It almost felt freeing, ditching class. However, there was a bit of worry that nagged at the back of my brain. What if I missed something super important?
A huge ball of stress weighed on my shoulders as I thought about all the things that I needed to accomplish within the last couple of weeks of the semester. This was my first set of college finals I ever had to face, and I was very ill-prepared. I had a presentation to make, a few papers to write, and some tests to study for. I sat with my boyfriend Cody in the cafeteria, and we slowly ate lunch, procrastinating from doing all the things we needed to do for our classes. “I don’t want to go to English,” I groaned and tried to refrain myself from banging my head on the table. “I think we’re just peer editing our final papers today, and I don’t even have anything to peer edit!”
“Well then don’t go,” he shrugged casually. “Just work on your paper instead.”
I perked my head up. Wow. It felt so against my nature to ditch class. In high school, I was nearly a perfect student. I never called in, and I especially never ditched class. In college, I had considered ditching class many times, trust me, but never actually went through with it. After considering it for a bit, I took a deep breath and nodded. “You know what… that’s exactly what I’m gonna do,” I smiled at the thought of not having to sit through a long ramble from my English professor. “Plus, I turned the research proposal for this paper last class,” I shrug. “I think I’ll be just fine.”
Cody checked the time on his phone. “I should probably head to class now. I’ll see you after, alright? Have fun,” he gave me a mischievous smile.
“Yeah, this is gonna be a total blast,” I rolled my eyes and waved him off. I then started writing my final paper. It almost felt freeing, ditching class. However, there was a bit of worry that nagged at the back of my brain. What if I missed something super important? What if I needed to turn something on that day? I quickly brushed those thoughts off as the stress of completing this seven-page paper on the decline of the Great Barrier Reef loomed over me.
People slowly left the cafeteria as it was almost time for the 1:00 PM classes to start. Soon, I was the only person in the room, working alone on the beast of a paper in front of me. For an hour, I hacked away at the paper, accomplishing a tiny amount. I sighed internally. I’m never going to get this paper done.
The next week rolled around, and I decided to pull my focus onto working on things I needed to get done for other classes. I didn’t even touch the English paper. I had gotten intel that during the final week of classes that my professor was just going to use class time to let people work on their papers and to peer edit them more. I decided not to go to both classes that week. Why go to class when I can just work on it in the peace and quiet of the hallway next to the cafeteria?
Time was quickly dwindling down. I had about half my paper done and a couple more days to finish it. I put in hours of work to finish it, but I eventually did it. It was very late the night before it was due, but I made sure to reread it over and over again just to make sure it was perfect.
The day to turn in the paper had approached. This paper was the last final I had to turn in. All I needed to do was go to my professor’s office and turn in my paper, and my first semester of college was done. My confidence was at an all-time high, and I was ready to get this semester done. I determinedly walked up to his office, ready to turn in my paper.
My professor’s eyes widened when he saw me approach his office. “Alison! I thought you dropped out of my class!” he exclaimed. I laughed at that, thinking it was a joke. It had to be, right? “No seriously,” he looked me dead in the eye. All the confidence that I had felt moments before completely shattered. The dim, cluttered office seemed to close around me. My professor went on to explain that since I had skipped the last three classes without notifying him; he thought I had completely dropped the class. He also went on to tell me that the research proposal I turned in, the one that I felt so sure about, wasn’t graded. “Why would I grade a student’s paper if I thought they dropped!” he crossed his arms. “It would be a huge waste of time!”
Pure panic settled in my chest. We only had four other assignments in the class! If I got a zero on that report, my grade was totally shot! I wanted to say something, but no words came out of my mouth. I have completely messed up. “I’ll tell you what. You did turn this proposal on time, so I will grade it,” my professor started to say.
“Thank yo-!” I started, but he quickly cut me off.
“But it will have to be right here, right now,” he finished. My heart sunk. I absolutely hate watching people judge my writing in front of me, and I then became completely on edge. I had to sit and watch my professor grade my assignment in front of my eyes. I felt small as he was determining my grade in front of me. I silently willed the piles of books in his office to just topple over me to make this misery end.
“Okay,” he proclaimed when he was done. He then extensively talked me through what I did right and wrong throughout the proposal. Nervous butterflies fluttered in my stomach as I anxiously waited for him to tell my grade. “You got a B,” he finally announced. Relief flooded through my system.
“Thank you so much!” I exclaimed. He finally let me turn in my final paper, and that was it. I was done for the semester!
“Next time, come to class,” my professor gives me a smile. “Or at least notify your professor.”
“Absolutely,” I nod vigorously. I know I got off lucky that time. Never again will I ditch class.
The CGS Catalyst 
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