Crashing Down

A small bead of sweat rolled along my hairline, and I quickly rubbed it away with the back of my hand. An eager, hungry look filled the eyes of those gathered around the small table. This team had worked together for months, slowly becoming a close-knit family. It all came down to a day at North Idaho College. The annual math competition had arrived, and we had left school with bright faces and quick hands. However, things had changed since then. Hours of work had left us exhausted and confused. We were weak, yet our minds were still set on the goal; to beat the other teams from northern Idaho, and make it to state. The man at the podium looked down at us sternly, his bright bow-tie seemingly laughing at us. His words were harsh, without care, as he spoke congratulations to all the teams that had successfully finished. Maybe it was the hard work, but more than likely it was the fact that every year since our school had opened, the math team had made it to state. There was no way we could break that tradition. The charter academy, our biggest threat, were seated primly at the table next to us. Their uniforms were stiffly ironed, and they sat straight, dignified. Our team had chosen to wear red, the power color. We lounged skillfully in our seats. Hey, it’s not as easy as it looks! Our world suddenly came crashing down in the next minute. The speaker at the front began to read the names of the schools that would move on to state. As he neared the end of the five, the grip on my hand from the person to my right tightened, then instantly released when the last name was read. We had failed. The absolute despair that I felt was reflected in the eyes of everyone around me. We marched wearily back to our bus, and then back to school. The hard work that we had put in counted for nothing. The long, grueling day was over, and we had nothing to show for it. Our math hopes were lost.