I never wanted anything more. I never worked so hard for anything. All I wanted was a phone. I didn't care if it was new or old or even used. I just wanted something that was mine, something that I earned and was proud of. I needed to learn how to use dedication to lead to my success.

I put it in my mind that I was going to get straight A's in all my classes, that it would be easy, and when report cards come out, my parents would be so proud, and it would feel pretty good and as they promise, I would get a phone. I quickly realized that it wasn't such a stroll in the park, I had to work. I had so little time as the last day of school crept up haunting me. And with all the grade crammed into the grade book, I was sure I had absolutely no chance of ever pulling my science grade up one percent. It seems small but it wasn't. I had almost lost all hope.

We had one test left, worth 70 points, and I continued to procrastinate with only two day left to study. I had basically bombed every science test ever, and somehow thought this test would be different. I knew if I really wanted to, I could sit down and study really hard, but as usual I didn't decide dedicate my time to this, and instead used my time to watched movies on Netflix. I waited for the last day to even pick up the book, thinking the knowledge would magically connect to brain.

It wasn't until I started reading the chapters did I realize that learning how to dedicate my time to this test, was going to hitting me much harder than expected. I couldn't dedicate one or two hours to studying, if I wanted to earn my phone I would have to dedicate my life. Not really. I sat in my basement for 6 hours with only my science book and a pad of paper. I read each chapter 6 times, took notes, then repeated. It got to the point where I could I had fully memorized the chapters word for word. Everything was fresh in my mind, but as paranoid as I was, I still felt like I knew nothing, when truly I knew everything there is to know, inside and out on the nervous system and the way the brain works. I skipped dinner and don't think I went to the bathroom all day, but it was my fault that I had to learned the hard way. Even though I waited until the last minute Something in the back of my brain was clicking and my confidence began to grow.

Now it was test day. Life or death. I walked into class confident as I should be, until everything went blank, everything I knew gone. The words in that filled my brain mixed and matched creating, new sentence, wrong sentence. I was going to fail, all that hard work, those skipped meals, the day without showering, sleeping, was worthless. As he handed out the test, I was flustered, thinking of every possible bad situation that could happen. When really everything was locked away in my brain. When reading the first question, the answer came right  to me, I quickly jotted down the answer, but I knew the whole test couldn't be like this. I went question by question, answer by answer, finishing the test before everyone.

After handing in the test I was confused, and unaware of why the 70 point test, that either ruined or saved my life was easy. Why couldn't all tests be like that? Why did it seem so hard to all the other students who still sat in their plastic green chairs, pencils down in confusion? Dedication. If you dedicated your time and effort toward something you want, you can get, no matter how big or small. It still mattered to me weather I got a 100% or not, because I really wanted something that was mine, but in the long term I learn a powerful lesson, I can achieve anything I desire if I dedicate myself to things I want to accomplish.

I jumped in excitement when receiving my science test back with a perfect score. I finally had something that would be mine and that no one could take. It wasn't a phone, but the knowledge, grit, outcome of happiness, and the dedication that it took to succeed.