Laura stared at the blank page. She glanced up, unsure and afraid, and saw only Mr. Hirschbeck's smug grin, goading her and the rest of her class. Write. Your final exam has no questions. Write.

She doodled for a moment, then erased it. Her pencil staggered across the page like boys at a party that's gone on too long. Write. But Laura had nothing, and that nothing was all she had. Glancing around the room, she saw her classmates furiously scribbling away, knew they were no better off, except that words came out of their pencils, and not hers. Kim? Kim had smiled, stared at the ceiling for a moment, then began to write, coolly and evenly. B—— Laura thought, cutting herself off. This wasn't helping.