Excellent

She said I was excellent. She passed behind me and I kept my eyes fixed on my notepad and water bottle, and she said excellent. She said excellent afterwards, and all the way through the seminar. Then she emailed me that evening to say that it really was excellent. Excellent.
I presented, and my hands shook and my voice quivered and I thought my heart would beat right out of my chest. But I was heart-burstingly proud of every word I said. I snuck a look at Lauren whenever I could, and just having her there calmed me down. And right next to her was my lecturer, smiling and nodding and reminding me how much I love university, this course, reading and writing and thinking and talking about it all. I can't stop now.