The Quiet Achiever
Max sat in class gazing at Clare Jones. He watched as she leaned over to her friend Julie and passed her a note. Her small school blouse and shorter-than-normal skirt defined her curvaceous body. Julie saw Max watching her friend. She giggled and motioned to Clare to look behind her. Clare turned and looked back at Max. Max was caught out. His elbow slipped on the desk and dislodged his small tin pencil box. It crashed to the floor making a loud noise. The entire class turned and laughed at Max. He felt the heat of a crimson blush as a rush of prickles ran up his back from embarrassment. He glanced back at Clare and Julie who were still looking at him, giggling. A quiet fury surged inside him. He hated it when people laughed at him. It was worse when Clare did though. She seemed to know he liked her. Humiliated, Max slumped in his chair. He lowered his gaze to his desk. Surely no more ridicule would eventuate if he lay low for the rest of the lesson. 'Max Faulkner!' shouted the Legal Studies teacher, Mr Finch. 'Would you stop daydreaming and concentrate! I don't like your attitude young man. I'm trying to inform the class about the Queensland court system and all you can do is stare at your desk? Pleas
The class remained silent as it moved out of the classroom. There were quiet discussions between some of the students, still shocked by the news. Max walked to his car. He was one of the few students who drove to school. On many occasions he would give one of his friends a lift home. Not today. The following day Mr Finch was not there to take Legal Studies. The school Principal, Mr Sampson, took the class instead. He addressed the class. Finch walked around distributing the papers amongst the class. Max watched the expression of the students as they discovered what mark Finch had given them. Most showed some degree of disappointment. Finch handed Clare her paper. She immediately turned to Julie to tell her that she got an 'A'. Finch tossed Max's paper in front of him. Max blushed. Again he felt a rush of prickles run up his back. Some of the students looked at him with smirks on their faces. Others had more sympathetic looks. Max read his mark. He felt nauseous when he learned Finch had given him a 'D' for his paper. He swallowed hard, managing to contain his disappointment, dejection and anger. He looked at the dints in the fender and the bonnet of his clapped-out, rusty-brown Sigma. He examined a smaller dint closer to the windscreen and noticed a trace of blood that he had failed to hose off last night in the dark. Max smiled and began walking to the door of the car. 'Yet another unsound piece of work from you Max. I wish you had a better attitude towards this subject.'
Some common words found in the essay are:
Legal Studies, Finch Finch, Principal Sampson, Rights Australians, Max Max, Humiliated Max, Clare It's, Clare Jones, Finch Max, Clare Julie, legal studies, police questions, max hated, own opinions, hated finch, max hated finch, rush prickles,
Approximate Word count = 1281
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
