Oh my gosh, I got a good grade!
The Day I Became a Legend (Sort Of)
By Ji-Yeon
Oh my gosh, I got a good grade! Like, a really good grade. The kind of grade that makes you want to frame your test paper and carry it around so you can casually show it to strangers. But knowing my friends, they’d just roast me into oblivion.
Here’s how it all went down.
This morning in history class at Gwanghyeon Academy in Seoul, Mr. Han started handing back our test papers. He has this slow, dramatic way of doing it, like he enjoys watching us squirm. When he got to me, he paused, smiled, and said, “Good job, Ji-Yeon.”
I flipped the paper over, and there it was: 98. A glorious, red-circled 98. I gasped so loudly that the entire class turned to look at me.
"Ji-Yeon, are you okay?" Mr. Han asked, trying not to laugh.
"Yes!" I blurted out, clutching the paper like it was a rare artifact.
Soo-Min, sitting next to me, leaned over and whispered, "Let me guess. Another A?"
I shoved the paper at her, unable to stop grinning.
"Ugh," she groaned. "Can you, like, fail once? Just to make the rest of us feel better?"
At lunch, I couldn’t wait to tell Hye-Jin. We sat down with our trays—mine stacked with japchae and some suspicious-looking fish cakes—and I immediately launched into my victory story.
"So," I said, "I got a 98 on Mr. Han’s test."
Hye-Jin nearly dropped her chopsticks. "Of course you did! You’re like a robot programmed to get good grades."
"Not true," I said, pretending to be modest. "I’m just… gifted."
Soo-Min snorted. "You’re gifted at staying up until 2 a.m. studying. That’s what you are."
The real disaster of the day, though, was gym class. We were playing dodgeball, which is basically my personal version of The Hunger Games. I had one strategy: stay in the back, avoid the ball, and pray. It worked for about two minutes.
Then, bam! A ball hit me square in the face. The whole gym went silent.
"Ji-Yeon!" Soo-Min yelled from across the court. "Your face is supposed to dodge the ball, not catch it!"
"I’m trying!" I shouted back, holding my nose.
It happened again five minutes later. This time, it was Min-Jae, the class show-off, who threw the ball.
"Sorry, Ji-Yeon!" he called, but he was laughing.
I glared at him. "You’re not sorry."
"Not really," he admitted.
By the time gym ended, I looked like I’d been through a battle—and lost.
When I got home in hongdae , I was ready to collapse. But first, I had to tell my mom about the 98.
"Mom!" I yelled, holding up the test paper. "Look! I got a 98 on my history test!"
She glanced at it, unimpressed. "What happened to the other two points?"
I stared at her. "Are you serious?"
"Always aim for perfection," she said, turning back to her phone.
Classic Mom. I sighed and headed to my room, where I stuck the paper on my wall. Sure, I got hit in the face twice, but I survived. And with a 98, no less.o, that’s how my day went. But here’s the kicker: tomorrow, we have a surprise quiz in math. I’m just waiting for my next big fail. I can already feel the incoming disaster, but hey, that’s what high school is all about, right? Victory, defeat, and more defeat—hopefully with a sprinkle of victory somewhere in the middle. I'll just have to keep dodging... or not.
P.S. If you ever see me on the dodgeball court again, please, for the love of all things sacred, tell me to just sit out. My face cannot take any more hits.
The Day After:
Well, guess what? I was right about the disaster. The surprise quiz in math? Let's just say I spent 40 minutes praying to the math gods that my answers weren’t completely wrong. I ended up guessing on half the questions. You know that feeling when you realize you might as well have written your name in the “answers” section and called it a day? Yeah. That was me.
When I turned it in, Min-Jae gave me a thumbs-up. "Good luck," he said sarcastically.
I shot him a look. "No, seriously. I'm just here to survive."
Soo-Min rolled her eyes. "I told you, Ji-Yeon. Math is where even the gods fail."
I sighed. "Yeah, well, if there’s a grade between failure and actual survival, that’s what I’m aiming for."
So, the saga continues. Let’s hope next week brings less dodgeball and more history test glory.
The Next Day:
You won’t believe what happened next. It was yet another surprise test, but this time it was in English. I’d actually been studying for this one, so when I got the paper, I felt pretty good about it. At least, I thought I did.
Then came the essay question.
"Write about your biggest achievement in life and how it’s changed you."
I stared at it for a moment. Biggest achievement? I couldn’t exactly write about my dodgeball faceplants. And my “98” from history was already turning into a distant memory. So, I did what any reasonable person would do in this situation. I made up an entire story about how I "rescued a dog from a burning building" and "saved an elderly woman from a runaway bicycle" all in one heroic day.
You know, just casual stuff.
When I handed it in, I was feeling pretty smug. But the look on Mr. Kim’s face when he picked up my paper? Priceless. He didn't say anything, but I could tell he was both confused and impressed. Soo-Min, of course, burst out laughing when I told her what I wrote.
"I can't believe you actually did that!" she wheezed.
"Well," I said, grinning, "I might not be good at math, but I can certainly tell a good story."
