My name is Liv.  I am eleven years old which means that I would be in 6th grade, but I’m not.  I’m in 8th.  I’m a lot different than most people my age, but I guess I would be more normal if it weren’t for my parents.  I don’t have a lot of freedom in this world, but not in the way you might think.

                                                    ***
“Alright class!   You all did very well on your test, no surprise there, this was a very easy test.  No one got less than an A-.  Come up and get your test when I call your name.”
            My palms were sweaty, I could hear my heart pounding in my chest.  I tried to write down the homework, but my hand was too shaky.  I hadn’t studied last night, I regretted it so much right now.
            “Adam Brookes.”
            My heart pounded louder.
            “Michelle Farrow.”
            The metallic taste of blood danced across my tongue from biting my lip.
            “Liv Nelson.”
            My name sounded foreign.  I walked up and grabbed my test.  I could feel all the color drain from my face.  All I could see was the A- smeared across the top of my paper.  I tried to focus, but I couldn’t.  Everything blurred except for that red A-.  I shoved it into my binder, not wanting anyone to see my score.  The teacher’s mouth kept moving, but I couldn’t hear anything.  Nothing but that ringing in my head.  I started to calm down, little by little.  It’s okay, I told myself, a 90% isn’t bad.  All I knew is that my parents would be extremely upset.

            “Hey Liv guess what!?” Grace chirped.  “I got a 90% on my chemistry test!”
            “Grace that’s awesome,” my voice sounded fake.  I couldn’t tell her what I really thought.  It would ruin her mood.
            “How’d you do on your math test?  Wait, don’t answer that.  You got 100%.  Like always,” she snapped at me.  I hesitated to answer.
            “Actually, no.  I, uh, I got an A-.” Grace made an attempt to act surprised, but she then got serious.
            “And you think that’s bad,” she spat out, trying not to make eye contact with me.
            “Grace-”
            “No,” she interrupted, “I get it.  You always get an A+ on everything so if you get an A- it’s bad.  I get it Liv.  It’s just... surprising I guess.”
            “What you don’t get is that my parents are going to be really mad!   It’s them who make me think that an A- is bad.” I heard my voice getting louder, I had to refrain from screaming.  “I can’t help that!” I sighed, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell.” Grace sighed, her small lips slowly forming into a frown.
            “I have to go,” Grace said, making it clear that this conversation was over.  She walked away, her head hanging low.  Great.  She was happy and now she’s crushed.  I walked home, still thinking about what I should’ve said.
                                                 ***
            “Hello Liv, how was school?” My mom asked without really looking at me as I walked through the door.  I thought for a split second about what I would say and she already got curious. 
            “Liv, is there something you need to tell me?”
            “Yes,” I stated with confidence.  “There are a lot of things I need to tell you.” I hint of confusion outlined her face.
            “Sit down young lady.  DAVE.  Come down here, please.” I had never seen my mom like this.  I could hear my dad trotting down the stairs.  My heart started to pound to the beat of his thumping footsteps. 
            “What is important enough for me to be interrupted during my work?” His loud, booming voice echoed, repeating what he said.
            “I’m sorry we interrupted your work, but Liv says that she has a lot to tell us.” I smiled politely, my dad not noticing.  He was too busy looking at his phone.
            “Well, make it quick.  I have an important phone call coming in 15 minutes,” he said with a stern voice.  Alright, I thought.  Here I go.  I reached into my backpack to grab my math test.
            “I know I’ve gotten 100% on pretty much everything in my life, but, I got a 90% on my math test.” My parents glanced at each other, then my mom spoke up.
            “No phone for a week.  You should’ve been studying.” I could see a look of disappointment coming across her face.  Her perfect child, getting an A- on a math test. 
            “Mom,” I started to choke up, “you don’t understand that a 90% isn’t bad!   Most kids are happy to get a 90%.  You are only happy if I get an A+!” I felt the tears rolling down my cheeks but it didn’t stop me.  “All I ever do is go to school, study, and go to educational camps!   Did you ever think that maybe I wanted to do other stuff?  No!   You didn’t!   All you care about is that I get good grades and that I get into a good college!” My dad opened his mouth, but I knew that whatever was to come out, wouldn’t make me feel any better.
            “Liv-”
            “Don’t even try to apologize dad,” I snapped.
            “Liv Nelson don’t talk to your father like that,” my mom said with force, her stern face never changing.  Unique, bright green eyes sat emotionless on her face.  Her small lips always looked like she had just eaten something sour.  Nothing ever changed.  I took a deep breath in, deciding what I would say.  Then I spoke up.
            “Did you ever think that I wanted to spend time with Grace?  Normal kids ‘hang out’ with their friends.  But me, nope.  I just stay inside and study.  Maybe you never thought that I was good at something besides getting good grades.  Maybe you didn’t know that I was a good dancer.”
            “I don’t understand-”
            “You don’t understand what mom?” I didn’t sound like myself.  I sounded brave.
            “LIV!   Stop interrupting your parents!   I was going to say that I don’t understand why you don’t appreciate what your father and I have done for you.”
            “You’re kidding me.  You’re really asking me that?  You’re wondering why I don’t appreciate you forcing me to go to summer school so that I can skip another grade?  You’re wondering why I don’t appreciate you making me study instead of going somewhere with Grace?  You get mad at me if I don’t get an A+ and you're wondering why I don’t appreciate what you do for me?  That’s sad.” It felt great to get everything out of me.
            “Liv, we only wanted to make you the best person that you could be,” my mom said between sniffs.
            “Mom.  Being the best person I could be would be doing things that make me happy.  This mom,” I paused for the effect, “this doesn’t make me happy.” My parents were speechless.  Finally I broke the awkward silence.
            “And you’re not even going to apologize?  Wow.” Immediately they both said sorry.
            “Liv, I guess we just didn’t realize that you didn’t like what we were doing for you.  I am truly sorry.  You can make plans with Grace this weekend, if you’d like.”
            “But mom, what about all the ‘normal’ stuff that other kids do?  Like, sports.  Can I be in dance?”
            “And how would you be good at dance?  You've never taken lessons or anything.”
            “The field trip that my class took.  We went to a dance studio, an indoor tennis court, and a gymnastics complex.  I was actually good at dance and I enjoyed it.”
            “Your father and I would have to talk about it, but we could look at getting you into some tryouts.” I smiled from ear to ear.  I would finally be a little more normal.
            “So, uh, mom, ha, can I, uh, still have my phone?” I said in best, worst convincing voice.  She let out a small laugh.  I don’t think I had ever seen my mom laugh before then.  Her trenchant features got all scrunched up.
            “I guess so.” I hugged her and my dad then called Grace.
            “Hey Grace!   Are you free this weekend?”
            “Are you free?  Dont’ you have studying to do or something?” Click.  She hung up.  I had forgotten about our conversation earlier.  I panicked and called her again, but she didn’t answer.  I grabbed my phone and ran over to her house which was down the street.  I knocked while catching my breath.
            “Hi Mrs.  Mellet,” I gasped
            “Hello Liv!   You’re all out of breath, what happened?”
            “I need to talk to Grace.”
            “GRACE!   Come down here please!” I saw Grace coming down the stairs, a look of disappointment came across her face as she saw me standing at the door.  Her hazel eyes slowly filling up with tears.
            “I’ll leave you two alone.”
            “What do you want?” Grace asked as she rolled her eyes.  She was really annoying me because of how immature she was being.  She wiped her eyes not wanting me to see, but I knew what she was feeling.
            “Grace I wanted to apologize for what I said earlier.  I talked with my parents about everything and-”
            “About time,” she sighed, while flipping her strawberry blonde hair out of her eyes.
            “Yeah, anyways, they said that I could get involved with things besides school and now they won’t push me so hard at everything.  I hope you can forgive me and also, for real this time, congrats on your chemistry test.” She smiled at me, her dimples standing out, I returned the favor.
            “So, are you free this weekend?” I forced a convincing smile.  “My mom said she could take us wherever we wanted to go.  Well, you know what I mean.”
            “Definitely,” she stated, a trace of forgiveness in her voice.  My smile turned real, no longer just trying to convince her.