“Tick tock! Tick tock!”

“RRRRRRIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGG!”

Everybody ran out of the class and into the playground. Screaming and shouting with relief. I still had my pen in my hand.

“The first test is over the first test is over,” I kept saying to myself.

It was the big test day.

Getting back into class was bad. We still had to do one more test. Every minute my heart was pounding. All I could hear was the clock. My head was dizzy, and I was seeing double. The page had so many words. The pens ink smelt really strong.

When the teacher finished marking the test, she gave it out. I looked at mine and I had failed. I couldn’t believe that I failed. What would my parents say? I threw my paper in the air and somebody catches it.

My heart is pounding and I’m sweating. I hear everybody talking. I smell my fear. There is no way I’m going to get it back no way. Johny now knows my result.

When lunch comes by, Johny is waiting by the door and teases me.

“You failed the test, you failed the test!” Johny shouts.

The next day he does it again, again and again.

Every day I feel the same way sad, lonely, tired and defeated. The smell that has been here forever, it smells like rat poo. I touch my lunch box and food. I see the ground. I taste a bit of my food. I hear people laughing.

When I get back to class, everyone teases me. The teacher tells me to go to the office. The principal writes a note to give to my parents. I get back home and give my parents the note. My parents ask me why I have to leave school. I had no idea that I had to leave school.

I tell them all about that I failed the test. They tell me that it is ok to fail because you learn from it. I go to my room and now I study a lot.

By Jayden Tran