"You are too smart to get anything but A's."

Intelligence was the bane of my existence.

A curse I couldn't escape.

Plagued by guilt and hammered by anxiety test after test came back bloody and slash with the infamous red sword.

Confidence shot. Embarrassment perhaps. Who was I to fail-figuratively- I who was like the big banks of America.

Failure was not an option.

Harder course load gave way to excuses and the present haunted the past.

Disappointment hung thick like pea soup in the air. Until it dissipated with bitter feeling and regret.