Catholic School Part 3

I panicked. My hands were sweating and shaking. I felt like I was going to throw up. I was instantly convinced Mrs. Edwards would deem me too stupid to move up to second grade. I tried not to cry as I stared down in terror at my grey paper. 

I snapped to attention when Mrs. Edwards said to put our pencils down. She explained that we'd now go over the worksheets. My panic grew. I looked up from my desk, hoping I wouldn't throw up.

"Haha, these were all tricks. Draw a line? It didn't have to stay in the maze; you could just draw a line from the girl to the orange!"

Most of the class laughed while I was trapped in a neurodivergent hell. Never in a million years would I have thought it was acceptable just to draw a line anywhere on the paper. We were taught to be so rigid and rule-abiding; how was this okay? We couldn't even walk down the hall unless we were in a perfectly straight, quiet line and usually had to have our hands folded in front of us. What gave this lady the idea that this was funny or okay and not very confusing to an already traumatized little girl? 

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