Eager Beaver

Chapter Eighteen - Grade Five

"Alright everyone, heads down thumbs up!" Miss Miller announced, her voice cutting through the hubbub of excited fifth graders. The din calmed down into a low chattering simmer - and then silence soon after.

Distracted as usual, I was a little slow complying. Across from me, Zach and Bradley already had their faces stuck on the desk and their thumbs pointed up in the air. I met eyes briefly with the teacher and she gave me an encouraging nod, prompting me to do the same.

The first month of Grade Five had been a mixed bag. From an academic standpoint, everything was going swimmingly. Dropping down a grade had left me at the top of my class. English was a walk in the park, science was straight forward, and I was even on top of math and social studies for a change.

Miss Miller's class was split, which meant that half the students were in grade four and the other half were in grade five. It was a little weird, but the concept was simple enough. Half the class would be a grade four lesson, and then Miss Miller would pull the fifth graders aside to teach us the more advanced stuff. The refresher was actually kind of nice.

I was still struggling with French, but being in a mixed group with grade four I was allowed to start from nothing. There were plenty of other beginners. Madam Gascon was really nice, and she totally understood that I'd never done French before. She'd even invited me to her after-school Spanish club when I'd mentioned that I'd learned a little in California - although I'd politely declined.

I'd been pretty worried about being in the same class as Zach and Bradley. I'd arrived on the playground on the first day terrified at how the cub scouts would react. Would they call me a liar? Or even make fun of me? They'd definitely been confused at first, the boys exchanging baffled whispers as Miss Miller assigned all three "scouts" to the same table in the classroom - but they'd been perfectly cordial to my face, treating me like just any other classmate.

"Shouldn't Cooper be over with us?" Val had shouted out loud from his table with a group of other fourth graders, but Miss Miller had assured him I was in the right place. When I'd been the first to finish the math worksheet she'd given us, Zach had practically fallen off his chair!

The Keeo had finally spoken up at lunch, the two cubs flanking me on either side as we lined up in the dining room. I'd braced myself for a confrontation, but it never came.

"So are you like a genius baby or something?" he'd asked instead.

"Huh?" I said dumbly, taken off guard.

"You're five and in fifth grade." he'd clarified. "Have you got like two brains or something?"

I stared at him for a long time, baffled. I'd been so sure Zach and Bradley would figure out I was eleven. I'd even planned on begging them not to tell the Beavers - I never supposed they might draw the opposite conclusion. "I dunno..." I eventually squeaked. "I just did some homework after I moved, and the school said I should be in Miss Miller's class..." I didn't want to keep lying to everyone, but what I'd said wasn't a lie - just not quite the whole truth. Zach had nodded sagely, satisfied.

The rumor that I was secretly a five-year-old super genius got around the class pretty quickly. I never actually confirmed it, but that only seemed to fan the fires of the rumor mill - my evasiveness whenever I was confronted taken as incontrovertible proof of the claim. Miss Miller's attitude didn't help. Presumably trying to build up my confidence after my breakdown in the meeting last month, she praised me to the extreme for the most basic of tasks. Completing my homework; asking questions in class; even tying my shoelaces - all had resulted in the teacher pinning a comic amount of cheesy stickers on the breast of my polo shirt. By the end of some days I looked like a five star general!