Annie sat nervously at the dining room table. Her homework was spread out before her, but she couldn't concentrate on it. All she could focus on was the test paper next to her notebook. The one that was filled of red marks and had a large D at the top.

Annie couldn't believe it when she got her test back. She was an A student. She'd always been an A student. No matter what the subject was, she always excelled at it. That's why she had been pulled out of her regular classes and placed in all those AP classes. So she could be challenged and grow as a student. She's always put in the time to excel, and because of all her hard work the worst grade she had ever gotten before today was an A- a few times. But this…

She should have taken comfort in the fact that she wasn't the only one who did poorly on that test. Most of the other students in the class had failed, and the few who didn't only managed to scrap by with a D. But Annie knew that wouldn't make her mother any less disappointed in her.

That was the worst thing about all of this. As badly as the grade was making Annie feel, her mother's reaction was going to make her feel worse. Annie excelling in school equaled being loved when it came to her parents. The only time she heard her mother say 'I love you' to her was when she showed her an A. When her mother saw that Annie had gotten a D, she was going to be devastated.

Annie looked up as she heard her mother's car pull into the driveway. A few moments later the door opened and her mom walked in. "Annie. Did you get the results of the calculus test you took yesterday?"

Annie tried to control her shaking as she got up and brought the test to her mother. "You have…Mrs. Neilson said all parents have to sign it and hand it back to her," she said as she handed the paper to her mother.

Ms. Edison's face became stone cold as she looked at the test results. "What's this?"

"It's the calculus test I took-."

"I can see that, don't act cute!" she snapped, causing Annie to flinch. "I mean what's this? You got a D on a test. How is that even possible? Were you goofing off or something?"

"It…it was a really hard test. Almost everyone in the class failed it-."

"I don't care if everyone in the school failed a test. You don't fail!"

"I didn't fail," Annie squeaked out.

"Oh right, you got a D. That's so much better." Annie took a step back as her mom's face grew purple with rage. "Do you have any idea what this will do to your GPA? You're stupidity might just have cost you a scholarship! Did you even study for it, or did you think you'd slack off and then just magically do well?"

"I studied," Annie cried. "I studied from when I got home until 11 at night."

"Then that wasn't enough because look at the grade you got." Annie's mom waved the test in her daughter's face. "You're an Edison, and Edisons get A's, not D's. If you need to study all night to get an A, then you suck it up and deal with the lack of sleep. You think you won't be pulling all-nighters once you're in college? Or won't have to work overnight once you get a job in a hospital? If you want to be successful, you have to put in the time, which you clearly didn't do. I can't even look at you right now."

With that Ms. Edison thrust the test into her daughter's hands and started walking out of the room. "Mom wait, you still have to sign it."

"I'm not signing my name to that atrocity."

"But I'll get in trouble if you don't!" Annie cried.

"Then you should have thought of that before you slacked off," her mother cruelly replied before storming out of the room.

Tears flowed down Annie's cheeks as she tried to keep her crying silent. She had studied for the test. It was a really hard college level test in an AP class, and she had studied for hours for it. But her mother didn't care about that. All she cared about was the letter on the top of the page.

"Maybe she's right," Annie said in a tear choked voice. "If I had studied a few more hours I might have done better. If I had put in the time I could have done it."

Annie went back to the table to continue doing her homework, forcing herself to put her feelings aside so she could concentrate. A few hours later she looked up as her mother came downstairs. "I'm going out to get something to eat," she said simply.

"Alright. I'll just get my coat and-."

"No. You need to stay here and work on raising your grades back up," she coldly replied.

"Okay," Annie softly said as her mother walked out of the house. She worked on her school work for another half an hour before she heated up a can of soup and ate it by herself at the kitchen table.

Later that night she got on her computer and started researching ways to keep herself awake so she could study for as long as she needed to. She found some things like caffeine pills and herbal remedies, but it was on several college message boards that kept mentioning one thing. A drug that would give her tons of energy and let her both pull all night study sessions and make her bright and focused the next morning. A wonder drug called Adderall.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Zack stared out the window of the school bus as it brought him home. He had had a spelling test today and it hadn't gone well. He had passed but just barely, having scraped by with a D.

He didn't know what he was going to do when he got home and had to tell his parents. He dad would probably yell at him, but his mom would be the one who'd be really mad. She was always telling them to do their best and work hard to get good grades. He remembered when she had yelled at Hazel when she got a C on a test. He couldn't imagine when she was going to do when she saw the D he had gotten.

He hated that he was so bad at spelling. Everyone knew it was his worst subject. But he had always at least been able to at least get a B on his previous tests. But this time, this time had just been a catastrophe. Even after doing those word drills with the flash cards he still couldn't get it.

How can anyone spell photosynthesis anyway?, the eleven year old asked himself. It's impossible.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm home!" Annie called out as she stepped into the house.

"Careful. Captain Drama is having another episode," Hazel said, not even looking up from her book as she stretched out on the living room couch.

"Please don't call your brother that," Annie asked before sighing. "What's wrong now?"

"I don't know, something about a spelling test or something. He was talking about running away to Siberia over it."

Annie went upstairs and knocked on her son's door. "Zack, its mom. Can I come in?" She waited a few moments for a response, but after not getting one she turned the knob and walked in anyway.

"I'm sorry," Zack quickly said the second he saw his mom.

"Zack, calm down, alright? What's wrong?"

"I got a D on my spelling test."

"Oh, Zack." Annie sat on the bed next to her son and put her arm around him. "I'm really sorry. I know how hard you-."

"I didn't mean to, please don't kill me," he quickly said, cutting his mother off. "I'll do better the next time."

Annie pulled her arm off as she looked at her son with concern. "Zack, what's wrong? Why are you acting like this?"

"I failed a test. Aren't you furious?"

"First off, you didn't fail it, you got a D. And second, I'm not going to kill you just because you got a bad grade on a test."

"Then how come you and dad yelled at Hazel when she got a C?" he asked.

"Zack, we yelled at Hazel for that because she didn't try and slacked off. We were mad at her because she could have gotten a better grade if she'd studied instead of watched TV. But I know you studied for that test, and that spelling is really hard for you. Obviously I want you to do well in school. But if you try your best and get a bad grade I'm not going to be mad about it."

Zack took a deep breath, feeling less nervous then he had been. "Really?"

"Yeah." She frowned as she thought about things. "What did you think I was going to do when you told me anyway?"

"I don't know," he said with a shrug. "I just know you really want us to do good in school."

"Yes, I want you and your sister to be successful in school. But I don't want you to be afraid to tell me if you don't do well, especially if you trying." She paused for a moment before looking at her son very seriously. "Zack, I don't ever want you to think that I won't love you if you get a bad grade or if you mess up. There's nothing you could do that would make me or your father not love you. You know that right?"

Zack nodded his head as he hugged his mother. "I'm sorry. I just freak out if I don't do well in school."

"And that's how we know you take after me," she said with a laugh. She tousled his hair before getting up and going downstairs.

As she looked through the cupboards for something to make for dinner Annie thought about her son's situation. She knew spelling was really hard for him, and hated that he struggled even though he was trying. Maybe we should get him a tutor, she thought.

But even though she wanted both her kids to do well in school, she meant what she said. Unlike her own mother, Annie refused to have them think good grades equaled love. She might push her kids to try their hardest, but she refused to have them go to pieces over not living up to unrealistic expectations.

A part of her worried she might be inadvertently doing that, given how afraid Zack had been to tell her about his spelling grade. But as she thought about it she chalked it up more to his general personality. When it came to school Zack took after her, wanting to be the best. Just like Hazel took after Jeff in that regard, always trying to coast and take the easy way out.

Guess you really can't pick which personality traits your kids will get, she thought with a chuckle.