In fact, he was so smart that I found it hard to believe
he had done poorly on the placement tests we took the following week.
When I asked him about it, he
told me he had tanked the tests on purpose so that other kids wouldn’t know he was smart and tease
him.
Although the geographical distance between my sixth and seventh grades was not that great, the
universe seemed to have turned on its head such that it was suddenly very uncool to be smart and try
hard.
My friend was more concerned with being liked than with doing well.
Thankfully, my friend
didn’t tell me any of this
before
the placement tests.