got his papers and when he got his paper, he nearly shrieked. On the way back, he say the reflection of all the D's and E's on the puddle of water. His hands were damp as he approached his house. He could feel his ears throbbing from all the lectures he was about to get from his parents. Time seemed to slow down as he got close to his house. When he got to the front door his hands were soaking wet and it seemed hard to open the front door.

"Hi dear, how was school?" his mother asked him.

"Fine. Nothing to report" he replied trying to keep a straight face.

"I heard from Brian's mother that you're class  got their exam scores today, so let's see it" his mother said with stern expression. Arnold's heart was racing.

"I never got it "Arnold replied trying to hide the worry from his mother.

"Is that so? Apparently everyone got the paper, including you. Brian said so" His mother replied to his answer. His mother was like a detective when it comes to school work. It doesn't help Arnolds case that she has read almost all the books in the Sherlock Holmes series. Arnold had no choice but to open his bag and surrender the report of his marks.

The look  on his mothers face told it all. Arnold predicted maybe a 5 week grounding, maybe a 4 and a half weeks if she was feeling merciful, But it was a lot worse.

"Judging by your marks" his mother said, still shaken, "I think the only adequate punishment is that you are grounded from your computer and the TV until you get an A or more in all of your subjects!". Arnold nearly fell back from shock. He didn't dare argue back as he might lift the punishment to getting all A+'s in his exams. If that were the case, he might be grounded till he reached collage. Luckily for Arnold, the next exams were right around the corner because of the school's calendar.

The first thing Arnold did was go to his room and start studying for the upcoming exams. He brought out all of his books and textbooks and started to make a timetable.

"Let me do math first as it's the most complicated, then English, followed by science, History and Geography. As he reached out for the math books, he could not find the math textbook.

"Oh no!" Arnold cried out as he scrambled to find the book.

"Where is it!" he said desperately. Once he had come to the fact that he had lost the book, he thought of things to do. He knew if he told his mother or father they would trough a fit. It didn't help that he was terrible at math. Out of all his grades math was by far the worst out of all of them. Then he thought of saving up and buying the book for himself. He called his brainy friend Matt, to see how much it is or if he could borrow it.

"Hey Matt, I just wanted to know how much the math book was. hmm. 20 dollars! That leaves me no option, but can I please borrow your math book. Thanks so much!". Arnold ran out of his house and ran to Matt's house to get the book. When he got to Matt's house and rang the doorbell.

"Hey Arnold, here's the book, but be sure to give it to me back in around 5 days" Matt instructed Arnold handing him the math book

"Thanks so much!" Arnold told him as he ran back to his house.

As soon as he got back to his house, he started studying. He finished an hour of work and had dinner. Then he went to sleep.

For the next 4 days Arnold focused only on math and then switched to the other subjects. He returned the math book and thanked Matt greatly. English was tough, but there was not much, the sciences was all about remembering all the facts and finally he had reached history and geography. Arnold could manage history, he even kind of liked it, but geography was another story. He was not bad at it, but he thought the teacher was probably the worst teacher to roam the planet. She was mean, strict and everyone hated her. While studying geography he felt like the teacher would give a zero anyway because he was her least favorite student, but he studied anyway.

Finally the day had come to do the exam everyone was huddled into groups testing each other and telling each other answers. Soon the teacher came in to the classroom and took all the students to the 'exam hall'. It was just a name of the multipurpose hall with desks and chairs. The multipurpose hall or 'Exam hall' was used for guest lectures, writing tests, the dance room and the room for tryouts. It was one of the only places on the school ground that was renovated. It had white walls, stone floor tiles and was overall very quite.

"You ready?" Matt asks him

"Yeah" Arnold replied "You?"

"Yeah" Matt said "Good luck". The exam started at 9:30 and ended at 11:00. Soon the clock ticked 9:30 and the examiner  said start.

Arnold finished the exam and headed home.

The next few exams went the same way and Arnold felt confident about his marks and was willing to admit it openly.

The day that they got their marks had come. That day his head felt numb, his hands felt sweaty and he was seriously tired from all the studying he had done.

"Brian" The teacher called out giving him the paper. Brian's expression showed that he had not done well. Arnold could see there was a C for sure. The teacher continued to call out the names of all the students, all with same expression as the other. Finally, what felt like an eternity to Arnold, The teacher called,

"Arnold!" . He got up and went to the teacher and received the paper.

"Well done Arnold! I'm proud of you!" she remarked. Arnold could not believe his eyes. There was mostly A's and an A+ somewhere. When Arnold looked down and saw geography, he felt like crying. It was a B+. He had just missed an A and he thought that the teacher was bluffing, but at the end of the day she still did not come to say it was an A. As Arnold walked back home with a Morose expression, the teacher comes out behind.

"Arnold!" she called out. As Arnold looked back the teacher had caught up to him.

"There was a mistake while correcting. In geography you scored an A by one mark!" she told him, correcting the paper

"Sorry for the inconvenience Arnold" she said going away. Arnold still could not believe it. He had scored all A's in the report card! He sprinted all the way back to his house, and burst through the door.

"Mom!" Arnold called out

"yes" she said coming out of the kitchen.

"See this! I got all A's!" He told her slamming the paper down in front of her. The expression she had was first disbelief, then she was surprised and finally  joy.

"Wow! Good job! Well I have to keep to my word so you are no longer grounded!" she said patting Arnold on the back. Arnold soon was on his computer again catching up to all the games that he had been parted from.