The BSC Legacy - Book 3: When Numbers Really Count
By: CNJ
PG-13
19: Mary Anne and Stacey the Gifted
Mary Anne:
Ms. Cerrata, our English teacher, handed back the essays we'd completed.
"I'll have to say, I was a little disappointed with most of these essays. Perhaps the only three who were able to get the gist of the sonnets were Stephanie Myler, Terry Snade, and Mary Anne Spier."
She smiled at me as she handed back my essay. She's usually very serious, so she rarely smiles. She's also one of the toughest, strictest teachers at SHS.
I don't mind her, but a lot of other kids complain about her.
Oh, I mouthed, blushing a little when I saw the A at the top of my paper and read the comments.
Most of the essays made us just think about what went on behind just what characters did and what authors wrote down. I generally don't have trouble with writing.
This one was actually a bit tougher than past essays; it was like piecing a jigsaw puzzle together...at first you pondered the pieces, then used logic to connect various ideas, then bit by bit near the end, things finally fell into place.
People always say that Mallory Pike and I are the best writers in our BSC group. Mallory, however, is the creative writer of the group while I'm more of a factual, technical writer.
Mal is now at a boarding school that specializes in creative arts.
Stephanie let out a soft whoop when she saw her grade.
"Brainiacs!" Simone Trentwood hissed.
"Shut up!" Stephanie whispered back.
"The genius...the owl..." Riles Greer taunted softly two rows behind me.
I squirmed uncomfortably, willing myself not to cry. It's great to be a good writer, but not so great that other kids make fun of you. Am I THAT different from normal kids?
Stacey:
I was the first in the class to finish the calculus test and turn it in. Some kids behind me giggled.
"What a nerd..."
"Weirdo..."
I felt my face flush and fought the urge to tell them to shut up as I sat again. So I'm a math whiz.
Some kids today still act like there's something wrong with being smart, especially if you're a girl.
Kristy:
Mary Anne and Stacey were the last to arrive at the BSC meeting that afternoon. As Claudia passed around the junk food feast and we dipped in, Abby, Mona, and Claudia were talking about inventing an even quicker way to e-mail people.
"I think e-mail is...what...a fraction of a second?" I added.
"I bet either Stace or Mary Anne come up with something in twenty years," Claud laughed. "They're the two smartest ones of our bunch."
Mary Anne blushed and she and Stacey huddled closer to the bed and looked at each other.
"More like Kristy..." Mary Anne muttered and gave a nervous cough. "She's the one with the innovative ideas."
"What's invative mean?" Claudia asked, stuffing more chocolate kisses into her mouth.
"Original...creative," Mary Anne looked around, her dark eyes wide. "Like you, Claud."
"Oh...thanks," Claudia picked up one of her numerous paintings from a huge pile by her bed, looked at it a minute, then put it down again just as a call came in.
Mary Anne:
That early April, Ms. Silverbein announced the names of the new members of the TAG, gifted and talented juniors as well as the new members of the Honor Society. Stacey and I were picked!
On the way out of homeroom, Mona hugged me.
"Congratulations!" she told me.
Thank you, I mouthed.
Out in the hall, Stacey and I hi-fived each other between classes.
I was a bit nervous about being in TAG, but it's turned out to be enjoyable. The class in one period long and is twice a week.
Ms. Fedders teaches the language and social sciences half of it, which I'm in. Stacey is in the math and science half.
The language side is split up into whatever foreign language we're taking. Ellen Spinoza and I take German, about five of us take French; four are taking Spanish, and Kathy Maski is taking Latin along with one senior.
We spent several days with a map and a mass of foreign dictionaries tracing the roots of various languages. It was exciting to learn that German and English come from the same Germanic language family.
"That explains why German words often sound like English," Ellen told us.
"My language is from Latin," Chez Mendelez, who takes Spanish, added.
"So are Italian and French," Caitlin Giotti, who also takes Spanish, put in.
Stacey:
The TAG class is interesting...and stimulating! I was beginning to get antsy in my other classes and I take honors Calculus and AP Physics, so in a way, this class came at a good time.
TAG is the last class before lunch, so sometimes we milled toward the cafeteria together.
We'd gotten in the cafeteria that Thursday when a loud voice blurted, "HERE COME THE NERDS!"
Several kids laughed. Alan Gray. He and three others slowly came up to us.
"Here come the geekoids, they're so weird, they need a weird class and their own weird little society!" Riles added his jeer in.
A lot of kids were looking at us. Some of the TAG class squirmed into line, some slunk to the tables.
Mary Anne's brows were tight with nervousness, two small vertical lines between them. I had my fists balled.
"Aaaaa, you're just jealous," Caitlin peered at them without flinching. "Come on..." she looked toward the TAG kids still standing.
"Jealous?" Alan roared with laughter as if it were the funniest thing in the universe. "We're not jealous of a few dweebs. "We can flatten all of you in a second."
"Yeah..." Riles added and leaned toward Mary Anne, who shrank back.
"Come on, we'd better not waste our minds on these ignoramuses," Sheria Lopez led the rest of us around Alan and his cronies.
Mary Anne practically clung to me and we found the rest of the BSC and sat. Mary Anne was shaking a little.
"Are you all right?" Kristy put an arm around her. Mary Anne shrugged.
"Those ignorant...assholes," I muttered, popping open my plastic container of pasta and stabbing it with my fork.
"I don't think they're going to make life easy for us," Mary Anne whimpered, opening her can of fish sticks. She was close to tears.
"Have they ever?" Abby laughed "Hey...we'll all get you through this...maybe you'll tell your kids about this twenty years from now and laugh when you've got careers and those asswipes are punching out change at Food House or some other food store."
"Oh...Abby!" Mary Anne's face relaxed into a weak smile as we all laughed.
Neither Mary Anne or I take teasing very well, but with the support of the BSC as well as the rest of TAG, Abby was right...we'd pull through and laugh about it by the time we were middle-aged.
Mary Anne:
I guess Caitlin, Abby, and Kristy are right when they say it's a matter of jealousy. It's sometimes uncomfortable when you're young and there's something odd about you.
I guess kids feel threatened by someone who's odd and don't know how to handle it, being that our society values conformity.
Now that I think of it, each of us BSC members have something "different" about us, which is part of why we were one of the In clique's targets last year.
After I'd done my homework that night and got into bed, I thought about all this. I thought about us in the BSC and all we've been through together.
I guess because I'm so sensitive, much more so than normal people, teasing is hard for me to take, but one thing I realized is that I'm a strong person and can survive it.