Writing Prompt Wednesday: Exam Prep

So my next attempt to spice up this blog is posting weekly writing exercises I'll be doing this. These are based on prompts I found in the Writer's Tool Box. They'll be rough, generally unedited and probably won't make a lot of sense, but it might be fun to post them anyway. Who knows, maybe an actual story will end up developing out of them. Even if one doesn't, you can enjoy laughing at how I struggle to connect all the parts of the prompts I get.

This week's prompts are the following:

First Sentence: The only way John could pass the exam was by cheating.
Non sequitur: "If you don't take chances," said the man in striped pajamas, "you might as well not be alive."

Last Straw: the day her mother slapped her face

Here's what I came up with. Don't worry, I know it sucks.

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The only way John could pass the exam was by cheating. That's what he told me when he showed up at my room Thursday night.

"There has to be another way," I told him, "We'll think of something." I can't lose you too, I didn't say.

We spent the whole night brainstorming and studying. I quizzed him, but there was too much material, too much at stake. Around 4am, I began to think that maybe John was right.

Sagging into the couch we shared, I dropped my face into my hands, a sense of defeat and dread pressing down on my shoulders.

"Cassie, don't worry," John said.

Just then, my brother Kyle ambled in wearing his trademarked pajamas. "If you don't take chances," said the man in striped pajamas, "you might as well not be alive."

I stared up at him for a few moments before I realized he was sleepwalking again. Sighing heavily, I stood and carefully guided him back to his bed. Once Kyle was taken care of, I returned to John.


"I can't help worrying," I told him, continuing our conversation from before, "You're the last friend I have in this trial. If you don't make it through this exam, I'll be alone." I can't lose you too. I left this unsaid again. John was already too stressed out.

He looked at me, brown eyes dark with concern. "Then I'll have to do whatever it takes to pass. Life and death are at stake after all." I swallowed, but didn't argue. He wasn't wrong.

Ordinarily I would never agree to helping him cheat. But everything had changed the day my mother had slapped my face and told me the truth about the trials. We had no choice but find a way to pass.
It was the only way to save everyone, including her.

John and I set back to work, this time coming up with the best way to sneak additional information in for him. I didn't need to worry about that. I was a ringer already. A eidetic memory will do that for you. Everything we'd read that long night was already lodged in my brain, irrevocably etched in my mind just like every other experience I'd ever had. John wasn't so lucky.

---

Okay. On Friday, I'll continue my 30 Things series.

Until then.