"Bold choice."

Kitty’s first quantum physics exam is in a huge room on the far side of campus. She’s never been to it before. Dozens of her classmates, some she knows well, others she’s only vaguely acquainted with, are hanging around outside the building.

“Hey, Kitty,” says Rachel, her quantum physics study buddy, looking up from her notes. She does a double take, and smirks. “Oh, wow. Bold choice.”

“Huh?” Other students are looking at Kitty, as well. Many are snickering. It seems something about her appearance today has broken the pre-exam tension. “What do you mean?”

“You, uh… you forget something today, girl?”

“No, I don’t think so. I’ve got my pencil case, my notebook, my calculator, my water bottle, my… my… EEEEEEEEEK!”

“Please come inside, students.” Kitty’s quantum physics teacher, Professor Wong, pokes his head out of the door, and does his own double take. “What an… interesting decision, Kitty. You always were an unconventional thinker. I suppose I know you’re not cheating. Perhaps we should make it mandatory. Hahaha!”

“But, professor, I didn’t mean to… I just forgot… it’s not my… may I run back to the dorm room really fast, professor? I need to get something important!”

“I’m afraid we don’t have time, Kitty. The exam’s about to start!”

Kitty, along with all the other students, who keep shooting sidelong glances at her and giggling, walks into the exam room. Her assigned desk’s up the front, visible to everyone. She sits down, feeling every eye on her, and takes a deep breath.

She’s sweating. Heart pounding. Breathing hard. She sets up her pencil case, her notebook and her calculator along the edge of the desk, and her water bottle underneath. The exam paper, face down, sits on the desk in front of her. It’s meant to be one of the most difficult exams in the whole school. Rumors abound as to what Wong does to people who fail.

Kitty would be stressed even if she wasn’t currently sitting in the exam room with nothing on but her Converse sneakers.

“Turn over your papers, students. You may begin.”