Don't Kiss Girls and Other Silly Stories by Pat Flynn Read Free Book Online Page A

it?’
    â€˜Of course. It’s great when I can’t sleep. All I have to do is open it up, read a few words and I’m out like a light .’
    She starts getting annoyed. I seem to have that effect on Mum without even trying. ‘Well, I pay good money for your schoolbooks! The least you can do is use them properly.’
    She wields the iron like a weapon, flattening my school pants like they’re being run over by a steamroller. I’m glad I’m not wearing them.
    In my room I take the maths book from my bag. The parts of a triangle have many interesting relationships , it says.
    I snigger. How many triangles do you know have relationships?
    Normally, I’d stop reading right there and start sleeping. But not tonight, there’s too much at stake. Do it for Ashleigh, I think.
    The book tells me about perimeter and area, and about congruence. Do you know that two triangles are congruent if the sides of one equals the sides of the other? Well, I had no idea, but I do now. And the weird thing is, triangles aren’t that hard. As Belinda says, they only have three sides.
    I study like I’ve never studied before – at one stage sticking matchsticks between my eyelids so I stay awake – and I master eve rything except the challenge questions. Hopefully, Relfy is too lazy to make up any of those.
    Afterwards, I find it hard to get to sleep. I’ve got acute triangles and a cute girl on my mind, not to mention a thick maths book under my pillow. I’m hoping the answers will seep into my head overnight.
    Then I realise the real reason why I can’t sleep. It’s the matchsticks, I’ve forgotten to take them out!
    Once I do, I’m dead to the world before I can count to ten degrees.
    *
    â€˜Ready. And … begin!’ says Mr Relf, pressing a button on his stopwatch.
    You’d think he was talking about the start of a race, not the start of a stupid test. Although this time the test isn’t as stupid as usual because I actually understand it. If you know the right formulas, maths suddenly becomes a lot easier. Especially when all the formulas are written on the tops of your legs.
    I hardly have to look at my legs, though, ’cause I remember most of them. It must be because I slept on top of the textbook. Question one asks me to find the area of a triangle and, by using B × H ÷ 2, I do it easily.
    In fact, I find the whole test pretty easy-peasy, except for the challenge question. I have no idea what it’s on about, but luckily Brains is sitting diagonally in front of me. I cup my hands against my forehead, making it seem like I’m full-on concentrating. Which I am. I’m concentrating on seeing what Brains has written. He’s pretty good at covering up his work so I’m not sure if I cheat perfectly, but I do my best. That’s all I can ask of myself, really .
    Gavin’s beside me and he’s getting nearly everything wrong, the dummy. He’s written that similar triangles have the same father but a different mother. I start to laugh.
    â€˜Ross!’ says Mr Relf. ‘Stop copying off Fox or I’ll rip your test in two.’
    The bell rings and Relfy collects our tests. Right before he does, I have this sudden urge to write my own name on the top. But then I think of Ashleigh.
    Gavin and I hang back after class.
    â€˜Well, this is something new,’ says Mr Relf. ‘What do you boys want, some extra homework?’
    â€˜We were wondering if you could mark my … umm, Gavin’s test now,’ I say.
    â€˜I’ll do it on the weekend.’
    â€˜It’s just that we’ve got this bet, sir. Gavin thinks he’ll get an A.’
    Mr Relf laughs. ‘Well, it won’t take long to settle that.’ He takes the test out. ‘Hmm,’ he says, as he ticks question one. ‘Hmmm.’ He gives another tick. And a few minutes later: ‘Hmmmmm. This is incredible,