When Extra Credit Goes Horribly Wrong

I am what is commonly referred to as an "over achiever". I go to the enth degree and then some. I really dislike when people do better than me. I realize these tend to be character flaws, but full disclosure is necessary for the telling of this story.

Period 8: Business Law: Prt 1
Teacher: Mr. Doran (young thirty-something new professor, trying to prove his worth as a new teacher in the school)
Class: Small around 20 or so students, most of whom I was friendly with.
Assignment: Write a short story using a situation where contractual law concepts and vocab words may apply. Finally, an extra credit assignment where I could combine both my passion for law and the fantasy fiction genre.

This was going to be great, I thought to myself, in fact it's probably going to be published. A shining example for all students to ponder as they begin their high school careers. I drafted up such an idea that I wouldn't dare tell any of my friends, I horded it selfishly and began writing furiously over the course of the next three days.

Oh the words were pouring out of me like water flowing down a rushing river. It was as if this was all meant to be. I read the work of genius back to myself, as a tear slowly rolled down my cheek. Jesus, it was hard to believe any one human being could be this good. My working of contractual law concepts fit so seamlessly into the plot line of my story I just couldn't wait to turn this paper in. I kept working on it until it was 12 glorious pages long. I woke up at 3:30 in the morning the day it was due in order to proof read and finish it.

There was drama , suspense in droves, and everything else a reader of literature could want. The next day I turned that paper in with a report cover on it, I was unabashed about my ass kissing. I even mocked my fellow students for the simplistic story lines they had come up with "Oh yes, your contractual story is about a car sale gone wrong! Oh, yeah! that's real original." I waited in sheer anticipation over the following days, I thought, as I went to sleep each night "I bet he reads this before bed, just so he can think to himself "There is a shining bright star who makes my entire teaching career worth pursuing." It was about a week or so later, and I was in my consumer economics class, being all consumer economicy. Working on a group project about budgeting, drawing on butcher's paper 


"Budgeting for Vacations", clearly not letting any of my team-mates do the work as I didn't trust them to do it as good as I would. . . . Mr. Doran strolled into the class room. He wore his khaki colored pleated pants, white crisp button up top, red tie, close cut brown hair, with a hint of 5 o'clock shadow (not that I was paying attention.) I silently chortled to myself as I thought "Oh gosh he's come to congratulate me on my fine literary skills, to ask me if I would read it aloud to the class and then, finally, almost in exasperation, for me to be his wife." Really, things were coming together quite nicely for me, and all as a Junior.

Mr. Doran: "Andrea can I talk to you for a second?"
Andrea: "YES, of course" ( I told my fellow compatriots that I would be back to finish the project in a minute, I had an urgent meeting with a fellow colleague, haha <(guffaw) I mean my teacher)
Mr. Doran: "So I read your paper."
Andrea: "Yes?" I could hardly contain myself.
Mr. Doran: "It was the weirdest thing I have ever read."
Andrea: (crestfallen) Silence.
Mr. Doran: "I mean, I don't' even get it."
Andrea: It was a satire about contractual law and Harry Potter with a tinge of Lord of the Rings, obviously.
Mr. Doran: "Well I've never read either of them." I mentally slapped him in the face.
Andrea: "oh."
Mr. Doran: "Yes and your friends was even weirder." Then he strolled out of the classroom, and out of my life, until about twenty minutes when I actually had to endure class with him.


Just so you understand what all happened there. He took a break from his free period, to disrupt a class, to pull me from that classroom, to tell me how weird I was.

 Finally it was 8th period, I ran up to my friend at the time I discussed this with her, I was like "Did he come into your class?" Oh! No time to discuss, class started.

 He hands the papers back to us by calling us each up in front of the class, as not everyone did the extra credit. "Monica" Monica goes up in front of the class, he does that whole "I'm going to pretend to whisper, but actually I'm just talking quite loudly in a breathy voice type thing."

 "Great job Monica, much better than some other people, I mean just weird, you wouldn't believe what I had to read..." I sat there for the rest of the class staring blankly out the window, as I wondered how it all went so horribly wrong.

 From that day on, Mr. Doran and I never could quite look one another in the eye. Moral: Fame is a fickle friend. Even if that fame is totally imagined.