Aiden stared at the Spanish test in front of him, his palms sweating. He had been studying hard for weeks, but he just couldn't seem to get the hang of conjugating verbs. As his teacher, Mrs. Flores, handed out the test, Aiden's heart raced.

"You can do this, Aiden," his friend Cooper whispered. "I know you've been working really hard." Aiden gave Cooper a small smile, but he couldn't shake the feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach.

When Mrs. Flores instructed them to begin, Aiden carefully read through the first question. He knew the answer, but as he wrote it down, his hand trembled. The second question was even harder, and Aiden found himself struggling to remember the right verb ending.

Sitting next to Aiden, Dana noticed his distress. "Hey, you've got this," she said, giving him an encouraging smile. "Just take a deep breath and focus." Aiden tried to follow her advice, but the words on the page seemed to blur together.

As the minutes ticked by, Aiden's confidence continued to waver. He glanced around the room, watching as his classmates wrote with ease. Violet, who was always at the top of the class, finished her test in record time, leaving Aiden feeling even more inadequate.

Just as Aiden was about to give up, he remembered the extra credit opportunity Mrs. Flores had mentioned. If he could just answer a few bonus questions correctly, he might be able to make up for his struggles on the main test. Determined, Aiden refocused his efforts and tackled the bonus section with newfound determination.