I headed to work and was busy filling out the attendance sheet when the Team Leader called me over.
“Do-hee, come here.”
What’s up? I don’t think I did anything wrong.
“Do-hee, do you have the midterm exam tomorrow?”
“Ah, yep.”
“Even though it’s the night before the exam, go home and study.”
Our company was so invested in the trainees’ school grades that they would have trainees who didn’t meet their academic guide lines stop practicing and focus on studying.
“Hey, when have I ever skipped practice because of an exam?”
“I know. You can handle it. Still, this is your first exam since starting middle school.”
“I’ve been paying attention in class, so you don’t need to worry.”
“Really? Then I can expect you to be first in the whole school again, right?”
The company seems more interested in my grades than my mom.
“I’ll do my best!”
“Okay. Do-hee, I’m sure you’ll be fine. But if you need time, just let me know anytime.”
“Yep~”
.
.
.
The next morning,
When I entered the classroom, the desks had been rearranged for the exam.
It seems the cleaning crew moved the desks yesterday.
‘Where’s my desk?’
I looked around to find my seat and spotted So-hee’s head.
So-hee is number 25 and I’m number 26, so So-hee’s desk is mine.
I walked over to So-hee and dropped my bag at my desk, then I pulled her cheek while she was working on her problem set.
“Why are you studying only now? Didn’t I tell you to study ahead of time?”
So-hee smacked my arm like it hurt and said, “I did! I’m just reviewing now…”
“Oh, really?”
Of course, I thought she wouldn’t have done it.
Freed from my grasp, So-hee looked at me with a teary face.
“Ugh…”
“Hehe, sorry.”
I should probably review too.
Sitting down, I quickly skimmed through the textbook when, before long, the homeroom teacher entered the classroom.
“Hey everyone, have you all studied a lot?”
“””No~”””
The teacher sighed and said, “That’s a boast. It’s a boast.”
“First of all, today is exam day, so you know you need to submit your phones, right? Hurry and hand them in.”
“””Yes~”””
“And as I mentioned yesterday, from number 16 to 31, you will be taking the exam in Class 1 of Year 2, so when the bell rings, number 16 to 31, go up.”
Starting from middle school, exams would mix grades to prevent cheating, so I had to go upstairs too.
The bell rang.
I packed my bag and headed to Year 2 Class 1 with So-hee.
Once I reached the classroom, I sat down and began reviewing again.
Five minutes later, a preliminary bell rang, and the teacher supervising entered.
“Alright, everyone put away what you were doing and only have writing tools on your desk.”
“Just make sure there’s only writing equipment on the desk.”
As all the students got ready for the exam, the teacher distributed the OMR sheets and exam papers.
“Hey, pass it back to the person behind you.”
The start bell rang, and the first period exam was Korean.
I began solving the problems.
After finishing all the questions and reviewing, I found that I still had 30 minutes left.
Since I’ve been tired lately, I might as well take a nap.
I leaned over the desk and closed my eyes.
Just as my mind was fading, someone lightly tapped my head.
Ah.
Right before I was about to fall asleep…
Reluctantly, I lifted my head.
Standing in front of me was the exam proctor.
The teacher spoke to me in a small voice.
“Student, please get up.”
I pointed to my completed exam and OMR card and said softly.
“I’m done with everything…”
The teacher cleared her throat unnecessarily and said.
“Um, still, please review it again.”
I already reviewed it all.
I’ll just pretend to review and go back to sleep.
…
…
I opened my eyes at the sound of the end bell.
“Alright everyone, raise your hands over your heads, and the person at the back, please take the OMR cards from those in front.”
Wow, just sleeping for 20 minutes made me feel a little less tired.
The next exam was history.
Just in case there are some tricky year-related questions, I should check the timeline.
As I pulled out my history textbook from my bag to view the timeline, So-hee held out her exam paper to me and said.
“Do-hee, what’s the answer for question 14?”
“That’s 4. The rest are metaphors, but only number 4 is personification.”
“Oh… I got it wrong. Hmph…”
“Did you do well on the other ones?”
“Probably…? ”
“I need to check.”
I took So-hee’s exam paper and compared the answers with mine.
What the?
They’re almost identical.
“Only two questions are different in the multiple choice, and you did well on the descriptive ones.”
“Really?”
“Yep.”
I thought So-hee would be a total airhead.
“Hehe, I’m gonna get praised by Mom.”
…
…
After finishing the first day of exams and returning to class, I was waiting for the score sheet to be posted.
A little while later, the class representative entered the classroom, holding the score sheet from the teacher’s office, and shouted.
“Hey guys, I’m gonna call out the scores starting with Korean!”
“Yay~”
“Okay, first number one… This time three… Number three…”
…
…
“Number twenty is four. The multiple choice is done, and now I’ll call out the descriptive ones! Descriptive 1, only seeking monetary gain…”
…
…
“… Descriptive 4, A compares spring to a cat, and B compares the mind to a strong rowboat.”
First off, I got all the Korean answers right.
“Now, moving on to history!”
…
…
…
Even if I lose some partial points in the descriptive part, it seems like I did well in the exams today!
I did it!
I was challenging myself to see how long I could keep my perfect score, so I was nervous that I might get even one question wrong.
So-hee, did you do well?
Looking at So-hee, she was grinning while holding up her test paper.
I walked over and hugged her tightly, asking, “Did you do well?”
So-hee answered, smiling broadly, “Yeah!”
“How many did you get wrong?”
“I got a total of 4 wrong!”
Wow…
“So-hee might have a silly personality, but her brain isn’t dumb, huh?”
“Is that a compliment?”
Maybe not. They both seem kind of silly.
“Of course, it’s a compliment.”
“Hehe. How many did you get wrong, Do-hee?”
“I got them all right.”
“Really?”
I showed So-hee the test paper sitting on my desk.
“Isn’t it cool?”
So-hee nodded.
“Then say thank you for being friends.”
“Thank you for being friends!”
She just says it because I told her to.
.
.
.
Day 2 of the midterms.
Previously, subjects like ethics, home economics, PE, and art were part of the exams, but now they’ve all turned to a 100% performance evaluation, so today’s tests were just English and science.
I didn’t even need to review for English; I should look over science instead.
I took out my science textbook to review the concepts, but the guy in the second year next to me tapped on my desk.
“Excuse me?”
“Could you lend me a sharp pencil?”
“A sharp pencil?”
“Yeah, I left mine at home.”
Why does he really have to borrow from me?
I took an extra sharp pencil from my pencil case and handed it to him.
“Please give it back after.”
“Yep, thank you.”
As the guy took the pencil and returned to his seat, a friend of his sitting in front of him poked him and made a weird noise.
“Yeeuh~”
What a joke.
.
.
.
The bell rang for the end of the second period, and the midterms were over.
Inside the classroom, there was a lively atmosphere from the relief of finishing the exams.
So-hee was also bouncing around, celebrating.
“Exam’s over~”
So-hee came over to me and asked, “Do-hee! What are you doing after today?”
“I have to go to work and practice.”
So-hee quickly became gloomy again.
Isn’t she bipolar or something?
“Then we can’t hang out today…?”
“Yeah. I’ll hang out with Su-jin instead.”
“Aww… I wanted to hang out with Do-hee…”
Sigh, what do I do with this nerd?
“Do you want to hang out?”
So-hee’s face lit up again.
“Really?”
“Yeah. Since the exam ended early, I can hang out for about 2 hours before going to work.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah, really. Now let’s hurry and go grade our tests.”
“Okay!”
.
.
.
After we returned to class and finished grading, I got 100 on both English and science.
Phew.
While packing my things, Hye-joo approached me and asked,
“Do-hee, how did you do on that exam?”
“Ah, yeah.”
“Really? So how many did you get wrong?”
“Well, I got all of them right, but… I have no idea how the descriptive questions will turn out.”
Hye-joo shouted in surprise,
“Really!? You got them all right?”
At Hye-joo’s voice, kids started gathering around one by one.
“You got all the exam questions right? Who?”
“I think she’s talking about Do-hee?”
“Oh really? Do-hee was always good at studying?”
“Didn’t you know? Do-hee was first in her whole elementary school!”
“We weren’t even at the same school, how would I know?”
“Kids were talking about it a lot.”
“So is the other stuff true too?”
“What stuff?”
“That she’s a trainee idol.”
“That could be true too.”
“Oh really? I thought it was just because she’s pretty.”
“There should be a video of Do-hee dancing from her 6th-grade school trip. I’ll send it to you when I get home.”
Damn, why do you have that?
Anyway, whether it was pulling aggro right or not, the kids began surrounding me and asking questions.
“Do-hee? Are you an idol trainee?”
“Do-hee, which celebrities have you seen?”
“Which company are you with?”
“Are you debuting in a girl group?”
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
“Come on, would a trainee have one?”
“Maybe.”
“Even if she doesn’t, it’s none of your business.”
“Nice conversational skills, man.”
Ugh.
My head hurts.
The teacher came in to begin class and finally saved me after sitting the kids down.
After class ended, I quickly took So-hee with me out of the classroom before the kids could catch me.
But this time, someone else grabbed my arm.
‘Oh great, who now?’
Looking back, it was the second grader who borrowed my sharpener earlier.
I just realized I totally forgot to get it back.
The second grader returned my sharpener and said,
“Thanks for letting me borrow the sharpener. I used it well.”
“Yeah.”
I was just trying to take the sharpener and leave, but they wouldn’t let go.
“I really appreciate it, but could you give me your number? I want to send you a gifticon.”
Ugh.
I totally predicted this.
Meanwhile, the second grader’s friends were causing a ruckus on the side.
“Whoa~” “So cool!”
Seriously, what a mess.
“It’s okay.”
“I really want to give it to you.”
What are middle schoolers up to these days?
Damn.
I really feel like cursing at this point.
Sigh…
“It’s fine.”
The second grader still held onto the sharpener tightly.
“Just take the sharpener.”
I gave up on the sharpener and stepped out of the school.
I’m so stressed out.
“Hah… So-hee, let’s go to karaoke.”
“Okay!”
Ah.
I just want to take the high school equivalency exam.
When am I going to debut?
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