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Tap, tap, tap. This was the only sound Ken could hear in the entire classroom, apart from the occasional sound of pencils to paper. Ken’s pencil however, was nowhere near the paper. Instead it was gently tapping the paper that lay before him on the desk, with the eraser side down.

“History.” He thought to himself. “Why do we need to learn it anyway? Will it impact our future in anyway?” He kept pondering on the subject between taps. “If I was to fill out a resume, or sit down for a job meeting, would I be required to list the first 44 presidents in order?” From what he had heard from his parents, and other adults he had talked to in the past, that would not be the case.

He sighed. He had promised his parents that he would at least try to get a passing grade on his history exam, but so far it wasn’t going so well. He had already lied about not studying for his test, so he decided to make up for it by attempting one of the questions. “Where and when was the mayflower compact signed?” Even though he didn’t know the answer, he decided to take a look at the answers anyway. A. Jamestown 1609, B. Plymouth 1620, C. Florida 1606, or D. New York 1601.

Ken rolled his eyes, he had drawn a blank, what else was new? He looked around the room, seeing his fellow classmates already done or near to finishing the test. “How do they do it?” He wondered. It had always been a mystery to him, how they could just complete their assignments with ease, it made him jealous in a sense.

If you haven’t guessed it by now, Ken William Kutter wasn’t exactly the smartest kid around. Sure, he could perform problems like 26 + 47 or could tell you what photosynthesis was, but he was nowhere near an above average student. He usually ended up with Cs and Ds, sometimes even Fs, but every once in a while he would get a B if he was lucky. He had never once earned an A for an assignment in his life, not that he cared though. School wasn’t exactly on the top of his priority list, and this of course resulted in many a bad grade.

What was the reason behind all this? To be perfectly honest, I’m not quite sure, nor were his parents, or even Ken himself. He wasn’t mentally disabled or anything, so there was no way of him getting a 504 or being paced in any special needs class. But that didn’t mean his parents didn’t TRY to get him these things.

His parents had always been trying to figure out what was wrong and fix it, and as you can see, they weren’t having much luck. And their busy jobs didn’t make it any easier. His Dad Mac was a geologist and his Mom Emily scientist, they had met at Brown University. So it wasn’t that Ken’s parents didn’t care for their only child, they just didn’t have much time for him. Ken really didn’t mind though, he spent most of his days were with friends anyway.

Ken sighed again and looked at the clock, he smiled, one more minute until the bell rang. “Thank god” he thought to himself. He was running out of things to do to make time go faster. His eyes returned to his exam, “Oh right, you” He sighed and did what he always did, randomly circle answers and then wait for the sound of freedom that was the bell for the end of 7th period. But the only sound he could hear at the moment, was the steady tapping of his pencil. Tap, tap, tap.