Karma Hurts

Image source: "Do Jocks Get Breaks? UMKC Prof Says College Made Athlete's F Magically Go Away." Daily RFT. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2014.

It was nearing the end of the WBAIS school year, only about two months left until graduation. Max and I were sitting next to each other in math class; we were about to get the results of the test we took last week.

“You think he’ll ace this one too?” I said to Max, pointing at Dave. Dave was this popular, buff, big shot kid in my grade who never did his homework or studied for any tests and somehow managed to pull off straight A’s throughout all of high school. Max and I were just two average kids in the grade who always studied together for tests, and got mostly C’s and B’s, with the occasional A.

“Here they come,” Max said as Ms. Marcus was passing back the tests. We were stressed as usual, waiting to see what Dave would get.

“100% boys!” Dave turned to us waving his test in the air, with a big red 100 circled on the first page.

“Better luck next time,” Ms. Marcus said giving Max and me our tests. I got a 74, and Max got a 71. This type of situation repeated itself over and over for the past four years. Max and I weren’t surprised anymore; we wouldn’t even get mad.

As we walked out of class the typical conversation happened, “How the heck does he keep doing this over and over again for four years in a row? It’s literally unbelievable, it’s like magic,” Max said to me.

“I don’t know,” I responded and  tried to think about how Dave could have pulled this off and if there was some kind of technique he was using that we could learn. “Maybe he’s cheating.” That was all I could think of.   

Dave aced every unit test of that school year and we got mostly B’s. We still couldn’t figure out how he was doing it, and all he would tell us is that he doesn’t study. I wondered how he would do on finals.

There was three weeks till finals, Max and I started making study guides and quizzing each other. We were working hard to get good grades, but even more than that we wanted to beat Dave for once. Those three weeks I had never worked harder. I had no free time at all. The first day of finals finally arrived.

“I’m ready to ace these finals,” said Dave as we walked to the gym to take our tests. “Did you guys study?” he asked us with mockery.

“Yes, but not too hard.” I said trying to sound cool. “Did you?” I asked in a trembling voice.

“You know the answer to that question, Rick.” he said laughing at us and then walked ahead to talk to his friends.

“Man I hate him,” Max said to me. “I hope he fails all his finals and becomes a janitor for the rest of his life.”

About two weeks later, while it was already summer and we were just relaxing at Max’s house by the pool, I got an email. This email contained all the finals’ scores. “Max, I got the email,” I said. He got it to. I wasn’t sure if I should open it just yet, when I heard Max scream “yes,” like a madman.

“I got A’s on all of my finals!” he exclaimed. That just stressed me out even more. “So? Are you going to open the email already!?” My fingers were shaking. I opened it.

“Finally.” is all I said, I aced them all. Now we had to find out how Dave did. I texted him, but he never replied. We later found out from one of his friends that he failed almost all of them. His friends also said, “Karma hurts.” We had finally beaten Dave.

The next important email I had to receive was the one from Stanford. I had applied because I thought it was the college most suited for me and, in my opinion, one I had a shot at getting into. It took about 3 months, but I finally got an email. Max was already off at Harvard, studying pre-law, and who knows where Dave was.

I opened the email, with shaking hands. I got accepted into Stanford! I immediately went to tell and hug my parents. They were so proud and so was I.

About a month later, my parents dropped me off at my dorm and I was setting up with my new roommate. It looked like I was going to have tons of fun in this place when I saw something funny. It was the janitor, he looked extremely familiar. “Dave?” I said to the familiar man.

“Yeah, it’s me, make your jokes, get it out of your system,” he said to me with a depressed voice. “After I failed finals I basically had no future.”

“Wow man that sucks, well you know what they say,” I said to him with the same mocking voice he had given me for four years.

“No, what do they say?” He asked in hope of something positive.

“Karma hurts,” I said with a proud smirk I had seen on his face so many times.