Ms. Harrison was your teacher. She was strict, harsh, and blunt. If someone made a stupid point, she told them. If someone whined about how unfair she was, she’d tell them to suck it up. Having her class was not for the faint of heart. And it was not for underclassman trying to prove to their friends that they were smart enough to take an AP course.

When she got her list of students for the year, her eyes immediately narrowed onto you. The only underclassmen. By this point, all the young student knew not to take her class. So why did you? Did you really think you’d be different than any other student that took her class and dropped out a week later? She knew you wouldn’t be. So, she was going to make sure this was the hardest year of her class yet.

About a week and a half into school, Ms. Harrison assigned a ‘simple’ assignment. Find an old or current law case and argue your opinion on it using evidence from the case and from your own findings. And so far, her seniors and juniors were doing pretty well. Not great, but that was to be expected of them this early in the year. Then, it was meant to be your turn. And she completely skipped over you.

“Alright, Mr. Liam. It’s your turn.”