“Students, prepare Chapter Five. The test will be conducted tomorrow,” Miss Reema announced as the third period’s bell rang. I sadly put my chemistry stuff in a bag and put my head down as the next teacher was absent. It was a fixture.

I hated chemistry. It was a headache for me to study. But I was a position holder, so I used to go the extra mile and get good marks in it.

“Why does Miss Reema always gives us tests? Can’t she let us rest after finishing our syllabus?” I whispered to myself.

Then, with a heavy heart, I took out my chemistry stuff and started preparing for the test, taking the advantage of the fixture, isolated from all my friends.

‘Beep-Beep’ my van honked and I slumped into a seat for the ride back home. When the van stopped in front of our apartment, I leapt out and rushed up the stairs to our second floor apartment.

“Mum, mum! I am really starving, please give me lunch,” I called out as soon as I entered my house. I then ran into my room, changed and came to the dining table and had my lunch.

In the evening, I completed my homework and prepared for the chemistry test. I burned the midnight oil in preparing for it. The next day the test went well and I scored full marks. But I still hated this subject. Our teacher continued this testing system and I went on getting full marks.

Two months later, it was the time for our final examinations. The papers started and were going rather well and it was then two days before the chemistry paper. Suddenly, my mum’s mobile phone rang. I continued my preparation but overheard my mum talking to someone on the mobile phone and also weeping.

I rushed towards the living room and came to her. She told me between sobs, “Dear, your grandmother is not well, I have to go to see her.”

At the same time, my tutor messaged that he was moving his house and he would be absent for two days.

My world seemed to turn upside down at that moment, but I checked my emotions and sat at the study table. To my astonishment, as I turned over the pages, I realised that I was fully prepared. Then I remembered all those tests that I used to hate and realised how they were actually a blessing in disguise to me and all I had to do now was revise.

Published in Dawn, Young World, March 9th, 2019