“just grab it!” i said. my mom ran into the house and came back out with a flashdrive. we were on our way to school, and i had a presentation today. leave it to us to forget it halfway there. my mom ran back to the car and we sped off. she handed me the flashdrive, which i shoved into my backpack. unfortunately, i didn’t read what the label on the side said. if i had, i wouldn’t be in the situation i am now.

we got to school in five minutes, which is a record time. i got out and walked quickly towards the doors. i didn’t even bother saying bye to my mom. i had to be to class in less than a minute, and we both know how important this presentation was for my grade. i hurried through the nearly empty hall and walked into class the second the bell rang.

“you’re late!” mr. hemmings said.

“damnit,” i whispered. i trudged back down the hall to the front office. i didn’t even have to ask for the slip. they had learned the drill. when i got back, i handed the slip to mr. hemmings and took my seat. isaac had already started his presentation, which meant i was third to present. mr. hemming always picked a random number, and whoever’s number that was on the roster, went first.

i rehearsed my presentation in my head while jenna baker went. after she finished, i fished the flashdrive out of my school bag and plugged it into mr. hemmings computer. i stood there for a good five minutes before anything happened. mr. hemming insisted on keeping the same computer he had used for his first year of teaching. nine years ago. it was a miracle it worked at all.

i stepped to the side of the promethean board so my classmates could see the slideshow. my grades had been slipping lately, so my mom had made me really buckle down for this project.

“i did my project on the renaissance. i will be talking about how it started, the most famous things to come out of it, and how it still affects us today.” i hit the arrow on the computer to switch to the next slide. this stirred up giggles from my class. i looked at the board and was horrified by what i saw.

there, on display for my entire class, was a picture of my sister and i standing on our stairs, making the weirdest faces and poses imaginable. i wanted to die right there.

tessa and i had done a photoshoot late one night when we were bored. it had been fun, and when i found out i had to do this project, i put the photos on a flashdrive to see if i could figure it out. once i did, i labeled them so this exact situation wouldn’t happen. i don’t even know how they ended up near each other. wait! my mom had grabbed the flashdrive, and she didn’t know there were two! i blame my lack of memory.

i pressed every key on mr. hemmings computer, and nothing happened. somehow the slideshow started automatically switching slides, showing more and more embarrassing pictures. i finally ran and turned the board off, my classmates laughter slowly dying.

i didn’t say anything as i went back to my seat. i just sat there and stared at my desk, hoping that class would be over soon.

“well, that was interesting.” i glanced up at mr. hemmings, who had a smile on his face.

“a plus.”