Yeah, I know it's crap.  Not only did I have to stay within a one-
page limit, but I brilliantly waited till the night before it was
due to write it.  So, uh... bite me.

----------------------------------

"Balancing Act"
They were looking at her, oh, God, they were all looking at her.  Her 
hands shook under the table.  Her heart beat frantically within her 
ribcage.  She opened her mouth to scream.
	"Syllogism," she heard herself saying.  "If A, then B; if B, 
then C; A, therefore C."  She twisted her hands together in her lap, 
miserably wishing that Dr. Elder had called on anyone but her.   Law 
of averages almost dictated that he had to, didn't it?  Twelve people 
in the class, and only one of them was her; didn't that mean that 
eleven times out of twelve it would be someone else on the spot, 
leaving her safe?
	Of course, none of that meant a thing when that one-out-of-
twelve chance came up.  It was her turn this time, and knowing the 
answer didn't make it any easier.
	"Very good, Beth," Elder replied.  "I'm glad to see someone's 
awake in here, anyway."  The others laughed sheepishly.  She smiled a 
little, trying her best to appear at ease, knowing that if she could 
just maintain the illusion a little longer, the class's focus would 
move on to something else and she would be safe again.  For a while, 
anyway.  She felt another scream well up in her throat, and somehow 
managed to turn it into a yawn.  Twenty more minutes.  Less than half 
an hour, and she could go home, where there was no one to stare at 
her, no one to make her feel as though on display like some animal 
in the zoo. 
	She forced herself to focus on the window set into the door, 
on the gently swaying trees she could see through the reinforced glass.
It had been raining recently, and those trees were gorgeously lush 
and green against the slate gray of the sky.  She could almost 
imagine how it would feel to walk among them, to smell the earthy 
smell of things growing, to not only see the wind move through the 
branches, but hear it as well, hear its gentle rustling passage 
through those richly green leaves --
	It took her a moment to notice how totally silent the 
classroom had become.  They were all staring at her, all of them, and 
she realized with a sickening lurch in her already-troubled stomach 
that she had been caught, oh God no, she had been caught at her 
daydreams, and there was no way she could so easily smooth over 
that...
	Elder frowned at her, began the tirade she had heard so many 
times before, but always directed at the others, never at her.  When 
it was someone else in trouble, someone else being paid attention to, 
it was one thing, but when she was the target... 
	Control.  That was the key here, though it might be hard for 
her to remember that with all these eyes upon her.  She just had to 
maintain control.  Not let them see how frightened she was, how 
terrified.  Not let them see how dearly she wished she could simply 
crawl under the table and die there, out of sight of any but the 
small white dog Elder often brought into the classroom.  She would 
not mind the dog's presence.  Dogs did not judge.  Dogs did not 
stare at you with mutely accusing until you wanted to scream.
	She did not scream that day, any more than she had last time, 
or the time before that.  When the class had concluded she walked 
across the campus through the bright warm afternoon with her head down.
To make eye contact with anyone else was to be noticed, and she knew 
she could not stand being noticed one more time today.  Maybe tomorrow 
she would have a firmer grip on her illusion, would be better able to 
pretend that she was not sick with anxiety at the mere thought of 
having to interact with so many people.  For now, all she knew was 
that she had to get home.  No one would stare at her there.  No one 
would expect her to be cheerful, to be happy, to carry on a 
conversation.  She would be alone at last, and if she then broke down 
sobbing or screaming, what of it?  Who would be there to hear her?
	She tried not to think too much about how she would have to 
do all this over again tomorrow.