Self Improvement, chapter 17

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For the past couple of weeks, Rachael spent her time doing mostly three things. Working out. Hanging out with Rebecca, and chatting with Fred over messages. School being the last thing on her mind during the period. Lectures had been skipped, books ignored. Even the non-obligatory stuff which she usually loved to attend, such as work seminars, didn't seem appealing to her. She however rested assured, knowing the curriculum was well under control thanks to the groundwork she had done initially. But without any tests over the course of her semester, it was difficult to know exactly where she stood. Still, with how far ahead she'd been there wasn't a doubt in her mind that she could sail through the remainder of this, and probably next semester without much of a problem.

All of that security she felt surrounding her current academic situation fell crumbling down when the results of a popquiz were handed out. Professor Christiansen almost never gave popquizzes mid term. Hell, none of the professors did. The contents of the test themselves were however noting out of the ordinary, all being closely related to the curriculum that had been covered in the lectures and books. Rachael could remember having read pretty much all there was to read about the topics on the sheet. Normally, such tests would be taken digitally. But Christiansen had for some reason decided to do the quiz by paper, which meant that grading and feedback would also be analog. The shit eating grin he had on his face when Rachael saw the big, fat C on her paper showed exactly what he thought of her. A vapid little girl who was in over her head, and only recently began to show her true colors. He'd seen how her sense of fashion had shifted from the drab sweatpants and t-shirts to something a little more eye catching and daring. He'd made a mental note every time she'd either failed to meet up on time for his lectures, or if she even bothered to show at all.

"Tardiness and laziness won't get you very far in this institution, Miss Simmons.."

Beyond the initial shock value of getting her lowest ever grade, Rachael couldn't help but feel that the whole point of the popquiz had been to ridicule her in some way. But even then, she couldn't believe how she'd gotten some of her answers so wrong. There was quite a bit of things missing from her explanations. Concepts that had been completely left out where they were central. Even the way she'd worded and structured her paper got a fair bit of critique. Feedback like: This looks as though it was written by a high schooler. Punctuation could be better. Paragraph way too long.

"Then again.. Your results surprise no one. With how much absent you've been this semester, I'm surprised you passed at all. You clearly have things you find much more interesting that your studies.."

Christiansen's words were spoken softly. Just low enough for the exchange to remain private. Had he said it loud enough, he would most likely have faced a lot of backlash from the other students. Along the sarcastic remark, he also motioned towards Rachael's getup, emphasizing how she had more "interesting" things on her mind than studies. Too shocked at the revelation of her grade, Rachael simply sat there, flabbergasted.

Returning to her seat, paper in hand, she avoided meeting Rebecca's eyes, too ashamed at her own performance.

"I take it the test didn't go too well for you either?"

Not in the mood to give a verbal answer, Rachael just nodded gently, before resting her heads in her arms of the desk. Locking out the world, only to wallow in self pity.

"Yeah. I barely scraped by with an E, lol. Apparently it was super difficult.."

Usually, that type of comforting wouldn't help much. Rachael was used to holding herself to a much higher standard than everybody around her. Just because they failed, didn't mean it was okay for her to do the same. Yet, Rebecca's words put her friend's mind somewhat at ease.

Huh. I guess it was pretty difficult. No shame in not getting everything right! I should still review my mistakes and prepare for the actual exams though..

The first thing she'd do when getting back home would be to review her own paper, comparing it's content to the feedback of her professor.