ONE
The clock ticked by slowly as
Rachel sat in her English class, bored out of her mind. She considered it her
easiest class; writing had always been her strong suit. Unfortunately, this led
to an overconfidence which made her unprepared for her tests, which she didn’t
bother to study for. She could bullshit her way through the essays easy enough,
but it was clear to Dan Hadder, her young teacher, that she was only getting by
on a minimum of effort.
When class was over, Dan called
Rachel to stay behind. The freshman girl sighed, annoyed at the request, but
not really surprised by it. She supposed she couldn’t just slack off forever;
this was college after all, but honestly, how could she be expected to pay
attention when she’d learned most of this stuff in High School already?
Dan sighed a little as Rachel gave
him an annoyed look. He couldn't keep
cutting her breaks, however. If he didn’t learn to be firm with his students,
his teaching career would be a joke. “Rachel,” he said, calmly, keeping his
eyes on her face. “Your performance in
your school work has been lacking. I can see that you are very bright, and can
easily grasp the material, but you don’t put in any more than a minimum effort.
Just because you are bright doesn't give you the right to slack off. I've given
you the benefit of the doubt thus far, but I can’t keep giving you a pass if
you aren’t going to at least try.” Dan waited to see her reaction, hoping she
wouldn't be as dismissive of his words as she was of her work.
Rachel watched him with a bored
expression, her grey eyes glancing over him. He was certainly a cute one, which
was really the only reason she even paid him even half her attention. When he
paused, she pursed her lips together as she carefully eyed him over. “I don’t see
what the problem is,” she said. “I do the work. Why isn’t that enough?”
“Because just doing the bare
minimum isn’t going to get you ahead in life,” said Dan.
Rachel shrugged. “Why does it
always have to be about getting ahead? Life’s not a rat race. Or at least, it
shouldn’t have to be.”