Mathlide and the Heroes

Ch 1. The Beginning of it all

Mathlide Viola sat in her fourth hour science class pondering over the question on the board about the tomato plant her class had been growing. The tomato plant's growth pattern was severely altered, after all, no plant could grow a foot over night. That wasn't possible, yet it had happened. After that, it barely grew another inch for five days. So how was she supposed to explain the plant's growth pattern if it couldn't be explained?

She had no friends in the class. Heck,she didn't really have friends at all, anywhere. She had moved to Denver a year ago and still she lived her sixth grade life without friends.

Mathlide looked at the boy sitting to her left, who was working alone. His name was Otto Illingsworth, or so he claimed, but he signed his initials F.I. Instead of O.I. She knew because she had seen him sign annuals the year before. He was popular and took pride in his knowledge about science. He never spoke to her, and that was saying something. He spoke to everyone. But with her, he just deflected her attempts at conversation. Mathlide didn't have any other classes with him, and she doubted he would help her, but if Mathlide couldn't answer the question, Otto was likely the only hope she had of finishing the assignment.

"Excuse me," Mathelide said, "but how is this plant's growth pattern possible?"

Otto looked up. "Why are you asking me?" He muttered.

"Uh, the first words you said to me were 'Your last name is a type of flower.' So I thought you were familiar with plants and such."

"I don't know how it happened." And Otto went back to his own paper.

"Okay then," Mathlide said, taken aback. When she turned around, she knocked her pencil off her desk and down next to her chair. She reached down to pick it up, but before she even touched it, it flew up into her hands. She quickly sat up with the pencil gripped tightly in her hand. She set the pencil down on the desk and looked at it for a second. When it didn't move anymore, she decided she was crazy and that she had imagined it. Then she looked at Otto again out of the corner of her eye. He was staring at her, open-mouthed and wide-eyed. She pretended she didn't see his expression and busied herself with her work, but inside she was thinking, "Oh no, it DID happen. And he saw it.