The First Time Hurts

First period today, my class had gym. We had to run the beep test. The average grade 7 girl of my class made it to 3/9 and I made it to 4/7. It should have been 4/9 but the teachers said it didn't count? Maybe I didn't quite reach the line. So, at 1/4, Farkle dropped out with a 10%. When he came to me, he said he got 1/4 and was the first out. Somehow, he was happy. I didn't say anything. Then I just blurted out, "You failed." "W-What?" He said. "That's like 10 percent, Farkle." I said. I put both my hands on his shoulders to set him straight. "Look at me." I said. Farkle looked me right in the eyes. "You failed." "B-But..." He said. I let go of him. "There's always next time. Don't worry, your mark is only based on if you try." I said taking him to tell Miss Walz his grade. He said 1/4 and she gave him below 20%, that's for sure. "Okay." He said sounding fine. He walked away tall and proud. "You're actually okay?" I asked him. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be? It's just a fail..." Farkle said drifting off. He sighed and sat down. "No, you're not okay. What's the matter?" I asked sitting beside him. "I failed the test, Riley. Do you know what it feels like to fail for the first time?" He asked. "I don't remember. I was 7." I said. "We all fail, Farkle. Your dad failed something, remember? Come on, accept this just once, and move on. Besides, it's not like you failed anything else." I said. I spoke wrong. We went to L.A. and got our tests back. They were out of 10. Farkle got a 4. He just slumped down in his desk. "Again? What's wrong?" I asked. L.A. was right after gym. "4/10, Riley. 4! I failed again!" He said. I was shocked. I went over to his desk and put my hand on his shoulder. "You're okay. You've got this next one in the bag." I said. So, we had a math unit test next. Farkle finished in 5 minutes, 25 questions. I'd assume he did well. Let's just hope. The first time hurts, I feel his pain. Poor little Farkle. I'll make sure he's okay, though.