CHAPTER SIX
MEETING
Thursday morning I got to school early again and studied for my science test in the library. When science came around I stood in line next to Willow who chatted eagerly to me about what, I have no idea. I think it was chemical reactions but it was boring anyway. I was busy giving Caius the dirtiest looks possible. He was happy to return them. Mr Leonard let us in and we sat down at our desks which had been separated for the test. Because we sat in alphabetical order I was next to Caius and like most kids he looked nervous. Mr Leonard passed out the sheets of paper and told us we had one hour to complete the test. I stared at my piece of paper.
Balancing equations.
Magnesium oxide+ phosphoric acid ~> magnesium phosphate+ water. One week ago I would have looked like Caius, chewing my pen, tapping my head and doodling on my test but one week of having no friends and spending lunch in the library had made me smart. I knew how to balance the equation easily
3MgO + 2H3PO4 Mg3 (PO4)2 + 3H2O
That was easy; I went on to finish all the questions on my paper in forty five minutes. I sneaked a look at Caius whose face was red with frustration. His pencil had reduced to about half its original size and he was still on the second page. I smiled to myself. Mum and Graham would be really angry if he failed this test and they would ground him because he socialised too much instead of focusing on his school work. When the hour was up Mr Leonard came around and collected all the tests.
‘Anyone who failed this test gets moved down to D pathway,’ Mr Leonard explained. At our school Science and Maths is split into four pathways based on how smart you are. A is the smartest and D is the dumbest. Well the teachers don’t say that but we kids know that’s what they mean. I was in C for science and maths. Getting moved down to D would be horrible. Everyone laugh at you for being dumb and the teacher is Mrs Higgle and treats everyone like they are year ones. They do colouring in leaves and labelling trees. No one wanted to be in D pathway. When the bell rang I went to Maths.
‘Good morning class, I have the results of the test you did last week,’ Mrs Goh said handing out our tests.
‘Good work Layne,’ she said when she handed back my test. I looked down at my paper, in big red letters it said 81 in a circle. Eighty one that was the best I had done all year my average was about 60. Wow mum was going to be happy. Again I spent lunch in the library. This was becoming routine and it was getting pretty boring. At least my grades were improving.
Friday was pretty much the same as Thursday. I got 87% on my science test and I was moving up to B pathway. The only bad thing about that was that Leah was in B pathway and I would have to be in her class. Caius failed and was moving down to D with Mrs Higgle. At lunch instead of sitting in the library I sat with Willow and her friend Adele who were delighted to have some company. They weren’t bad to hang out with. I always thought they were brainy nerds with no friends but they do know how to have a good time and they invited me to a sleep over at Adele’s house tonight. I said I couldn’t stay the night but I would go for the evening because I had something important to do.
When I got home I was really excited. I hadn’t been out of the house in a week except to go to school and finally I was going to socialise with people my age rather than mum and Graham.
‘Make sure you are home by ten o’clock,’ mum said when Willow came to get me and we could walk to Adele’s house.
‘Yes mum,’ I answered kissing her cheek before following Willow to the foot path. It was a five minute walk to Adele’s house and it was a nice afternoon with a slight breeze but it was still warm. Adele’s step dad was an architect and her mum was an interior designer so her house was mega cool. It was one of those old houses from the Victorian era with little windows and heavy wooden doors and it kind of looked like gingerbread but inside it was totally modern. Everything was white, spacious and open. There was actually no inside walls except for the bathroom downstairs.
