The Math Test

The cafeteria was full. There were students everywhere: standing, sitting, walking, running, eating, and some practicing their instruments. And there were many instruments and cases scattered all over the room: on the floor, on chairs, on the table tops. And there were more instruments and cases, it seemed, than there were kids.

Four boys came rushing thru the doors to where they had left their stuff. They sat down at the table two of them on one side, two on the other and pushed aside their cases.

I got a 100 on my algebra test, one of them said.

The refreshing thing about band kids is that they are not embarrassed to be proud of their work. The talented ones get the open respect of their peers. And at a competition like this, everyone wants to know how everyone else did.

But this kid was talking about math!

I got a 100 on my test, and it brought my class grade down, he said.

There was silence at the table for a moment as the other three boys tried to parse what he had just said. The boy who spoke waited patiently for the others to catch up. Two of them were silent, but the third did a double take and started laughing, a signal to the other two who then started laughing, too. The first boy had a satisfied smirk on his face.

Why do I think that he didn't really do so well?

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