Repentance

Instructor P is a retired NYPD homicide detective and a Vietnam vet. You can kind of tell, just by looking at him. He also has that working-class Brooklyn accent that is required in the PD and the fire department. Needless to say, although he's a 'great guy' we're all scared of him.

When I showed up for class today, my classmate Peg approached me.

Peg: "You are in deep trouble with Instructor P."
Me: "Me? Why?"
Peg: "Because you, Carmen and Yona left class yesterday before he had given the class permission to go."
Me: "We did?"
Peg: "Yeah. He's PISSED. He lectured the rest of us for ten minutes about how pissed he was that you guys had left already. "

An intense feeling of fear traveled from my stomach to my heart and down to my stomach again. Would he yell at me? But I'm the best student ever, I'm number one. He must love me. He must.

I ended up apologizing profusely before he even got a chance to reprimand me. Amazingly, this worked. From now on I will gladly apologize for anything, if need be.

I think I'm still number one, or at least among the top three.