The Story Of An Anonymous Girl ✔

Chapter 14

MIA

Oliver enters the class, panting and breathing heavily. He glares at me while walking over to the desk next to me, without breaking eye contact. I can't help but giggle.

"You are gonna regret tickling me, Thompson." He whispers, sitting next to me.

"We'll see about that, Anderson." I reply without making eye contact with him.

"Sure."

"Now, will you let me study?"

"Yes. No. Maybe."

"Ugh."

"Morning to the three of you." The Mathematics teacher says, entering the class and putting all his materials on the table.

"Good Morning!" Elijah is the only other person in the class.

"Ah. We have a new face. My name is Luke Miller. Your name Ms....." His eyes are stuck on me, not moving.

"Mia."

"Full name, please, Mia."

"Mia Thompson."

"Is that your full name? I presume that a person's full name includes their middle name as well. Am I right, Ms Thompson?"

"Yes."

"So please tell me your full name. Where are you from, and why did you leave your previous school and relocate to Miami?"

"My name is Amelia Grace Thompson. I am from Toronto, Canada. My parents are engineers for Microsoft. They were promoted to a higher post which included relocation to Miami. They basically get promoted every two years, so not a big deal, honestly. So, I change schools every two years."

"Which university do you plan to go to?"

"Harvard and Stanford are my first choices."

"You are ambitious. I like an ambitious person. Can hardly find any these days. How were your grades in Year 10?"

"I had taken Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths, English, Accounting, Business Studies, Economics, Spanish and Computer Science. I got A*'s in all of them."

"Well, looks like Mr Anderson finally has got some competition. He took the same subjects as you and got A*'s in all of them as well."

"I guess it's a friendly competition." I reply promptly.

"Very well. Let's start with the first chapter - Quadratics, shall we?"

"Can anybody tell me what a quadratic equation is?

My hand immediately shoots up. "Ms Thompson, please do the honours."

"In algebra, a quadratic equation is an equation that can be rearranged in standard form as ax raised to the power 2+bx+c=0 where x represents an unknown, and a, b, and c represent known numbers and, a ≠ 0."

"Anderson, what if a = 0?"

"Then, the equation is a linear one." He replies instantaneously.

"Good."

"Ackerman, what are the different ways by which I can solve a quadratic equation?"

"Quadratic Formula. Factorisation. Completing the square." He isn't as fast as Oliver or me.

"Great. Now, I would like all of you to do Exercise 1A in your notebooks. I want them handed in by the end of the lesson. This assignment won't be graded for you, Anderson, unless you say that you will be coming to class every day."