Emma’s Huge Math Quiz

Emma walked into the sour smelling, dim looking, silent, classroom. She quietly walked to the back of the classroom, where her desk is. She was never the first person in her class to get into class, but today she was. People stampeded into the room like they were a bunch of mad buffaloes. Emma sat and stared into space and she didn’t even notice the people bumping into her desk, snickering, and saying mean things about her that weren’t true. The teacher was already in the classroom as classmates were streaming in as if they were a meandering river.

When everybody was settled down and ready for the day,                                                                                   the teacher calls, “Okay class. Time for our unit 2 math quiz!”  

“It will be okay Emma,” Emma’s friend, Nora, assured her.        

“Yeah, it will be okay,” Annalise said.

They turned around and their pencils shot off like math rockets. Emma took a deep breath, and begun.

“Okay, I can do this,” Emma told herself. 

She stared at her paper. “Okay. 4 x 6=? 6, 12, + 12 = 24.” Emma’s head turned to Annalise’s paper.

“ Emma, you have to do your own work,” Annalise whispered.

Emma’s head turned to Nora’s paper. Dang, Emma thought. She was already on the other page. Emma slammed her head on her desk because she was frustrated.

“Emma?” the teacher whisper-shouted suddenly.

Emma looked up at the teacher. He made a gesture to come to his desk. She walked up to him.

“You often need help with multiplication, so how would you like to start seeing Mrs.L?” he whispered to Emma. Emma stared at him for what seemed to be a long time. She did not know what to say back to him.

“Sure,” Emma said to him.

The next morning, Emma went to Mrs.L’s office.

“ Why, hello Emma! I have been expecting you,” Mrs.L said in a jolly voice.

Emma only managed a weak smile. “Please come in,” Mrs.L insisted. As the days passed, Emma began seeing Mrs.L more and more. Now, Emma had improved so much, she didn’t even have to do her usual 20 math facts when she got home!

Now, she had improved so much, she had learned her basic facts! One day, at math time, as Emma was happily skipping down the hall to Mrs.L’s office,  Emma heard a voice.

“WAIT!” someone shouted, as if their life depended on it.

Emma stopped skipping. She was curious, so she walked around the corner. It was her teacher. She suddenly stopped because he was looming above her. “Emma, I think you are smart enough to start to stay in class now. You know your multiplication tables, right?” Emma hesitated. Once again, she had no clue what to say. She could take it or leave it.

“I will start staying in class at math time,” Emma managed to say.

Emma was proud to have said that. She felt accomplished. The day after that, Emma stayed in class at math time. “Annalise and Nora were right!” Emma thought. “I can do this!” Now, Emma got to rock math, just like Annalise said, and Emma could not have felt happier. Emma had felt a LOT better about herself and the feeling of taking a multiplication test.