5 hours later...

At this point my day had improved. I had to decided to go home to Austin for the weekend for a breather, I returned my crutches to the health center, FINISHED reading Hunger Games (awesome) and also just for fun managed to get some Christmas ice cream on sale at the store for a little festivity. I couldn't shake my mind off of Math. I was just dreading how if I did so poorly on my math test, then how badly could I had done on my biology test? I was determined with all my heart to do better on this biology test because I knew how much I wanted a B in this class.

As I was cooking soup for dinner, I casually checked my email and saw the title, "Exam 3" from my biology teacher, and I thought, "Oh god, this is it. She's either emailing me about needing to come to her office about a bad grade, or congratulating me. " I have to say, I really love this teacher by the way. She helped me study for the test in her office, even just a few hours after I sprained my ankle earlier that afternoon. (Seriously, I'm telling ya, I was determined to make a good grade on this test. I even hobbled to her office hours with crutches and a brace after spraining my ankle!)

I braced myself for what the email would entail, when I read,

"Hey Jane,

Just wanted to let you know that you did GREAT on your exam. I'm not supposed to send grades over email but I just wanted to let you know to check Blackboard.

Good job!
~Claudia"

I breathed a sigh of relief, then thought, "Wait a minute. Could this mean like the teachery 'hey, you passed with a 75! good job!' kind of thing? Was she just cheering me on to soften the blow? I knew the only way to know for sure was to check blackboard myself.

Scanning through the numbers and assignments, I braced for it.

Exam 3...... 101.5

101.5?!?!?!?! There has to be some mistake!!! I literally just exhasperated all my breath in shock. ONE HUNDRED AND ONE POINT FIVE??? Honestly, just thinking about it now leaves me a bit speechless. This was exactly the boost I needed after my Math fiasco. Math will still be a big hurdle for me to conquer, but this just proved to me one thing.

I. AM. NOT. STUPID.

I am not a failure. I'm not just a flunk who can only scrape by in school. No.

I can do this. I can do this!

Quite honestly, times like these truly reinforce my desire to be a teacher. Some people might read this and think, "How can you possibly be a teacher, when you aren't even good in school yourself?" But struggling through school like this can really help me relate to students who are struggling themselves.

This also made me ponder about my feelings earlier in the day. Nobody's perfect. As much as I want to be academically, I'm not. And you know what? Maybe those other people aren't either! Maybe they have a class that they just can't seem to grasp a hold on too. It may seem like everyone else is doing so much better than you are, but everyone has their problems. If someone saw my Biology grade, and they did less well then they hoped, then they might have been jealous and angry at me, just like I was at the people cheering in math class. But they wouldn't know. They wouldn't know that I too have flaws. I struggle in classes that you may be experts in! Nobody's perfect, but that doesn't make you a failure. Everyone has something that they excel in and fall behind in. I am so immensley proud and happy of my accomplishment today, and that just honestly gives me more drive to now prove my math teacher wrong! I may not get a B in the class, (hell, I'm just praying I'll pass it!) but I want to show her that I can do this. If I can make a 101.5 in Biology, then I can certainly even make an 81.5 in Math.