A. 582: A Short Story

“300, 241,..582..1, math is fun, 21, 77, 30…”
November 29, monday. Ugh, math test day. I wasn’t worried though, because I knew the answers to every problem. Some people were just too slow when taking their tests. Because I didn’t want mom to yell at me, I trudged out of my bed to clean myself up. Before heading downstairs, I licked my dried lips once more, looked in the mirror to calm down my dark, frizzy hair, and recited my song of math.
One more one hundred to add to my collection. My heart warmed at my name, Kathya Curiel, next to the clean 100 and the smiley face at the top of the chapter 6 test, but at the same time, a pit was rotting inside me. It’s not right, but who doesn’t want to look smart? Now, I’ll wait until the next math test

rolls around.
After P.E., I rushed past the big clump of girls blocking the way in front of the locker room door. Can’t they just mo-
“Hi Kathya!”
“WHA-oh...Hey Emily.” I replied in a frustrated tone.
“...Where are you going? You look so busy!”
“I need to meet…a friend. And yes, I am busy, so bye!”
“Wait, Kathya!” she let out.
Stepping in the student-less lunch math club, I greeted Mrs. Pool. I guess no one wanted to join the “7th grade Math-Is-Fun club” this year; Mrs. Pool claimed that it was full every year before. I’m not quite sure if I believe that.
Soon, Mrs. Pool flashed me a smile, and slowly stood up, telling me that she was waiting me to come so she could run to take out her lunch from the teacher’s room.
“You can relax until I come back.”
Sure.

I smiled back and replied in a teacher’s pet way. Fumbling for my phone, I sped and almost tripped to her desk. Her desk was full of heaps of “flying” papers. She always kept the answer key under a certain folder, but where was the folder? She would be here any moment from the teacher’s room, and the stupid folder just hid to nowhere! At the same time, I had to reorganize the stacks so it looked clean, but time still ticked.
    “Oh. No. Oh. No, OHHH here it is!!”
Quickly, I snapped pictures of the answer key for chapter 7, and I dashed back to my seat, sitting on my phone. This time, though, my stomach was flipping around even more than usual, like something was beating it around. This just was not the right thing to do. Click.
“Have you been enjoying yourself?”
“It was okay.”
Not knowing anything, she laughed, and I flashed my convincing smile, but it died down quickly. It wasn’t the right thing to do, and I could feel myself rotting inside. I was going to get caught sooner or later.
Before leaving the class, I needed to tell her something important. I wouldn’t feel fresh without telling her what was on my mind. I was biting my already worn down nails as I slid slowly towards her.
“Mrs. Pool, did you see the baseball game yesterday?”
“YES. They won! To the playoffs 4 years in a row!”
“Yeah, it was a fun game to

watch.”
I didn’t even watch the game.

Easy as pie. The next day, I whipped through the 5 sheets of paper like a bullet. At least I was born with high memory capacity. Just in case, I eyed the turn-in basket and waited for two other people to turn in their test papers, so I wouldn’t be “too fast” and “too suspicious”. As I wandered back to my seat, however, Mrs. Pool called me over.
  “Please see me after class.”
My stomach churned. I churned. My whole world churned. Did she catch me? Did she just want to talk about another baseball game? What do I do? Maybe she just wants to tell me a funny joke after class. Yes, that’s it.
“Did you want to see me?”
“Yes...Yesterday after school, one of your classmates told me that they saw you in my class during lunch clubs, specifically looking through the papers on my desk. Is that true? “
Yes, yes that’s it. I did it, I’m the one who’s been cheating off all your tests this whole school year. Punish m-
“ ...No. I think that person saw the wrong person, or they might even be making it up.”
My mouth spoke before I could convince it.
“Are you sure?”
“...No.”
Gulp. I stomped the toe of my shoe on the ground.
Her eyebrows scrunched inwards, and she took off her glasses to look straight at

me.
    “What do you mean no?”
    “I mean yes.”
    “… You can tell me the truth.”
    My head dropped down and faced the floor. A tear fell from my eye and trailed down my face.
    “I’m sorry..I really am…”
    Creak.  Mrs. Pool, my mother, the principal and I exited the office. They told subtle jokes about their kids, and they were laughing. I tried to speed walk out the door, but my mother caught me, so I had to stand on the ground that felt like pricks. Whatever the subject was, women spoke for too long. After what felt like decades, my mother and I stepped into the empty, echoing hallway.
    “You know what you did is extremely bad, right? I have to be disappointed in you about this”
“I know. I’m also disappointed in myself, probably even more than you, because I didn’t stop when I knew it was wrong.”
My mother’s lips formed into a kind of sad smile. She was calm, like she understood me. Maybe, it would be all right.
    Even today, it was still a challenge to wake up in the morning. However, school didn’t look as dark as it used to be in my brain. An F on that test(for cheating) was obvious, but after taking time to actually learn the concepts, my mathematic vision wasn’t as foggy either. After throwing away fake 100’s, I felt like I was on a fresh blank page.
    “Hi Emily!” I exclaimed, smiling widely.
    “Oh! Hi Kathya! You look happy today.”
    “Yeah. I was wondering… if I could sit with you during lunch today?”
    “Of course. Meet me in front of the lunch line.” she gave me a welcoming thumbs up.
    “Okay, bye!”
    Rinnnngg! Math class went by quickly; we had a lot of material to cover. My classmates shoved their notebooks in their backpacks and rushed out the door like something was chasing them.
“Hello Mrs. Pool. Did you see the baseball game last night?”
“Hello Kathya! Did you watch it?”
“I was actually at the game! The pitcher was amazing last night, and there was even a part when the ball went through a camera lens! It was so funny!”
“Yes, yes it was.”
It was going to be all right.