Character Choices/Actions: Short Fiction Practice Test

Read the excerpt:

At the coffee shop, the tip jar sat by the register with a handwritten sign: “College Fund.” The barista misheard Lena’s order twice. Each time, Lena repeated it without raising her voice, smiling with her lips but not her eyes. When the drink finally came out wrong again, Lena took it, thanked the barista, and walked to the condiment station. There, she poured the drink into the trash, rinsed the cup, and placed a five-dollar bill into the tip jar on her way out.

What does Lena’s thanking the barista, discarding the wrong drink, and still leaving a generous tip most strongly reveal about her?

Read the excerpt:

In the antique shop, the owner unlocked the glass case with a key on a ribbon around her neck. Inside lay a silver compass, its lid engraved with initials worn soft. “Still works,” the owner said, and set it in Owen’s palm. Owen flipped it open, watched the needle swing, then snapped it shut with more force than necessary. “It’s for my brother,” he said, though his brother had been dead for six years. At the register, Owen paid in cash and refused the small velvet pouch, asking instead for plain tissue paper.

What does Owen’s claiming the compass is for his brother and refusing the velvet pouch most strongly reveal about him?