Making the Grade (1st Place)

Tisha skulked into the room and sat down. Principal Ingam leaned forward in his chair. Tisha stared at the floor.

“Do you know why I called you in here Tisha?”

“No, sir.”

Mr. Ingam pulled out a folder and retrieved one of several papers. He placed it in front of her.

“This is your state math test from two months ago. You scored a 100%.”

“So... You called me in to congratulate me?” Tisha’s eyes lifted to meet Mr. Ingam’s.

“Not exactly. Everyone else in your class got a 73% or below.”

“Oh.”

“Would you like to confess something to me?”

“I don’t know where that grade came from. It came out of nowhere. I swear.”

“Tisha, Tisha, Tisha.” He pulled a second paper from the folder. “I contacted your mother. She got a texting printout from the phone company … look for yourself.” He slid the paper beside the test.

“Guess I’m in trouble huh?”

“You could say…”

“Mr. Ingam?" The intercom buzzed in.

“Yes, Mrs. Woolery?”

“The last fourth of the state test results are in. We have our overall scores.”

“Wonderful. Bring them in immediately.”

Mrs. Woolery slipped into the room and placed a red file on Mr. Ingam’s desk. He flipped open the flap and peered at the top sheet. A smile spread across his face, then faded. He pulled the whole file in front of him and reached for his calculator. He punched in a few figures and the sound of the machine's 'kerchunk' filled the office. He shook his head. His eyes turned toward Tisha again.

“Tisha, I must congratulate you on your perfect score in math. Excellent job.” He gathered the sheets in front of Tisha and fed them into the shredder. “On another high note, the school passed proficiency in math by one point.”


300 Words
Flash Story Must contain the line: "It came out of nowhere"