anticipation

Twenty gathered in a circle, glaring at a wide-eyed girl with a trembling lower lip. She looked around at them, then back down at the cluster of desks. Her gaze darted back and forth from face to face.

"Flipper?" She held out a green card towards the center of the group.

"Yesssss!" A student leapt up to grab the prize.

The rest of the sixteen and seventeen year old Advanced Placement English students moaned and shuffled their red cards.

The Apples-to-Apples game was almost over- and so was the day.

"Okay... How about.. beautiful?" 

"No way!" the guys chorused, "So boring!"

Within ten minutes, the game was cleaned up, the class now gathered anxiously by the door, waiting for the final bell to ring.

My heart was pounding, as I squeezed the hand of my friend. It was posted, waiting downstairs. It had been the Never-Ending Day, each class longer than it had the right to be.

End-of-the-day announcements were read.

"Blah blah blah, students raised over, blah blah blah, total of about five thousand dollars..."

"NO ONE CARES," screamed the voice in my head. "JUST LET THE BELL RING."

I stayed silent, tapping my foot.

Riiiing.

"Finally!" 

We ran downstairs, shoving people in the hallway. When I reached the door where it would be posted, a swarm of people had already gathered around, pointing fingers and reading names.

I pushed my way through, saw names listed. My jaw dropped. My eyes bulged. I screamed bloody murder.