Math Mania

“What did you get on your test?” I reached over and grabbed Gary’s paper. He reached over and grabbed it back.

He smiled weakly, and his answer was pathetic. “An F.”

I grinned. “Beat ya! I got an A.”

At recess my teacher, Ms. Lovell, asked me to stay in. Usually that wasn’t a good sign. She said, “Travis, what do you think you could have done this morning instead of torturing Gary after the test?”

“Gee, Ms. Lovell, I guess I could have offered to help him, but he is just awful in math!”

“Well, Travis, sometimes you are aren’t so good in other subjects, but you just happen to be a wizard at math. Why don’t you trade time for the stuff you are good at, and he can help you with your writing? Will you just give it a try?”

“For how long?”

“There is another math project I’m assigning. I will give you a week to work on it. How does a week sound?”

“Okay.”

After lunch, Ms. Lovell assigned us partners for the next math project. My partner was Gary, of course. We worked and worked—after school, before school, and on the weekend. When the project was due, we proudly presented it to the class. Gary knew what he was talking about, and I wrote a great report.

Then, the big surprise. Ms. Lovell gave us a pop quiz on the material! When she handed it back, Gary grabbed my paper. “Hey, Travis, what did you get?”

I stared in amazement. His paper had an A+ on it! Guess Ms. Lovell’s idea had worked, a little too well! I moaned and grabbed my paper before he could see I only got an A.