by Bruce Ingram
It's spring and that means state testing, and Mrs. Burkhead was all in a hissy fit Monday about our biology standardized test on Thursday. I wasn't worried about it; I know that biology stuff, I really enjoy going out in the woods with field guides and learning about trees, fish, birds, and all kinds of wild animals and plants. I keep a list of every bird I have identified in our area, and I've got about 115 on the list and that includes the ones that just breed here in the summer and overwinter here. It's fascinating, but I can't stand how Mrs. Burkhead teaches.
She spent the whole period Monday lecturing, and my mind drifted in and out, but mostly out. At the end of the period, she made three announcements. One was that she was going to give Pizza Hut coupons worth 15, 10, and 5 dollars for the students who had the three top scores on the standardized test; two, that if the whole class passed we would have a pizza party, and third, that three other poor suckers and I had to stay after class to talk with her. I knew, everybody in class knew, that she was singling us out for our bad grades, and I just knew she was going to assign us to after school tutoring. It was humiliating. She shouldn't have announced our names like that; she should have caught us on the way out or something— anything to keep from embarrassing us like that.
So after class, there we were the four dunces in front of Mrs. Burkhead's desk, and sure enough, she said it was mandatory that we come to after school tutoring with her on Wednesday and Thursday, and that our parents would have to provide for a way home for us. I told her, and it was the truth, that I worked at my father's used car lot after school, and I was sorry but I couldn't stay, that Dad had bought two cars over the weekend, and I had to clean them up by the end of the week. Mrs. Burkhead got really mad and said that "indeed" I was staying after school, and again I said I couldn't, and out came the discipline referral sheets from her right upper drawer just like all those other times this year. That woman's got a hair trigger temper. She was so mad her hand was shaking, and she was circling a whole bunch of things on the sheet she was filling out for me...so off I went to Mr. Caldwell's office.
He wasn't happy to see me, but I get this real feeling that he's not too happy about Mrs. Burkhead either, he's never criticized her in front of me...but still, I can't shake the feeling that there's friction between them. I told Mr. Caldwell what had happened, that I was telling the truth about my not being able to stay after school, and that I knew what my strengths and weaknesses were in biology, that there was no way I was going to score below the 400 passing marker, that I wasn't going to score a perfect 600 either, but I would do all right. I just needed to study the boring stuff like fungi and microscopic things.
Mr. Caldwell was nodding his head, and I could tell he was thinking about something, and then he asked about how long was I going to need to study those topics, and I said about two hours. And he said, "Good, I'm assigning you to two days of in-school suspension during biology class. You can work on the things you need to brush up on then."
I thanked and thanked him for kicking me out of class for two days...two whole days without Mrs. Burkhead and her smart mouth...it was like going on a vacation...and I promised Mr. Caldwell that I would ace the biology test. He smiled at me and said he agreed that I would and added that it was a "win-win-win" situation for me, Mrs. Burkhead, and him. After all, I couldn't be kicked out of her class if I wasn't there.
I spent those two periods studying really hard, even though I would have preferred reading Grapes of Wrath. Both Mia and I are almost done, it's an awesome book. On Thursday, I took the test; it was really easy and I already knew most of the stuff from my wandering around outside and looking things up online that I didn't know, plus I had read up on the fungi and crap, so I knew about that, too.
I was back in class on Friday, and Mrs. Burkhead announced that next Thursday the scores would be back, and "expedited retakes" would be the following Thursday and she stared right at me when she said that. I lowered my head when she did that. I knew she was just looking for an excuse to write me up again. What was it going to be this time, you old hag, "Luke looked at me wrong," was that what you were going to write down?
Thursday the scores came back, and when I got my results back, it showed that I had scored a 578. Mrs. Burkhead announced that everybody had passed and that we would have a pizza party on Friday like she promised. I got to thinking about those Pizza Hut coupons and how I could sell mine if I had one of the three best scores and make some money to put in my banking account. So I raised my hand and she kept ignoring me. Then I turned around and begged Mia to ask her who had the three top scores, so Mia did, and then a bunch of other kids started begging for the three top scorers to be announced.
Old Mrs. Burkhead couldn't back down from that, and she said that Elly had been the third highest scorer and Mia the second, and then she mumbled out that my score was the highest. Son of a gun! When I went up to her desk, I started to say something smart like, "I couldn't have done it without you, Mrs. Burkhead." But Mia has been sort of working on me not to do things like that, and I just gave Mrs. Burkhead a big smile. By the end of the next class, I had an extra 15 dollars in my pocket, and that money was on its way to the bank. It was a really good day.
Chapter Fifty: Elly
When Mrs. Burkhead announced that the biology state tests would be Thursday and there would be prizes for the best three scores, Mia came up to me after class and asked if I wanted to come over to her house after school on Wednesday (I could ride her bus home with her). have dinner with her family, and we could study before and after dinner. That she had been wanting to repay me for my inviting her over to the sleepover, that her parents always said she should respond that way when someone did something nice for her. She said it had only taken her about an hour to walk home from my house after the sleepover, and we could time our studying to make sure that I got home before dark.
I had no idea that Mia had walked home after the sleepover, I had just assumed that her parents came to get her. I remembered her saying that her father works on Saturdays; does her family only have one car? Dad says we need three, one each for Mom and him, and the jeep for when he goes on fishing trips or when the weather is bad. Dad says he will buy me a car when I get my license, but it will be a used one because I'm bound to put some "dings" on it, he said.
I told Mia I would text my mom to see if I could, and Mom texted back before school ended and said that was fine. When I got off the bus, I was surprised at how small the house was and how little the backyard was. Her parents weren't home from work yet, and Mia said she had to do her chores really quickly before we started studying, and would I mind helping. Of course I said I would be glad to help, and Mia said great; would I mind checking to see if her hens had laid any eggs? Meanwhile she would start her sisters on their homework. that it was her parents' rule that her sisters Isabella and Emma start their homework as soon as they got home from school. Her parents must be strict.
Mia handed me an egg basket and pointed to the backyard, and I went out the backdoor and started looking for the eggs. The hens saw me and got scared and ran inside their house, and the rooster just stared at me and gave me this evil look and then he crowed, like he was saying "Get out of my yard!" I didn't see any eggs anywhere in the yard, and the rooster looked so angry I was afraid to open the door of the henhouse, and he crowed twice in a row and stared at me again. I went back inside the house and told her I was afraid of the rooster and the hens were afraid of me, and I didn't see any eggs in the yard.
Mia started laughing so hard that she couldn't stop, and I kept saying "What, what, what." Finally she said that the eggs would be in the nesting boxes inside the henhouse, and she would pick up Mr. Macho and hold him while I got the eggs...that he wouldn't bite, but he "didn't like strangers being around his hens." Mr. Macho had once bitten off the head of a garter snake that had come into the yard, and all the cats in the neighborhood were scared of him, she said.
I went inside the henhouse and there was chicken poop all over the f
loor, and it was gross, but I found six eggs in the boxes, and I've got to say that it was exciting to be gathering them. I mean, I know that chickens lay eggs—duh—but to think that those chickens in that yard had laid those eggs, and Mia's family was going to eat those eggs instead of supermarket ones...well, that was kind of neat. Oh, and one of the eggs I picked up, a hen was sitting on the nest when I came up to it, and she left an egg behind when she hopped up, and the egg was still warm. That egg must just have come out of her...wow!
Not long after my chicken egg and rooster adventure was over, Mia's parents came home and Mia's mom told her that she didn't have to help with dinner that night, for us to go study. I asked Mia if she helps with dinner every night, and she said some nights it was her chore to cook dinner for everybody, but most nights she just helped her mama. It made me think that I rarely cooked dinner at my house, and most nights I didn't even help Mom...maybe I should start doing that.
I was really hoping for Mexican-type dishes for dinner, but Mia's mom served hamburgers and French fries for dinner with vanilla pudding for dessert. Mia's dad was really quiet during dinner; I think he seemed nervous that I was there. When we finished eating and went off to her room, I was surprised how small it was. The room was very clean and neat and everything was in its place...not like mine which is, like, a disaster area except on weekends when I have to clean it up.
I had to ask Mia if they often ate Mexican foods, and she looked a little embarrassed and said, "Poppa insisted that Mama serve American food in honor of you being here." She said sometimes they had a traditional Mexican dinner, sometimes they had both American and Mexican dishes, but she couldn't ever remember a meal like this one...that her "poppa had acted very strange" when I asked if I could come over, but she then added that he was glad Mia was paying me back for her coming to my house.
We studied our biology notes for about an hour; we really didn't need to work that long. We both knew just about everything that was probably going to be on the test. About the time we thought we had studied long enough, my mom knocked on the door and it was time for me to go. I'm not worried about the big biology test.
Chapter Fifty-One: Marcus
I did okay on the big state tests on biology and math, making a 412 and 418 on them. I'm getting a B or a C in both classes, and no D-I school is going to have any problems with those scores and my grades. But a couple of days after the scores came out, when I got home my parents said they wanted to talk to me...alone...after dinner. I could tell by their tone that they had an attitude about something.
Sure enough, after dinner, they told Joshua that they wanted to talk to me alone, and he gave me one of those "I told you so" smirks that he always gives and left the dining room in a hurry. I think he enjoys seeing me get in trouble, although this time I really had no idea what my parents would be so bent out of shape about. Mom said that I had not told them what my scores on the state tests were, so she called the guidance department and found out and that she and Dad were not satisfied with my scores or my grades in my classes. I got angry and told them that both my grades and scores were fine, that I would have time to make even better grades now that basketball season was over. I averaged 20 points per game and the local paper named me "freshman of the year" for our conference. We didn't make the playoffs because Quintin didn't get me the ball enough in our conference tournament, but, outside of that, things have been going really well for me lately. My parents need to get off my back about this silly stuff.
But when I told them that, they both got really mad, especially Dad. He asked what was my "backup plan" in case I didn't become a pro football and basketball player, like I was "always saying" that I would be. I told him I didn't need a backup plan because I'd already figured everything out and for them just to chill and let me handle my life.
Dad just erupted like a volcano when I said that, and Mom made no effort to calm him down. She was just sitting there at the kitchen table and gritting her teeth. Dad then dropped the grounded bomb on me and said I would not be allowed to go out on dates or over to friends' houses until I had at least a B average in all my classes. I told him that Tameka and I were supposed to have a date Friday night, and Mom said that I could call or text her with the bad news, that I wouldn't be seeing her for a while until my grades improved. I told them that I only had a C average in English, biology, and history, that Ms. Hawk was a terrible teacher and counted off too many points on my papers. I said that history took up too much of my time as it was with all that reading, and I had already passed the state biology test...so what was the big problem.
Dad just shook his head, ran his finger through his hair, and then all of a sudden, he just slammed the table with his fist, and said he was tired of "my mouth and immaturity," that their decision was final regarding my grounding, and that next year, there would be no new car for me to drive when it was time for me to get my license if my grades and attitude didn't show "marked improvement" this spring. I started to snap right back at him, but he was staring right at me, like he was just daring me to open my mouth...then Mom told me to go to my room for the evening...that "this discussion is over."
When I went upstairs, there was Joshua standing in the stairwell. He must have been listening to everything and he said something like, "I warned you, you'd better grow up." And I swear, I was about to belt him in that big gut of his, but then I remembered the last time we got into a fight, which was about three years ago, and he beat the snot out of me. So I decided I'd better not mess with him...he's always been bigger than I am. That's going to change one day when I give him a big time beat down.
I texted Tameka that our date for the weekend was cancelled because I had some flu symptoms, that I didn't want to give the bug to her...that we'd go out again when I was up to par. It won't take me long to bring up my grades. I can make a cheat sheet for the next history quiz; I'm only a few points from a B anyway, it will be no sweat to bring up my grades there, and I'm even closer to a B in biology. English might still be a problem with all those papers, but I can get Mom to look over my next one...that'll show her that I'm serious about my work and she'll correct most of my errors anyway. I'll be back in business in no time.
Chapter Fifty-Two: Mia
Luke was so worried about the math state test Thursday afternoon that we spent all of our lunch periods Tuesday and Thursday in the library going over possible problems and the review sheet that the teacher had given him. He's so sweet, and I feel so bad for him. He just doesn't understand math, and I want to help him so much, but he just tenses up whenever we go over some of the harder stuff. I just want to give him a big hug and tell him everything will be all right.
In his remedial math class, Luke said they just started in on the Algebra lessons the second semester, and he's so bad at it, I'm not even sure he knows what Algebra is. I mean he doesn't even know the basic information. He said his math grade has dropped from a high D to a low one recently, and it seems like I'm helping him more than ever, and still he's just barely passing for this nine weeks.
Toward the end of the lunch period, when I had time to go over the most important equations one last time, I realized there was no way he was going to pass the test. And I think he realized it, too. He just sighed when I said good luck, and right then I wanted to kiss him for the first time. But I didn't want our first kiss to be in the library and when he was going to take a standardized test in a few minutes.
More and more, I've been thinking about our first date next year when we're sophomores and our first kiss. I want both to be special. I know he's going to ask me out, and I know I'm going to say yes. What I don't know is where we will go on our first date and how Mama and Poppa will feel about it, and how we will get to wherever we will go. I would be happy riding our bikes somewhere and having a picnic; we wouldn't need any money to have a good time together. Just being with him and talking about things would be enough for me...and I think for Luke, too.
The bell rang for lunch to be over, and I squeeze
d Luke's hand, and he squeezed mine, too, and I told him to meet me at the entranceway of the school before we got on our buses, to let me know how he thought he did. He said he would. When I saw him at the end of the day, he looked so gloomy, and he said the whole test had been a disaster. He said he got so nervous, and it seemed like he was taking too much time on the questions; they were all multiple choice, but Luke called them "multiple guess."
Luke said with about 20 questions left on the test, the problems got harder than ever, and everything that we had drilled about went "right out" of his head, so he just decided to "Christmas tree" those last 20 questions. He penciled in A, Β, C, D, and then did D, C, Β, A, until the test was over, and turned in his test and left.
I had taken my math state test that morning and felt like I had done really well. When my scores for my class came back a week later, I had made a 578, which was about what I thought I had made...some of the problems were really hard, so I had felt like I had missed a few of them. Since my scores came back for my honors Algebra I class, I knew Luke's must have come back too, so I could hardly wait until we met in the library to see if maybe he had gotten lucky and passed.
When I entered the library, Luke was already sitting at what we call "our computer," and I hurried over to him and he saw me and gave me the biggest smile. He said he had passed with a 405, that "Christmas treeing" over those last 20 problems must have turned out okay. I was so happy for him that I gave him the biggest hug right there in the library. I don't care who saw us. Later when I thought about Luke passing that test, I sort of had doubts about the whole system of those state math tests. I mean if Luke, who is just absolutely horrible in math, could pass the test by just pure luck, really now, how valid could those tests be. Of course, if he had failed the test, that wouldn't have been good, either. At least, state testing is over for the spring.
