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Zarrelian stood at the entrance to his Neoschool classroom,
room 101. His gut wrenched unpleasantly as he read the brass nameplate fitted
above the door. It read, "Mr. A Bronston, Room 101". The Ixi gulped, wiped the
sweat off of his brow and gingerly pushed the door open.
It opened with a loud creak, the piercing sound
making Zarrelian wince. He poked his over sized head around the doorframe and
grinned weakly at his teacher, who was sitting at his desk, sipping his Borovan
and glaring daggers at the young Ixi.
Zarrelian’s teacher, Mr. Bronston, was a fiery
old Draik whose temper was challenged by none. (Except maybe the Snowager on
a really, really bad day). The last time that Zarrelian had entered his classroom
had ended in mass chaos. In less than an hour, the Halloween colored Ixi had
managed to kick his teacher in the knees, toss hot Borovan all over his new
tie, and get himself sent home early. Needless to say, Zarrelian’s owner wasn’t
very happy. Then again, neither was Mr. Bronston.
The Draik jerked his tie, a classic show of contempt,
and stomped over to Zarrelian. He stood in front of him, arms crossed over his
scaly chest.
"Well?" he asked, glaring at the Ixi. "Do you
have anything to say, mister Zarrelian?"
Zarrelian rolled his eyes, but nodded grudgingly.
"Yes, sir. I’m very sorry for kicking you in the knee, ruining your tie, and
disrupting the learning envio- enviorn-" Zarrelian peered at the apology note
that Battlesunn had written for him. He glanced at his teacher.
"I can’t read this word," he said, jabbing a
hoof at the word in question. Mr. Bronston snorted.
"Sound it out…" he said impatiently.
"En-en- environment," the Ixi concluded, having
discovered how the word was pronounced. Mr. Bronston nodded.
"Good. Now, I’m willing to forgive…" Zarrelian
sighed in relief. "—But I don’t forget. I’ll be keeping an eye on you, Zarrelian,"
he finished. "Now, go to your seat." The Draik extended a scaly claw towards
an empty desk sandwiched between a grinning Faerie Gelert and a somber Robot
Acara. Zarrelian groaned.
"Oh, do I have to sit THERE?" he asked, throwing
Mr. Bronston a look of pleading. The Draik stifled a chuckle, his whiskers twitching
as he fought hard to contain a smile.
"Yes. You do. Now go, before I get mad…" he
replied, a low growl evident in his voice. Zarrelian sighed and shuffled over
to his desk, sliding into the chair with a scowl on his face. Mr. Bronston watched
him for a second, making sure that he had settled down, then whirled around
to face the large blackboard. He retrieved a piece of chalk from a small box
on his desk and began to write on the board, the chalk producing a high, grating
squeal. The class winced, covering their ears with their paws. Mr. Bronston
stepped away from the board to reveal what he had written on the board.
"Today we are going to begin your math unit.
Now, we’LL start nice and easy, just some very simple yet extremely difficult
multiplication and long division. Now, do you all see what I’ve written on the
board? You, the Uni in the third row, read what it says."
The Uni, a rainbow stallion called Dewbeck, stood
and read out the equation.
"One hundred and twenty four times thirty,"
he read, and then sat back down. Mr. Bronston nodded.
"Okay, does anyone know the answer?"
A Christmas Zafara sitting two desks away from
Zarrelian raised her paw, her snowy white wings fluttering. The Draik pointed
at the Zafara.
"Yes, Celeste_Angelwings, do you know the answer?"
She grinned and puffed out her chest as she told
Mr. Bronston the answer. "The answer is three thousand seven hundred and twenty,"
she said, smoothing back her hair. Mr. Bronston gave Celeste one of his rare
smiles and wrote her answer on the board.
"That is correct. Now, watch closely, class.
I’m going to show you how to get the answer…"
But Zarrelian wasn’t listening. He was still
gazing at Celeste, a goofy smile plastered on his face. She sure was pretty,
and so smart, too! But how could he impress her? Then it him. Math! Celeste
loved math, so all Zarrelian had to do to impress her was to become good at
math. The Ixi folded his hoofs on his desk and watched what Mr. Bronston was
writing on the board very carefully, even though he had no idea what it all
meant.
"—So then we add up the two columns and we get
our answer. Any questions?" Mr. Bronston gazed around the room, scanning for
a raised paw. "No? Alright then, I’LL do another question on the board."
The Draik quickly wrote another multiplication
problem on the board. He then turned around, and asked for a volunteer. Instantly,
Zarrelian shot his hoof up into the air, thinking only to impress the pretty
Christmas Zafara that sat a mere two desks away from him, carefully buffing
her nails. Mr. Bronston seemed surprised.
"Zarrelian, you know the answer? Alright then,
shout it out." He eyed Zarrelian and then quickly added, "Not literally, Zarrelian.
Don’t actually shout."
It was then that Zarrelian realized that he didn’t
know how to find the answer. He racked his brain, searching for enlightenment.
Finally, he decided just to take a wild guess.
"Err, thirty two?" he offered, twiddling his
hooves.
The class erupted in laughter, including Celeste.
It tore poor Zarrelian’s heart in two to see the Zafara sniggering at him like
that. Mr. Bronston had to shoot two jets of flame from his mouth to restore
order.
"Quiet, QUIET!" he roared. The laughter died
immediately. The Draik looked sternly at Zarrelian, who was feeling very depressed
and stupid.
"Zarrelian! You cannot multiply two three digit
numbers and end up with something smaller. Do you understand?"
Zarrelian nodded miserably. Mr. Bronston stroked
his whiskers, staring angrily at the Ixi.
"Alright, then. Don’t answer a question unless
you actually KNOW the solution!"
Mr. Bronston continued to drone on about math
until the final bell finally rang, releasing Zarrelian from the torturous prison
that was Neoschool. He tore out of the front doors and ran down the winding
pathway to his NeoHome, determined to find a way to ace all of his quizzes,
answer every question right, and impress that cute Christmas Zafara.
***
Zarrelian found his solution quite quickly. He saw his owner, Battlesunn, adding
up their taxes at the kitchen table. She was using a calculator, and multiplying
numbers in no time at all. That gave Zarrelian an idea. He would smuggle a calculator
into Neoschool and use it to find all the answers. He waited until Battlesunn
was finished with the taxes and had left the room, and then snatched the calculator
from the kitchen table. He sniggered to himself under his breath. He would show
Mr. Bronston, Celeste, and the whole class who the REAL dummy was!
***
"Alright class, we’re having a test today on all the math that I taught you
yesterday. If you were paying attention, then there is no reason why you shouldn’t
get an ‘A’… Or at least a high ‘B’. But anything lower than that is bad! You
have an hour, and may begin as soon as you receive your paper. Good luck." Mr.
Bronston finished passing out the quizzes and retreated to his desk for a cup
of Borovan and the latest issue of The Neopian Times. He opened up the paper
and flipped around until he found his favorite section, the comics, burying
his snout into the latest instalment of "Dark Neopia".
Zarrelian grinned as he looked at all the multiplication
problems. They looked complex enough, but he was sure that his calculator would
have no problems tearing through the test. He whipped it out and began punching
in numbers, hastily scribbling down the answers that appeared on the solar celled
screen.
Back at his desk, Mr. Bronston suddenly froze.
He carefully set down his newspaper, his large ears tensed and ready. The Draik
was an experienced fifth grade teacher; and any teacher worth his salt could
hear the sound if a calculator from a whole hallway off. A snarl escaped from
Mr. Bronston’s jaws. He cleared his throat loudly, washing his suspicious gaze
across the room. Everyone froze. Everyone except for Zarrelian, who was so busy
plugging the questions into his calculator that he didn’t even notice Mr. Bronston’s
blazing stare burning into his head. All the Pets turned their heads in Zarrelian’s
direction, and gasped. Zarrelian finally realized what was going on. He looked
up, blanched, and dropped the calculator, where it fell to the floor with a
loud clatter of plastic on wood. Mr. Bronston strode over to the guiltily fidgeting
Ixi and snatched up the calculator. The Draik spewed smoke from his mouth and
brought his face very close to Zarrelian’s.
"I don’t approve of cheating," he growled as
he grabbed the Ixi’s paper and tore into tiny little pieces. Zarrelian shuddered,
he felt as though his stomach had flown up into his throat, which had become
as dry as the Sakhmet sands.
"Cheaters receive zero. Which, by the way, is
NOT a HIGH ‘B’ like I ASKED for!" the Draik roared as he continued rip up Zarrelian’s
test. "And, you have a one hour detention every day after school. You can help
me with my filing."
Zarrelian slumped down in his seat, his shoulders
hunched as his head hung low. He felt really bad, not just because he had failed
to impress Celeste, who now thought that he was a complete jerk, but because
he had cheated, and it really did feel lousy. Still… He couldn’t believe that
he had to help Mr. Bronston with his filing!
Then, he suddenly remembered something. He would
be in control of all the student’s files… Zarrelian could feel the old Ixi Of
Doom spirit creeping back into his mind. Sure, he had made one little mistake,
and sure, Celeste hated him… but there were plenty other Koi in the sea, and
Zarrelian would make sure to have a lot of fun with his filing duties.
The Ixi felt a grin split across his face as
he watched Mr. Bronston return to his desk and open up his newspaper. He would
make the Draik regret the day that he ever put this Ixi in charge of all the
student’s permanent records!
The End… Until detention time
Author’s Note: Obviously, the moral of the story is don’t ever cheat. Ever.
You won’t get away with it. Secondly, I would like to thank Hexxxie for allowing
me to use two of her pets, Dewbeck the Uni and Celeste_Angelwings the Zafara
in the story. I’m always looking for more cameo applicants… *wink* So Neomail
me if your pet is interested, or if you just want to send me questions, comments,
feedback or hatemail! :)
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