The Candy

I walk up to the chemistry professor as he's sitting behind his table at the front of class. "I was wondering if--when you have time, if you could look over my grades for me, and tell me what should be my goals for the next midterm and final if I want to get an A in the class," I tell him.

He sighs, and I can't tell if he's really irritated or pretending to be. "You should have asked me this ten minutes ago."

In his defense, it was time to start lab.

He gets me into a private room, and says, "If you want an A in this class, you have to get an A on the midterm and final. I will not give you an A unless you get A's on the tests."

I nod.

The chemistry professor then tries to comfort me by saying that he got B's in some of his chemistry classes. 

Later, during lecture, for reasons I don't understand, he gave me a candy from the bag he had in the front of the room. The candy is for students who attempt problems on the board, only I haven't been up there in about a week.