A moment of ominous vanity

What does it mean to be a straight A student?

The definition reveals itself to me just recently, and in what other perfect time it could have done so than during these final exams. This definition in nature may vary from one nerd to another, but as mine spells itself out to me I come to realise that mine is probably the most crooked of all.

To be a straight A student means realising that there is something sweeter than watching anime or manga, or being high with booze, or the glamour of popularity. It means choosing the satisfaction of a list of grades made up of only one letter of the alphabet, and knowing that you can go no higher than this. This is my drug. And I am dangerously addicted.

To be a straight A student means that you are forced into a seat where the blinding limelight shines all the time and it never ceases no matter how much your eyes are hurting or how uncomfortable your derriere gets because the penalty of jumping of that seat is a lifetime of "What happenned to you?" or "I guess I was wrong about you" and not in a good way.

To be a straight A student does not mean that you assume a position above others and declare yourself superior because if you ever decide to take the crown somebody will always turn around and ask "Who do you think you are?" and while you take a quick second to find a witty reply that might save your face, the ugly realisation that there really is no good answer to that comes tumbling down on you and your crown will turn to thorns.

To be a straight A student means being vulnerable and fragile to nervous breakdown and/or suicide. There are two kinds of straight A students. Those who get them with no effort at all and are true geniuses, and those who work their bones so that they can borrow the shoes of a true genius and try them on for a couple of days. Both are vulnerable, the latter more so than the former. Sooner or later, our grades will become more variable, then we pretenders must realise that all our work, all the hours of sleep we sacrificed and all the money we fed to tuition centers cannot give us the innate talents of a true genius. We are like chickens who try to match an eagle. We can try and try and fly to the roof, but we will never rule the sky. And when we realise this, we discover the kind of hopelessness a dedicated soldier experiences when he suddenly has nothing to fight for. All we can do is accept that there will always be someone smarter than you, and the most you can do to make yourself feel better is act how little you care about the fact or take a one way trip to the top floor of the tallest building.

Whats your definition of a straight-A student?