Walking Backwards

*sigh* I fear that I am not very popular in my American Lit. class now. Last evening we reviewed the last test I took and the teacher told the class that he would have worried about the difficulty of the test if I hadn't scored a hundred-percent. He said that if someone in the class can make a hundred, then no one else had an excuse and that none of the questions would be thrown out. He then went on to say that the final grade of the class was scored on a curve and that whomever had the highest amount of points would determine the scale for the class. The girl who sits next to me leaned over and told me that I better start slacking. She said it as a joke, of course, but I still feel very uncomfortable. When did it become so unacceptable to do well in a class? I really try my hardest and don't miss a lesson. I read all my homework and I study, why should I feel like I am doing something wrong? I do, though. I feel like I should cover up my grades and put my papers away as soon as possible. I hate feeling like that. Tonight, my philosophy class meets and I hope that it turns out to be a little more pleasant. We are getting back our first major papers (mine is on democratic individualism in both the Platonic dialogues Apology and Crito and in the civil rights movement - I know you are dying to read it ;)) and I think I did well. I am just tired of being made to feel like an outcast because I work so hard.