I was kind of past giving a shit. The teacher and I hated each other’s guts, but she couldn’t do a damn thing to me because I was top of my class (ESL at least) and represented my school multiple times in national competitions, and any attempt on her part to sabotage me would have been obvious. The worst thing she could do was mark one of my answers incorrect because I had used an American synonym instead of the British word (I think it was “trunk” instead of “boot”), and when I reminded her that she had marked it correct for two other students, she went back and crossed them out. My classmates knew and didn’t resent me for it.

I took an option to graduate early from that class mostly out of spite, but partly because I knew I couldn’t keep biting my tongue.