2 First Day at School [1]

The teacher began handing out the test papers to each student, and as I received mine, I quickly scanned the questions. To my surprise, the questions seemed strangely familiar, as if I had known them all my life. They were clear and straightforward, I relaxed seeing what I saw and dived straight in.

'How Much Does Your Leg Shorten When You Stand on It?'

"Well... all I gotta figure out is the mass, gravity doin' its thing, and the cross-sectional area of my leg. Then, I can just plug that into the equation I picked up earlier today."

With remarkable ease, I paced through the questions, solving the majority of them within a mere minute.

A few required a bit more thought, taking up to three minutes of my time. After solving nine questions, only one remained – a unique challenge that wasn't mandatory but had the potential to earn some extra points.

'When using a pencil eraser, you exert a vertical force of 11.00 N at a distance of 3.00 cm from the hardwood-eraser joint. The pencil is held at an angle of 25.5º to the horizontal. How much is the pencil compressed lengthwise?'

"Well, well... I gotta figure out the torque slammin' on this pencil. Now, all I'm missin' is the inertia, the bendin' stress, and, ya know, good ol' Hooke's law!"

Wow, I found myself pretty darn satisfied with what I jotted down. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on with me, and if this sharpness will stick around.

I mean, what the heck, it's kinda nice. I might just have a shot at that SAT in two weeks and nail a top-notch score. Maybe even slide into one of them Ivy League engineering programs or something.

Ethan, who sat at the desk to my left, glanced at me with this dissapointed expression, probably thinking that I flunked the quiz and that I started getting all frustrated, chuckling at my own darn stupidity. Oh, he couldn't have been more wrong.

Then I stood up, grabbed the paper, and with folks in the class shooting me these weird looks, I handed in my paper to the teacher. She shot me an angry glare and warned me:

"If you don't start going through those books, your future is as good as ruined, now go, don't disturb the other students"

Not that I gave a damn. I knew I aced that quiz with a perfect score. I was itching to see the look on her face when she went through my paper, but instead, I strolled out of that class with the biggest grin I'd ever worn in my life.

The hallway was deserted, with most student cozied up in their classrooms. Only a few lingered around, a couple of 'em leaning against the wall like they had all the time in the world.

The door to the school library caught my eye. It was a place I'd never ventured into, always making a beeline outta school as soon as the bell rang, only hitting the books right before those dreaded tests.

But today, I wanted to see if I could actually learn something. Being smart isn't half bad, I figured.

I stepped into the library, and what'd ya know, it was mostly nerds sitting at their desks, all quiet-like.

The good thing was, you could just grab any book from the shelf and you're good to read it. So, I figured that for engineering, math would be a decent place to kick things off.

I snagged "Pre Calculus" off the shelf, which lay right next to a 'LOTR' book. Even though I'd been theoretically through this stuff the last two years, it just wouldn't stick in my brain.

I have to admit, it's a real head-scratcher why the heck did someone decide to plop a book from 'The Lord of the Rings' series right next to it?

Maybe they figured they'd make folks think twice about diving into some math stuff and, instead, tempt 'em to grab Tolkien's epic and get lost in a real-deal adventure.

As I cracked open "Precalculus," I dived into topics like linear equations, functions, quadratics, inverses, matrices, polynomials, and exponentials.

Suddenly, it was like a light bulb switched on in my brain.

The explanations in the book made it seem straightforward, much simpler than how the teacher had been explaining it. I had moments of enlightenment as I went through each topic, realizing that maybe I had the knack for this after all.

Continuing my exploration, I delved into the realms of trigonometry. Trigonometric functions, identities, and the unit circle suddenly seemed more like old friends than abstract concepts.

The book's clear explanations and step-by-step examples guided me through the world of sine, cosine, and tangent functions.

Complex numbers, often seen as intimidating, became more approachable as I grasped their arithmetic and representation in the complex plane.

I reveled in the elegant simplicity of De Moivre's Theorem and Euler's Formula, both presented in a way that made perfect sense.

Moving on to vectors, the book led me through the fundamental principles of vector addition, dot, and cross products.

Each concept unfolded with a clarity that left me wondering why it had ever seemed so complex in the classroom. I mean, Mr. Johnson, my math teacher, could've learned a thing or two from this book.

I couldn't help but shake my head and mutter, "Mr. Johnson, you seriously had this talent for makin' vectors feel like trying to untangle headphone wires in the dark. But this book here? It's like a freakin' flashlight cutting through that mess,"

I couldn't help but feel a growing sense of confidence. The world of mathematics was starting to feel like a realm I could not only navigate but conquer.

I was determined to keep going, explore more advanced topics, and see just how far this newfound clarity could take me. My focus shifted from merely surviving the school life to thriving in it.

I still needed to go through some more Math content to get a perfect score on the SAT but it seemed like I could devour those topics whole.

Suddenly, a pencil lightly poked my arm.

"Umm, sorry..." a voice said, and I turned to see an attractive girl probably my age.

She was wearing short pants and a yellow, belly-exposed t-shirt and had long straight hair as dark as her eyes.

With a reddened face, she asked, "Can I ask you a math question?"

I looked at her, feeling a mix of surprise and curiosity.

"And what makes you think I'll be able to come up with an answer?"

"I saw you going through that book with such focus and writing stuff down on paper."

"Alright, shoot. What's the question?"

"It's a pre-calculus proof, you know? I've been trying to come up with an answer for quite some time now, and I have a class in 30 minutes that I need to go to. Could you help me out?"

'Prove the Law of Sines for a triangle'

"Hmm, let me see," I replied as the girl brought her chair closer to get a clear view of the paper in front of me.

"You got your triangle, sides 'a,' 'b,' and 'c,' and angles 'A,' 'B,' and 'C,' right? Now, check this out: draw a line straight down from angle 'A' to the opposite side. Call where it hits 'D.' Here's the deal with the Law of Sines: Take a side, like 'a,' and divide it by 'sin(A).' Do the same thing for 'b' and 'c' with their angles. It's wild, 'cause 'a / sin(A)' = 'b / sin(B)' = 'c / sin(C).'"

"It helps in solving the triangles, even if we ain't got all the info. Pretty slick, huh?", I looked at her.

The girl's eyes widened in amazement as I explained the seemingly complex Law of Sines slowly and clearly. She couldn't help but smile, realizing that math could actually be fun and understandable. "Wow, thanks! It's crystal clear now!"

Her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm as she looked at me and asked, "Mind if I snag that paper? It's pure gold!"

"Sure thing"

She took the paper and as she was about to leave, she suddenly paused, turned around, and asked with a friendly grin, "By the way, I never caught your name."

"I'm Max Sullivan"

"Cool, Max Sullivan, I'll add you on Messenger later. Thanks again!" she said as she ran out of the library

I scratched my head, chuckled, and muttered to myself, "Man, I never got her name though. I gotta work on my game next time!"

Determined to improve my math skills, I approached the librarian—a stunning woman in her 40s with a professional attire that seemed to radiate knowledge.

I flashed my most charming grin, "Hey there, miss. Mind if I borrow that PreCalculus book? Gotta up my math game, you know?"

The librarian, maintaining her professional demeanor, replied, "Of course, there's no problem at all. We have plenty of copies available for borrowing. However, I'd appreciate it if you could keep the noise down next time. There are other students here who are also eager to learn." Her tone was firm but courteous, emphasizing the importance of a quiet and respectful library environment.

I, realizing my oversight, with a bit of a sheepish expression. I turned back to the librarian, "I got carried away back there with this math stuff. I'm really sorry for being too loud. I promise to be quieter next time. Thanks for the heads up!" I appreciated the librarian's patience and wanted to make amends for any disruption I had caused.

I left the library in a rush, heading towards the Polish language class. I picked this one 'cause everybody knew it was basically a joke, even the teachers.

It turned into a chill hangout spot where, even after slugging through three years of language study, the classes were still as basic as it gets.

Ain't nobody expecting to learn shit in there, that's for sure.