Nobody's Perfect by Marlee Matlin Read Free Book Online

class groaned dramatically at the mention of the word “fractions.” Anybody who ever set foot on a school playground knew about the mountains of homework involving fractions. To make math more fun, and to help make fractions easy, Ms. Endee concocted her famous math drills. It was like doing basketball drills only with multiplication tables instead of a basketball.
    Here’s how the drill went. Each student wore a paper number on his or her forehead. The students split up and formed one line at the far right and one line at the far left of the classroom. One kid stood at the whiteboard with a marker. When the two students at the head of the lines approached the front of the room, the kid with the marker had only a few seconds to multiply the two numbers and write the answer on the board. The rule was that kids could swap lines or not and even swap places in line so that the order of numbers kept changing as kids advanced to the board. Once the drill was under way the numbers came faster and faster. Jann stood ready with chalk to keep score.
    Alexis did really well when she was at the board with the marker. Obviously she’d been pretty good at math before she got to Wilmot.
    Megan was advancing through the line, wearing a number seven on her forehead. She lost track of Cindy in the chaotic rush of kids during the drill. As the lines pressed on toward the front of the room, Megan guessed that she was going to be matched up with Casey, who happened to be wearing a number seven as well.
    Kids were giggling and getting a little rowdy. As the math drill pressed on, it always threatened to get a little out of control. Ms. Endee clapped her hands and insisted that the kids settle down or she was going to have to cancel the game. Alexis took the few extra moments to frantically write all the multiplication products on the whiteboard.
    That was when Megan noticed that Alexis’s equations were turning from bright red to a pale thin pink, barely legible at all. The red marker that Alexis had been using was running dry.
    Ms. Endee kept a fresh pack of markers in the bottom drawer of her file cabinet. But a new kid wouldn’t know that , thought Megan.
    Risking the wrath of Ms. Endee and the loss of her place in the bustling line of kids pressing toward the board, Megan opened the bottom drawer of Ms. Endee’s file cabinet and snagged a fresh blue marker so that she had it ready to hand to Alexis when she and Casey reached the front of the room.
    Alexis spotted the blue marker in Megan’s hand and quickly snatched it so that she could hurriedly write “7 x 7 = 49” on the board. Maybe it was because of the excitement of the moment, but she didn’t even pause to thank Megan. She didn’t even offer her usual little smile.
    After two more equations Ms. Endee took the blue marker away from Alexis anyway and put Ronnie Jiu at the board. Alexis took her place in the rows of kids, and the game went on. Kids zigzagged across and crisscrossed the room so often that Megan and Alexis never got close to each other.
    â€œI saw what you did,” said Cindy after the math drill was over.
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” asked Megan.
    â€œYou gave the new girl a marker during the math drill.”
    That Cindy , thought Megan. She notices everything .
    â€œThat was really nice of you,” Cindy offered.
    â€œThanks.”
    â€œYou said you were going to give her a second chance and you did.”
    â€œAnd it wasn’t that hard,” Megan observed.
    â€œTrue,” said Cindy with a slight sniff, “but she didn’t seem to appreciate it.”
    â€œCindy, you have to give Alexis a second chance too.”
    â€œNo I don’t,” said Cindy. “She was mean to my friend.”
    â€œI’m the friend she was mean to,” said Megan, “and it doesn’t matter to me. You and I are going to give her a second chance together. ”
    â€œHow many second