The Disastrous Test

The Disastrous Test

                I bent over the desk, my eyes squinting at the words on the page in front of me. “The life cycle of a mosquito starts from an egg, to a pupa … then a …” I muttered, rubbing my bleary eyes. “I know I studied this last night…”

                In frustration, I threw down my pen and let out a puff of irritation. A quick survey around showed that the rest of the class were busy scribbling down the answers to the Science test. Each and every one of their eyes was absorbed in their test papers. It was soon apparent to me that I was the only one facing difficulty with it.

                “I did study last night. I studied a full hour after all!” I thought to myself. “The answers must be somewhere in my brain!” Just then, a prodigious yawn escaped from my mouth. My eyelids drooped. “Perhaps a quick nap will refresh my memory… just a quick five minutes is all I need,” I assured myself and laid my head on the desk.

                A loud clarion voice shook me out of my sweet dreams. “You have five more minutes left!” I shot awake instantaneously. I could not believe my ears. It could not be true! I only meant to rest for five minutes. How could time have simply flown by? How could I have slept the entire period away? Frantically, I grabbed the earlier discarded pen and tried to salvage whatever I could of the Science test. To my consternation, the answers still eluded me. The urgency of the present situation did nothing to calm my frenzied mind. My usually trusty last-minute studying had totally deserted me this time.

                With my entire being encompassed with dread, I approached the teacher’s table to hand in my test paper. I knew I was done for. There was no way I was going to escape the eagle-sharp eyes of my form teacher with my almost blank script. Mustering the last of my courage, I stepped forward. I knew I had to face the music. I vowed to myself that I would never study at the eleventh hour in future!