The Anticipation Builds
Thirty minutes passed. The sounds of furious scribbling filled the air. Mrs. Higgins’ smile was starting to waver—it’s hard to hold a pose for that long under such intense scrutiny. “Are we getting close to finishing, artists?” she chirped cheerfully, trying to break the tension.
A chorus of “No!” and “Almost!” echoed back. One student, a particularly literal-minded boy named Timmy, shouted, “Wait, Mrs. Higgins, stop moving your nose! It’s messing up my shading!” She froze, a sudden knot of anxiety forming in her stomach. Shading? Since when did third graders worry about nose shading? What exactly were they drawing? The anticipation was shifting from excitement to a mild, nagging dread.