Jessica Jung was sitting in the perfect position behind her small classroom desk and was listening very carefully to the History teacher explain the American Revolution. Her shoulders and back were straight while her two arms were stretched out over the wooden board that was in front of her. This was the proper way for a person to sit in class and Jessica was used to doing it ever since her first day at school. Her mother had made sure to teach her to sit properly, so the girl was stuck with this habit. Even if she wanted to, she just couldn’t sit in a different way in class because her mother’s words would just ring in her ear and make her shift in her seat to switch her position.

Jessica was trying hard to concentrate and pay attention so she could remember absolutely everything that the teacher was telling the class. It was essential for her to know this stuff because it would be included in the upcoming test. Plus, her mother would probably kill her if she didn’t know that the American Revolution began in the year 1765 and what kind of taxes were imposed afterwards.

“When the war finally ended in 1783, there was a period of prosperity,” the teacher, Mrs. Young, told the class full of bored teenagers and smiled while looking at Jessica, most probably her favourite student. “Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Now let’s proceed with returning your History reports.” After saying that, the teacher then moved to her desk and took out about thirty or forty papers from her bag.

“How important is this grade, Mrs. Young?” some guy asked from the back of the room. “Will I be able to pass if I get an F on this report?”

Everyone began laughing as soon as they heard him say that while Jessica stood silent and shook her head. How dumb do you have to be to get an F on such an easy report? You can just copy something off the Internet and it will be enough. Sometimes, she felt like she was in a class full of morons. That was true to some extent, because most of the people in the room were idiots and those that weren’t were very far from Jessica’s level. The girl missed competition at times, but at others, she liked being the smartest in class, even though, being 1st came with a huge deal of pressure. Everyone expected so much from her that it was very overwhelming at a lot of times.

“It’s 30% of your grade, people…” Mrs. Young said loudly and started walking around the room with the pile of papers, giving each student theirs. “Some of your reports were very disappointing, while others were excellent.” The woman said that last part while looking at Jessica, making the girl smile in satisfaction.

When she received her report, Jessica noticed the huge red “A+” plastered at the upper right corner of the front page and stared at it for a couple of seconds. She had worked very hard to make this paper perfect. The girl didn’t use the Internet and wrote the whole thing herself which was amazing. She definitely deserved a medal for that.

“Mrs. Young, what lessons await us in the next couple of weeks?” Jessica asked the teacher curiously, making the woman smile once again. She loved when her students were interested in the material they were studying.

“We’ll be moving on to Germany in the next lesson and after that France. If you want, I can send you the syllabus, Jessica?” Mrs. Young answered cheerfully and her smile widened even more.

“That would be great!” Jessica replied, making almost everyone in the class roll their eyes. Some people really disliked the girl because she was the typical teacher’s pet, but they tried not to make their feelings evident or else they’d get in trouble.

“I will do that tonight. Anyway, after you’ve all seen your grades, let’s get back to more important matters,” Mrs. Young said while leaning against her desk and crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Would anyone like to speak about the lesson from last week?”

At the mention of that, Jessica felt her whole body stiffen and her heartrate increase. They were talking about Russia during the 18th century but she didn’t really prepare that well because she was too busy with the project for the Economics Forum. This would end badly for her if the teacher and her classmates catch her unprepared. Jessica just prayed to God that the teacher doesn’t ask her to speak. Please, not me. Please…

She looked so nervous and practically felt sweat start dripping from her whole body. What she was trying to do was to not look her teacher in the eyes. That’s why she stared at the textbook in front of her, looking at all the sentences written on it but not even thinking about their meaning. She just blankly stared and wished her name wouldn’t be called by Mrs. Young.

Unfortunately though, Jessica was obviously out of luck that day and her fear became reality.

“Since nobody is willing to speak up, Jessica, would you please do us the honor?” the teacher asked her student nicely, her voice filled with joy because she always loved hearing the girl speak about the amazing subject the is History.

“Uhh, yeah… Sure. No problem,” Jessica replied nervously and took a look at the first sentence in the textbook. “So, in the first half of the 18th century, in Russia, Peter changed the rules of succession to the throne after the death of his son which opposed his father's reforms and served as a figure for the anti-reform groups.” The girl tried to look at the textbook again after saying this, but she was so nervous that she just couldn’t. “Then uhh, there was a new law...” Jessica really couldn’t remember anything about what this new law was and what it allowed, so she stood quiet and was thinking really hard. I read this, but why can’t I remember it?! Aghh, damn it… The girl was cursing herself in her mind for being way too involved in the project for the Economics Forum.

“I’m surprised, Jessica. What is going on? You’re usually always prepared for our lessons…” Mrs. Young said in front of the whole class, making Jessica feel like a complete failure.

“I apologize. I don’t know this lesson very well because I didn’t have enough time to study,” Jessica explained with a shaky voice. She felt like such a disappointment to her teacher at that moment that she wanted to die. It was killing her from the inside and she just couldn’t wait for the bell to ring so she could just leave.

“I understand. Well, we’re all human after all. We can’t be perfectly prepared for everything all the time,” Mrs. Young just told the girl, but Jessica could feel the disappointment in her voice. What made things worse was the fact that Jessica’s classmates started whispering between one another. She knew that they were discussing her and how this was the first time she wasn’t prepared for class. It made her feel so terrible that she wanted to leave even more. Come on, just 10 more minutes, you idiot. Keep it together for 10 more minutes… Jessica told herself in her mind and gripped the edges of her desk while her legs were nervously shaking under it.

These 10 minutes felt like forever for the girl but they eventually passed and she quickly ran out of the room without saying anything to anyone. Jessica then went inside the nearest bathroom and began spraying water all over her face while looking at herself in the mirror. She hated this, all the expectations everyone had of her. This need to be perfect all the time drove her crazy. It wasn’t enough that her parents expected it from her, but her teachers and classmates too. It was frustrating and the pressure was so huge that it overwhelmed the girl. Sometimes, she just wanted to run away so that all her problems would instantly disappear.

As Jessica was standing there and looking at her own reflection, she suddenly felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She took it out of there and glanced at the screen immediately afterwards. One new message was what was written on the screen.

Kim Taeyeon: Hey, where are you? I’m pretty bored. Want to meet up or something