Summer's Winter

Chapter 17 - Anise

Do you know what is hurting me? It's not Tucker this time. It's my braces. This is when you know that the braces are doing their job fixing your teeth. My jawline and cheekbone are sharper. I smile in the mirror. I put on a regular shirt and shorts. Today is the big day. The Math roster is announced. Everyone is blocking the Math hallways. 

I pushed through a crowd of people to get to my Advanced Algebra 2 class. I read through the names. Morgan Kimberly. What the fuck. She doesn't have an Advanced Algebra 2 class. I look don the list. I was 6th. I'm not on the Math Counts team. It's not fair. I could have been the last choice but of course, Morgan Kimberly and her daddy's money buys it off me. Why doesn't Morgan Kimberly choose a different Advanced Algebra 2 class? Why mine?

The students in my class started a riot. They saw how upset I was being in 6th and Morgan took my damn spot. Tucker's fucking ex stole my crush and now stole my spot in the Math Counts? Go ahead and steal Tucker but don't steal my spot that I worked hard for. I studied day and night just to get that spot. Rich stupid Morgan however brought the spot from me with her stupid daddy's money. 

"SHE DOESN'T EVEN TAKE THE CLASS!" One of my classmates said. 

"Morgan doesn't deserve the spot, Anise does. Anise worked hard for it." My friends in my class talked to the teachers about it. 

The teachers took down the paper. They decided to let the other classes' top 5 students go do the Math Counts. While my class will have to go to the principal just to figure out if I should go to Math Counts or Morgan's filthy rich dad will be more convincing enough to bribe the principal. This is annoying. 

The teachers came back with the results. My class waited patiently. I GOT IN. IN YOUR FACE MORGAN. Morgan wept. I don't feel sorry for her. She is an attention-getter. My teacher felt bad and just put her on the golf team. The golf team was struggling financially, but with her money, she could create a fund just to keep the golf team going. 

Hey, you got to do what you need to do to get what you want. Even if it is morally wrong. I felt a big confidence boost when during the seminar the principal called my name to go to the auditorium for Math Counts through the PA system. Janella, Harley, Quinn, and Shayla gave me a big thumbs-up. 

I went to the auditorium. I sat next to Kate Blowy who is in a different Advanced Algebra 2 class. She looked at me.  I looked at her. She is so pretty. Her hair is wavy, her outfits are always amazing. Also, she had 3 guys ask her out to homecoming this year. 

"Wait you are the girl that was replaced by Morgan Kimberly for Math Counts!" Kate said. 

"Yeah, that's me," I said. 

"Nice to meet you, I hope we both do well," She said. 

"Yeah nice to meet you too, I wish us both luck," I said. 

A man appears on stage. He has glasses on and has a math textbook in front of him. 

"Hi I'm Mr. Nelson and I will be your Math Counts mentor before you guys do competitions at the end of the next school year." He said. 

He pulled up the textbook. 

"I would like you guys to read each one of the pages in this book." He said and looked at us. 

We groaned. Seriously, that whole book? Me and Kate look at each other in confusion. He threw the book in the trashcan which was right beside him. 

"You thought, we were not going old school. We are going to do it my way. If you don't feel happy about my ways, you can get out of Math Counts. I'm not stopping you" He said. 

Me and Kate were at the edge of our seats. This just became interesting to watch. We practiced for a week with Mr. Nelson. He has an interesting approach to training. He has a huge red button, if we get it wrong he slams his hand against the red button and everyone gets to throw soft stuffed animals at them. If you get it correct, you get to throw a soft animal at someone in the line. He checks how long we answer our questions. The harder question is the ones that usually throws people off and takes longer to solve. Well, the harder question was too hard for some of the students so they left Math Counts. I stayed. I always have a thing for Math and I promised Kate I stay in Math Counts with her.