A girl’s first failure

"Of course it had to be chemistry", Layla thinks gloomily, pressing the last few icons on the screen of the examination-set school computer. She has never even come close to ending in bottom three. Some subjects, such as history, firmly saw her towards the top of the class (not that it carried any special bonuses for girls); in others, such as mathematics or physics, she was at least in the solid middle. Now, though, she was quite certain she is about to acquaint herself with the wonderful peer incentives system for the first time. Chemistry just did not make sense to her... And the test was a hard one by anybody's measure.

The good thing for running test on computers was that the results (and rankings) became immediately available and there was no agonised wait. Even the 30 seconds or so it took the teacher to confirm the results from her own account and enter the punishment dozes stretch forever for Layla... But finally all students' computers chime in unison. Layla realises she has been holding her breath and made herself exhale and look at the screen. Unfortunately putting on a brave face did not change the reality. She was second to last... And she was to get 50 with a tawse, because the teacher (presumably) recommended an increase. She had severe punishments before... But none quite on this scale.

Layla knows the second-placed boy (whoever that happened to be, names were only given one way) would find her himself. She also knew, despite this being her first time facing this particular punishment, that most of them, some highly principled ones aside, were quite happy to go easy in exchange for... Well, for something a girl can give them. She wondered, as she logged out, who will the boy be. She also wondered what will they ask for. Or will she need to ask them? Ugh, she should have paid closer attention to the gossip.

Looking around and seeing that nobody is obviously heading towards her, Layla sneaks a quick check with her pocket mirror. It is humiliating, but if there are to be negotiations to save her butt, she needs to look her best. The clearly distraught but pretty 18 years old black face with only the modest makeup allowed by the college looks back at her with satisfaction... About the face itself, if nothing else about this Friday. She quickly returns the mirror into her bag and scans the horizons again. This time someone clearly is heading towards her.

"Hi, Layla", says Chris. He is a couple of months younger if she recalls correctly; they are not exactly close friends, but they know one another amiably enough, which will probably not stop him from either destroying her butt or getting her to commit to offering a hole of hers. He is also not the one she would have expected to come second in a test, he is just above average academically from what Layla knew, but either today was his lucky day or chemistry was his subject just as it was not hers. Or both. "Hi, Chris", she says, making herself smile pleasantly. "Second?"

"Indeed", he answers. "Sorry you got it so bad, your first time?" Layla is pleasantly surprised he actually knows that. "Yes", she confirms. "Umm... So... Where do we go?"