The message stayed in my head all night.
You will fail on purpose.
I still didn't understand it.
Fail what?
At school, the answer arrived too quickly.
Math test.
I stared at the paper.
For once, I actually knew the answers.
Every single one.
That felt illegal.
My phone buzzed softly in my pocket.
I didn't look.
I already knew what it would say.
I picked up my pen.
Then I stopped.
Fail… on purpose.
I wrote the wrong answer.
Then another.
Then another.
This felt wrong.
And stupid.
And slightly fun.
Halfway through, I started smiling.
"What are you smiling at?" my friend whispered.
"Math," I whispered back.
He looked scared.
After the test, everyone complained.
"That was hard."
"I definitely failed."
I stayed quiet.
For the first time, I really had.
During lunch, my phone buzzed.
Unknown Number:
How did it feel?
I typed:
Bad. Also kind of funny.
The reply came fast.
Unknown Number:
Why funny?
I thought.
Then typed.
Because no one noticed.
A pause.
Then:
Unknown Number:
Exactly.
On the way home, I thought about that.
I failed.
Nothing happened.
No shouting.
No disaster.
At home, another message came.
Unknown Number:
Failure is only loud when you fear it.
I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling.
So this was the lesson.
Not about winning.
Not about hiding.
About choosing.
I checked my test paper again.
Big red marks.
I smiled.
Tomorrow, I would face the result.
And for once…
I wasn't worried.