“Ok class you should be receiving your report cards any day now.” The excitement was building up inside me. This marking period was the best I think I’ve ever had. This time I knew I had to get straight A’s. If I didn’t I don’t know what I would do. I walked across the all hall to find my best friend Jim standing at his locker. “Hey what’s up.” I said. “ “Did you hear about the report cards?” “Yeah so?” he said dully “Well aren’t you excited about getting them? How’d you think you did this time?” “ Ehhh I don’t know but I hope I did well cause my moms gonna kill me if I didn’t” I laughed. “Alright well I’ll see ya later.” School past by in a blur and before I knew it I was getting dropped off. I started walking towards home when half way through I started to get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I soon realized that I was getting anxious; I wondered if I did enough to get those A’s I tried so hard to get. I tried to come myself now but found I couldn’t. My family was really looking forward to my report card especially my mom thinking of that made me even more ill. Plus I had a lot to live up to, my sister got straight A’s every single marking period and I wanted to be just like her. Seeing the look on my parents faces when they opened another one of her perfect report cards, I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t envies about her. I got home and immediately looked in the mailbox. Nothing. I walked up and unlocked the door. My dog rushed over to me like he hasn’t seen me in weeks. I patted him on the head and then walked over to the kitchen table to do my homework. Still thinking about the empty mailbox I started. About a half hour later my dog started barking so loud it made my eyes tear. I got up and looked out the window to where he was barking. As I looked I managed to catch a glimpse of the mail man leaving my property. I rushed outside to see what he had left. I saw Frelinghuysen printed on the top letter, my heart skipped a beat. I felt like it was Christmas and this was my long awaited gift. I lifted the letter as if it would crumple if I gripped it to hard. I ran back inside and just stared at it for a long moment. When I finally got the courage to open it my mom stepped through the door. “You weren’t going to open that without me were you?” she asked She smiled has she stared at the letter. “No” I smiled weakly “Well what are you waiting for open it up.” She said restlessly I took a deep breath then gently slid my fingers under the fold. I slipped the thick pieces of paper out and unfolded them. The majority of the papers were stuff I couldn’t care less about. Then I saw it. The thing I have been waiting for some time now. I looked at it and saw an A I kept going down eagerness bursting out of me. I kept going until I reached the bottom. My heart stopped my breathing grew ragged. I felt as if my chest was trying to hold up a giant weight and was caving in. There on the bottom of the paper right next to language arts was a B+. It looked like it was mocking me, laughing mechanically at my great failure. I wanted to cry to yell, do anything to make me feel better. I was crushed and there was nothing I could do about it. I was so caught up in my own thoughts I didn’t even acknowledge my mom the first time she tried to talk to me. She had to say my name three times before I finally snapped back to her. I almost forgot she was there. She handed me a twenty dollar bill. “What’s this for” I asked “Well you did your best didn’t you?” my mom asked “Yes” I replied quietly not even really listening to what she was saying “Look Caleb if you tried your best and you put in all you could then you shouldn’t feel bad about your grade.” No matter what she said I wouldn’t feel better. I tried to think it was fine and that I deserved the money but I couldn’t. My mom left me to think over what she said. I thought for a long time. I don’t even remember how long. I finally came to a conclusion that if my mom can feel proud of my work than I should too. After that day I was always proud of my work. If I worked hard I knew it was just as good as anyone else’s.