My eyelids drooped as I poured yet another cup of coffee, so that I could stay awake long enough to study the last thousand pages of my notebook. Maybe there was just too much caffeine, but it seemed to me that the coffee machine was laughing at me, because it seemed to say "you're desperate, go to bed." I had been studying for so long now that the few things I knew for certain at the beginning were now beginning to confuse me. Facts and figures jumbled together in a huge pile in my mind, useless dates and figures that meant absolutely nothing to me in my exhausted state. “Why don’t you go to bed now, darling?” » my mother asked kindly when she found me studying in the dim living room. “It’s really late and you need to get up early.” I groaned. Thanks for reminding me! a little voice shouted in my head. Only four hours left and I should get up for school, and here I am, absolutely helpless despite my cramming efforts. “No, not yet,” I pleaded. “I’ll go to bed soon, I promise. I just want to come back to this last little section. Mom sighed, but nodded, turning on another lamp for me before returning to bed. "You'll ruin your eyes studying in the dark," I heard her mutter as she left the room . Ruining my eyes? Like that's all I have to worry about! After I take my exam tomorrow, my chances of getting accepted into a decent college are gone! never found a decent job and had no chance of getting married or having children Who wanted to marry a loser Visions of myself thirty years from now, alone and poor, came to mind? I could already see myself, sitting in my small one-room apartment, cooking a Kraft dinner in a worn-out pot. My clothes were in tatters and my only companion was a skinny stray cat that I had brought into the house. apartment would never ring and there would never be letters for me in the mail. My family would disown me, my friends would forget me. . . Yes, I decided, my life was most certainly ruined. Although I diligently tried to stay awake, my efforts were in vain..