Zaid looked at the bright red mark on his mark sheet, staring right back at him. He had come back to sit on his bench just moments ago, holding the paper tightly.

It was only after he had sat down that he opened the paper and got the shock of his life. Now he realised why his teacher had been so disappointed when he handed him the paper.

It was true that he hadn’t worked as hard as he normally did for this paper and he expected bad marks, so he hadn’t thought much of his teacher’s “What happened?” remark. At that, he had just given the teacher a nervous smile, his face turning red.

But now, as he stared at his paper, he realised that he had messed up badly. He didn’t even want to think about going back home and facing his mother.

And that’s exactly how the rest of his day went, thinking about his mother’s reaction. As the bell rang, indicating the end of the school day, Zaid reluctantly started his way home.

“Hey! What’s with the bad mood?” It was one of Zaid’s friends, Ammar. His voice broke Zaid out of his thoughts.

“We received last week’s maths test papers today,” Zaid said.

“So what?” Ammar asked as he threw his arm over his friend’s shoulder. “You failed or what?” he added jokingly.

After a few moments of silence, the smile slipped from Ammar’s face as he reached the correct conclusion.

“Oh no…” he was at a loss for words now.

“It’s okay, Zaid. It’s not like it was the final examination, and we both know that this was a one-time thing. You have been getting good marks in almost every paper. You don’t need to worry about this so much” Ammar said to lift his friend’s mood.

“Yeah, you’re right, I guess. But I don’t know what Mama will say about this,” he said as they reached his house.

“Go and find out, then,” Ammar said as he waved at Zaid’s mother, who had just opened the door, smiling at her son and his friend.

“But I’m sure she won’t scold you or anything. It’s going to be fine, and if not, at least it’s going to be over,” he said. With this, Ammar left, patting Zaid’s shoulder in comfort.

Even though he didn’t want to, Zaid made his way to his mother because he wanted to get this burden off his shoulders.

“How was your day? Are you hungry?” Zaid’s mother asked as she saw him.

“Mama, I want to tell you something,” Zaid said. He was trying his best not to cry, but his voice still shook a little.

“What happened?” his mother asked.

“I failed last week’s maths exam,” Zaid said in a single breath. His hands were folded in front of him and he avoided looking at his mother.

There was silence from the other side, so Zaid looked up.

He saw his mother with a completely normal expression. “So that’s what you were worried about?”

“Um… yeah?” Zaid was confused.

“What is there to be worried about? It’s fine not to be your best every time. I have already told you not to worry about exams so much that you fall sick.”

“You’re not upset?” Zaid asked, a weight lifting off his shoulders.

“No, not at all. I know you. And I know that my son will try his best in the next exam,” she said.

Zaid nodded and let out a sigh of relief as a huge burden was lifted from his shoulders.

If only he had known it would be this easy, he would have spent his day much better. But he was glad that everything had gone well and he felt a renewed energy to study more.

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 10th, 2026