This Will Not Test Well

(I sit at the front by the teacher’s desk. When my fellow students come up to talk to him, it is often all too easy to overhear, even though I try to ignore them. The day after a test, we’ve gotten them back and spend about half the fifty-minute period going over missed problems. First, we cover those a lot of people got wrong, then those people ask for help with. After we finish, we have a moment while the teacher puts a few things away and calls up the next lesson on the projector. A student comes up to him, and I witness this question.)

Student: “I missed the test yesterday. Can I make it up?”

Teacher: *incredulous look* “Not after we went over it!”

(It felt like it took all my strength not to do a physical face-palm.)