After I found out I went through all the phases.
How could it be true? How could I get such a low grade on a test? It couldn't be me. It couldn't possibly be true.
Maybe I'd accidentally filled out the wrong bubbles on the scantron. I needed to get my hands on the test and find out what kind of a conspiracy I was embroiled in. Had someone switched the tests? Were they, perhaps, involved in a vast skewing of the class gpa for some nefarious purpose of their own? I had to find out. And I figured, when I found out, that I'd get them for it. Somehow, some way, I'd get my revenge. Or maybe I could swap for extra credit?
Unfortunately, all my conspiracy theories were annihilated in one fell swoop of a red professorial pen. No one had manipulated my answers, no one had accidentally filled in extra holes in the scantron. No one was to blame but me. I'd assumed too much (and yes, i know, i know what the word implies), I'd gotten cocky, and now I'm paying for it.
My solem vow today: never take the easy classes for granted, because apparantly they will turn on you if you don't watch them. Learn to mistrust the overconfidence for the sham that it is. Next time, I won't believe I know it until I know it letter perfect. Next time, I won't believe he's going to be easy on us just because he speaks with a bit of a drawl and makes funny jokes in class. I should've known the jokes were just to knock us off our guards.