Writer's Recipe vol. 4 (2019)

MATH MASTER

Written by : Muhammad Syahmi Aqeel bin Syahridzuan

"Raphael! Go do the laundry now!" his mother shrieked. "Sure mom!" He responded shortly as he was doing his revision in Mathematics. He got up and went straight to the laundry room that was downstairs. He was definitely an obedient son to her mother since her mother meant the world to him. Raphael took a cup of detergent and a brush then he starts doing his laundry by hand. In addition, he did not lead a normal life like the other students in his school. Living in poverty was not an excuse for him to be a mathematician.

Zooming to his school life at Green Meadows High School, he had been the smartest student for the Mathematics subject but things when downhill. "Look there! It is a large head ogre in front the class!" a student shouted in his class. "No way, I'm pretty sure it is an Avatar with a fuzzy hair!" another student condemned to Raphael. "He might be one of the Avatar relatives. Sadly, with a darker skin then the real Avatar would be like!" The whole class burst out laughing when Jackson, the well-known student for his wealth teasing Raphael.

Raphael remained silence with every tease which is not a surprise to him anymore since that kind of situation happens to him often, when he was showing his work on solving the Mathematics questions in front of the class. His classmates were not comfortable with him because of his status life. Furthermore, his teachers also did not get along well with Raphael due the fact that he was been passive in the class.

On his big day of Mathematics examination, he did really hard on his studies before facing the examination because he was determined to score A+ for that paper. Regrettably, he did forgot to bring his calculator along with him to school that morning. "Argh!" a deep sigh slipped through his lip as he slammed his hand on the table out of frustration after realised he left his calculator on his bookshelf.

Think outside the box, Raphael to borrow a calculator from his classmates and yet, no one would lend him theirs calculator. Point wise, he headed to the lost and found counter and was hoping there would be a good functioning calculator there but still, there wasn't any to be found, leaving him out of options. There's no possible ways he could find a calculator in the nick of time.

As he was walking at the corridor helplessly, out of the blue, it was as if there was a spot light focusing on a cashier counter in the school mart and he saw a calculator on the counter as it was glistened from his sights. Precisely from his thought, it was a chance to strike. He could not think much except to take it while there was no one manning the counter.

Then, he rushed out to his class and went straight to his desk while everyone was already siting for the examination. He sat down to his place and tried to catch his breath back. "Huhh, alright Raphael, the time has come. Let's make our dreams come true." He whispered to himself and started the examination.

"kringg!" the sound of the bell echoed in the hall, marking the end of the examination. "Yes! Full marks for sure!" Raphael shouted with delight then pupils was staring at him. They were like spelling tea to each other while pointing to him. Abruptly, "Attention to Raphael Middleton! Please came to the principal's office this instant!" Mr Casper, the principal school, called Raphael to his office all of a sudden. "What?!" he aggrieved. He had no choice but to go there with a question mark on him.

His heart was racing, as if he was in front of the office plus he heard a suspicious conversation between a different genders. Raphael gently knocked the door then went into the room. No doubt, it was his principal was talking to his mother. His mother looked gloomy after watched a CCTV recording of his older son stealing a calculator.

"Ahh yes, please come in Raphael and have a sit" Mr Casper invited him in. Immediately, his mom got stood up strictly "I had enough for today! Thank you Mr Casper for the info just now. May God bless you and keep sustaining discipline of the students. For you Mr Troublemaker, don't even come home until your suspension ends! I mean every word I said!" her mom bellowed at him. His mom then stormed outside the office making him felt guiltier than ever. Raphael begged his mom for forgiveness multiple times but his mom just ignored him. With a dejected feeling, he put the calculator on the table and left the office with tears streaming down on his cheeks.