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Clumsilily looked gloomily out of the window of the Neoschool.
She sighed deeply and glanced back down at her desk. She spun the Dark Faerie
pen around with her claw. Bakhet, the teacher was dictating math on the board,
pointing her hoof at the long equation. Another boring day of Neoschool.
Clumsilily quietly lifted the lid of her desk
and pulled out a piece of paper from her striped notebook. Bakhet kept scribbling
on the board and drawling on about 2 x 2 = 4 and other boring equations that
Clumsilily didn't care about.
She looked up desperately at the clock and silently
begged the minute hand to go faster. When it didn't move, Lily sighed and looked
back down at the striped paper on her desk.
"Please copy these questions down on a sheet
of paper," Bakhet dictated, pointing to the times table on the chalkboard.
There was a loud rustling as the other students
rummaged around their desks for a sheet of paper. The ixi next to Lily, named
ToxicBroccoli, leaned over and prodded her shoulder.
"Psst… hey Lily!" he whispered, poking her again
with his black hoof.
"What do you want, Tox?!" she asked angrily,
whirling around and glaring at the little ixi.
"Sheesh! Excuse me for living! I was just going
to ask you for a piece of paper!" the little ixi added, slightly taken aback
by the Lupe's anger. When he turned around to ask the pet behind him for paper,
Lily rolled her eyes.
Clumsilily growled slightly as she turned back
around and stared up at the board, tapping the tip of her Dark Faerie Pen on
the paper. It made little purple dots as she continued tapping. Clumsilily looked
back down at her paper and aimlessly connected the dots, creating a pointy looking
purple Kacheek. It looked more like a Faellie though… She sighed again and made
a line under the Faellie/Kacheek for the ground.
All the other students were scribbling madly
on their papers, frantically trying to copy down each equation.
"Good, good!" Bakhet was saying as she paced
back and forth at the front of the class.
The scribbling continued as Lily added to the
doodle of her Faellie/Kacheek. She added a rock tree and a little Scorchio gnome.
It looked pretty cute now, but it lacked something. Clumsilily sketched on a
few clouds and a sun. There! It was finished. She smiled and signed the bottom
of the picture.
Meanwhile, the scribbling had stopped and all
the students had their full attention on Miss Bakhet. All except Lily, that
is.
"Now, let us recite the equations, shall we,
class?" Miss Bakhet asked them.
"Yes Miss Bakhet," the class recited, putting
their pens and pencils down on the desk tops.
"Good," the teacher stated, looking out over
the class. "And what about you Miss Clumsilily?" she asked as she leaned against
her desk.
Lily looked up and dropped her pen. "Oh yes,
Miss Bakhet…" she stammered as the class giggled.
"Good! I'm glad you could join us! But we're
ever so sorry you couldn't keep working on your artistic masterpieces!" Miss
Bakhet said sarcastically.
Lily groaned miserably. It was the second time
in three days that Miss Bakhet had picked on her for doodling in class.
"I would appreciate it if you would see me after
class Lily…" Miss Bakhet offered.
Lily winced and nodded. "Yes, Miss Bakhet…" she
sighed, hanging her head in shame. The rest of the class whispered to each other,
giggling and joking.
"Good! Now let's recite the times tables! Who
wants to do the two's?" she asked, looking over the class. No hands went up.
"Hmm… don't all jump at once…" she said sarcastically. A few students chuckled
meagerly, feeling obligated to laugh at all of the teacher's jokes.
Lily looked silently up at the clock. 11:45…
fifteen minutes until lunch!
"Tox, how about you, dear?" Miss Bakhet instructed.
"Can you recite the two's for us?"
Tox sighed and nodded. "Two times two equals
four. Two times three equals six. Two times four equals eight…"
As Tox counted off the times tables, Lily watched
the clock eagerly. She bit her lip silently, counting the minutes until lunch…
"…two times ten equals twenty. Two times eleven
equals twenty-two. And two times twelve equals twenty-four." Tox sighed and
leaned back in his chair.
"Excellent job, Tox!" Miss Bakhet praised and
clapped her hooves. "Now how about the three's?"
11:50… Ten minutes now! Lily sighed deeply and
looked back down at her desk. Inside was the lunch she had packed herself! It
was all waiting for her inside a brown paper bag with her name scrawled on it.
Seralita, a purple Cybunny was reciting the threes.
Miss Bakhet nodded along and corrected her when she got to 'three times six
equals eighteen' and said 'three times six equals seventeen.'
They had reached the sixes' when the bell for
lunch rang. Lily cheered happily and grabbed the brown paper bag hurriedly,
completely forgetting about her meeting with Miss Bakhet.
"Lily?" Miss Bakhet's voice rang out over the
clamoring students.
Lily winced as she heard her name. "Ooh…" she
said softly, as she slowly turned around to head over to Miss Bakhet's desk.
When Lily reached Miss Bakhet's desk, she folded
her paws behind her back and grasped the paper bag tightly.
"Yes, Miss Bakhet?" Lily asked innocently, looking
up at Miss Bakhet's face.
"Now Lily, this is the second time I've caught
you drawing in class! Is there something wrong, dear? Are you bored in this
class? Is it too easy for you? Are you feeling all right? Is everything okay
at home?" Miss Bakhet questioned. To Lily, it felt like the Spanish Inquisition.
"No Miss Bakhet, this class is just fine, I'm
feeling great, and everything is wonderful at home…" she assured her teacher.
"…It's just that…well, I don't really like math. That's all," she confided.
"Well, I'm glad it's nothing serious. Just try
to pay more attention, dear," Miss Bakhet said sweetly. "Alright dear, you can
run along now," she said with a smile.
"Thank you Miss Bakhet," Lily called as she rushed
for the door.
Lily galloped down the hall and into the cafeteria.
She skidded over to the benches and plopped down next to her brother, Netcheref.
Netcheref looked up at his older sister and smiled.
"Hey Lil. What took you so long?" he asked in a concerned tone. "I was beginning
to worry about you!" he added, taking a bite out of his cheese ghostkersandwich.
"Oh," Lily stated as she slowly began to open
her paper bag. "Well, Miss Bakhet wanted to see me after class because I was
drawing again during math."
"Again?!" Netcheref asked in disbelief. "Lily,
you need to get serious and pay attention!" He scolded, picking up his carton
of Kau Kau Farms Milk and taking a sip.
"I know, I know," Lily said as she laid out the
items in her bag.
She put her chokato ghostkersandwich next to
her Chocolate Kau Kau Farms Milk. Lily put her chocolate dipped Peophin cookie
on her napkin, balled up the paper bag and tossed it into the trash.
The rest of the day passed quickly and before
she knew it, it was time to do her homework.
Lily sat down on her iron bed and pulled out
her Algebra book. She cracked it open to page 133. Tonight's homework.
She scratched her head as she recited the first
problem.
"If Farmer Brown has 16 Babaas and he gives one
fourth of them to the Pant Devil, how many does he have left?"
Lily sighed and placed her head in her paws.
"I'll never be able to do this!" she whined.
Netcheref peeked silently into her room. "Need
help?" he asked, stepping slightly further into the room.
Lily looked over her shoulder. "But you haven't
even had Algebra yet..." she said, pointing down at her book.
"I happen to be very good at math!" Netcheref
countered, placing a paw on his chest.
"What have I got to lose?" Lily admitted.
The hours seemed to drag on and on as Netcheref
calmly explained the problems to Lily. But when Lily woke up the next morning,
she felt like Neopia's greatest mathematician!
***
She bounded downstairs with a flourish, grinning from ear to ear.
"Hurry up, Lily! I have to go to work!" lndustrious
called out, prodding the watch on her wrist. "Netcheref is already in the car!
Move it!"
"I'M COMING!!!" Lily called from the kitchen.
She slipped her lunch bag into her backpack, zipped it up, then rushed for the
door.
At school, Lily rushed into math class. She took
her usual seat in the back and looked up at the board. It read, 'Pop Quiz Today!'
Lily groaned and took out her bendy pencil.
"Good morning class! I hope you're all ready
for the pop quiz today!" Miss Bakhet said cheekily.
The students groaned and took out their pencils
while Miss Bakhet passed out the quizzes.
"You may begin as soon as you get them," Miss
Bakhet instructed.
A sheet was placed on Clumsilily's desk. Lily
looked down at it and sighed deeply, closed her eyes and tried to relax. When
she opened them again, she glanced down at the paper and smiled. She knew the
answer to the first question!
2 x 2 = ___
Lily scribbled a four down and looked down to
the next problem. She knew that one, too! Ten minutes later, Miss Bakhet was
walking around the room, picking up the papers.
The next day at Neoschool, Lily was extra nervous.
They were getting their quizzes back today!
Miss Bakhet smiled as she handed Lily's paper
back. "Good job, Lily! I guess you were paying attention after all!"
Lily smiled and looked down at her paper.
A+!!!
The End
Note From The Author: I hope you liked my story! Thanks to the staff if
this gets in! I worked REALLY hard on it! Thanks to all my friends, especially
Charmedhorses for inadvertently inspiring me to enter a story! And if you have
any comments, praises, or constructive criticisms, please do not hesitate to
Neomail lndustrious! THANK YOU!
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