If I Could Only Erase Shame

You know that removable eraser on the end of your mechanical pencil? Well mine just rolled onto the floor. It's only a few feet away from my desk; it's so close that I could probably bend over and pick it
up without having to get out of my seat. However, I don't want to risk having a repeat of the "desk incident".

On my first day of Freshman year, the day when all the upperclassmen were there, I was putting lead into my mechanical pencil. I was happy because I had almost successfully made it through the entire day without humiliating myself; a rare accomplishment for me. To fill my pencil with lead, I have to remove the eraser; so that's what I did. I had set the eraser down on my desk, but it rolled right off. This desk had a bar on one side, which only allows you to sit down in the desk on a certain side. So, of course my eraser fell to the side with the bar, so I couldn't stand up without attracting attention. I don't like to attract attention to myself.

My eraser was close to the foot of the student who sat behind me. "Hey, can you kick that eraser over here please?" I whispered to the student. Now thinking about it, that was probably one of the stupidest questions I could have ever asked. I wanted his giant foot to kick a tiny eraser, instead of him just picking it up and handing it to me. I wonder why he never even thought to just pick it up and hand it to me because it would have saved my pride. So he kicks the eraser, and I reach for it, but the bar is in my way. I am so close to picking it up, that I reach as far as I can, over the bar, to get it. 'Just a little further!' I think. Then the next thing I know, my entire desk and I are laying sideways on the floor. Yes, I had fallen over WITH my desk, to pick up a stupid eraser. The worst part being, I was wearing a skirt, so people could see my underwear!

The moment I fell, the class was immeadiately silent. Then I heard a small snicker and the next thing I knew everybody was laughing at me. Looking back on it, I would have laughed at me too. It was hilarious, but it was also so embarssing. I was ashamed of how I was afraid of drawing attention to myself by standing up to get the eraser, but ironically I drew attention to myself by falling on my face and showing my underwear. At the end of the year, our class did a 'what was the funniest moment in class' type of thing. The number one answer was my "desk incident".

So now I have a choice to make. I can either stand up and pick up the eraser, or I can reach for it, fall out of my desk, and relive my shameful moment.