Close to me

Results

August 2093

Ugh. It was Wednesday and I was feeling... anxious. That's the word. First I would want to see the results, then an hour later I would just want to go under me covers and pretend they weren't coming.

They could be looking over my test right now. Or Hailey's test. Or that turd Ryan's test. Oh I just wanted to know who won.

Wait no I don't. The results were coming tomorrow and my hopes and dreams will be crushed. There is no way I won. No possible way.

"Hey honey" my mom opened my door and interrupted my train of thought.

"Oh hi mom" I said.

"I bet your feeling anxious" she said.

"No not at all" I said laughing.

"Look, this might not be interesting to you, but I found some canvases in the garage and thought maybe you would like to paint with me? I heard it releases stress" she asked.

"Actually... that does sound fun." I said.

"I'll run to the store and get some paint and paint brushes. I'll be back in about 30 minutes." She said.

"Sounds great" I responded.

While my mom was gone, I tried to figure out what I should paint. If it was any normal day, I would do a galaxy with stars and planets, but today is not a normal day. So I decided on flowers. I am definitely not a very good artist, but painting is fun. I found some light pink, light blue, and white flower design that I really liked.

When my mom got back, we laid some newspaper on the dining room table so we wouldn't make a mess. We set out the paints and started painting.

It was so calming. Every stroke my brush made was satisfying. My flowers (if you could even call them that) looked horrible, while my mom's painting looked magical. It was a cherry blossom tree by a lake with tall mountains in the background. I was shocked when I saw it.

"Mom that looks amazing" I said.

"Oh thank you Erica. Yours looks..." she said.

We both started laughing.

"Yours looks unique. I have never seen anything quite like it."

We laughed some more together and I wanted to stay in that moment forever.

_____________________________________

I didn't expect to cry, but I did. All that hard work for nothing.

"It's okay Erica, we are still so proud of you" my dad said.

Hailey Williams won.

"Hey, look here it says you were second place!" my mom pointed out.

Why did it even matter if I was second place? I just wanted to win.

"I bet she isn't even that smart" grandma said.

Well she obviously had to be smart to win state.

"It's okay. It didn't really matter that much anyway" I said. Then I walked upstairs.

My friends texted me telling me I did a great job. If I did a great job, why didn't I win state?

I spent most of the day in bed just being sad. I told myself I wasn't getting my hopes up when I really was. I was so stupid to think I would win.

I was on my way to get some chips from downstairs when I heard my mom say "Oh my God".

"Mom what's wrong?" I asked.

She was sitting at the table looking at her laptop.

"Mom what is it?" I went around her to see her computer screen.

WINNER OF GEORGIA STATE SPACE SELECTION CHEATED

The winner of the space selection tests in Georgia named Hailey Williams was found cheating. During the state test held on Tuesday a student was found cheating. One of the adults in the room was helping her cheat by using small signals such as scratching their nose, coughing, messing with their hair etc. Luckily, she was quickly caught before anything serious happened. Since Williams cheated, she will no longer be going to space and the runner up, Erica Wilson, will be going.

No way. Oh my God!

"Erica, you won" my mom said.

"Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God! No way" I said excitedly.

"What's the matter?" my dad asked as he walked into the room.

"Dad I won!" I yelled and he gave me a tight hug.

"How did this happen?" he asked.

"Hailey cheated and I was the runner up! I get to go to space!" I was so happy. It felt like life was actually on my side for once. I wanted to cry.

"She made it?" I didn't even realize grandma was standing in the door way.

"Yeah grandma. I made it"