The Girl Ahead

The exam was scheduled to begin at nine in the morning. At eight thirty, I was already in my seat. Mentally flipping through every page of the five books that I had been studying from, on and off, for the past three months. I was, as usual, one of the first candidates in the examination hall. That’s the way it’s been all my life. I’d rather be half an hour early, than half a minute late.

My digital watch told me that there were still seven minutes to go when I saw her walk in. There were two vacant seats in the hall. One ahead of me and the other, right in the corner of the room. Under normal circumstances I would hope that she takes the nearest seat. But today did not quite qualify as 'normal'.

As luck would have it, she sat in front of me. I closed my eyes momentarily and tried to focus on the job at hand. With three minutes remaining for the start of the exam, she took out two HB pencils from her pocket and rather nonchalantly, began sharpening them.

No matter how inconsequential the exam or how well prepared I am for it, three minutes before an exam, you wouldn’t find me sharpening my pencils. I wouldn’t be able to do that for dear life. And that’s when I realized, that she may or may not win the war against finance, but she sure did win the battle against her nerves. The girl ahead.