Name?

• Madeleine Lane, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2014

I turned over the paper, finished, done. The last paper I would ever complete. Well not really. You see, I am in second grade. I had just completed my spelling test of the week. For me, at the end of every test, I think of it as my last test till next Friday. If I think I have gotten all the words right I can think like that and feel relieved, but I know I got something wrong I can’t stand it and I cannot think of it as my last test. Wait, I just had a thought, did I put my name on my test? I had forgotten to write my name! Now I will get a 0 next to my name of the spelling chart.
I gripped my chair, my hands sweating like bullets. I glanced around; the test collector had just finished and was walking back toward the front, to the teacher’s desk with a pile of all the tests. It all happened in slow motion. My fingers tightened around my pencil as I flung myself off my chair knocking into the test collector scattering the papers everywhere. I lay in the aisle acting surprised. “Sorry, I’m so sorry. Let me help you,” I scrambled around on my knees stacking up all the papers. There it was, a non-named paper. I quickly bent down and scribbled my name. I slipped my paper into the stack and shoved them into his hands. I sat back down and exhaled. Wow that was close.
“Does anyone recognise this paper it has no name,” the teacher asked holding out the paper. I looked up to see who would come forward and collect their paper. Only a really dumb person would forget to put their name. No one came up. I looked at the paper to see if I recognised whose it was. Hey, I recognise that paper. I knew the person, but I couldn’t remember the name. Then it hit me, when I was scrambling around on the floor, I hadn’t bothered to check the writing. I had named the wrong paper, that one was mine!

By Madeleine