Sheri comes to sit next to me, so that we can go over the papers together. She brings her chair, and I scoot over a little for her. She has a very pretty, green pen, and I see that when she thinks, she chews the end of her pen a little. She starts going over the first page of problems, and I see that she jots down a few notes as she goes. I guess that the notes are there for her, because when I read them, they don't make any sense. They say things like "Wrk Anl - Nrr."
She turns to me and smiles, "Wow, Blossom, you're doing really well so far. I'm very impressed. Mr. Utonium and Ms. Keane said that you were incredibly smart for your age, and they really were right!"
I can't help but blush. I beam with happiness. I like Sheri. She finishes going over the problems, and I notice that she hasn't marked any of my problems wrong. Ms. Keane always marks problems I get wrong. So, I must not have gotten any wrong!
"I know that you're wondering why I haven't marked any wrong, Blossom. Well, all my life I've hated having problems marked wrong. It doesn't teach; it just gives you reason to be sad, or not feel good about yourself. So, we're going to do things a bit differently. I'm going to show you what good things you did, and then later on, in future lessons, we'll go over the ones you need more work on." She winks as she's talking, and I know that I'll be much more happy with this system, than with Ms. Keane's. I won't have to go home tonight and torture myself over all the problems I missed.
"Wow, that's a really great idea, Sheri." I say with enthusiasm. She begins to go over the packet with me. Some problems she totally skips over, because we're only going over a certain type of problems today. That way I honestly don't have any ideas which problems I got wrong.
I really like Sheri. I haven't learned anything yet, but I know it's important that she know where to start teaching, before she starts. I bet Bubbles and Buttercup did really exciting things today. I bet that Sheri is neater than Brenden and Freesia. I bet that Bubbles and Buttercup won't learn as much as I will this year. I can't wait to tell the Professor about everything I got to do today.
"Now, I've gotten you this little book, and every day for at least fifteen minutes, I'd like you to free-write. Basically, you can write about anything. Once in a while I might give you a topic, depending what we've been learning. It'll help you with your grammar, and we'll just keep track of that. I'm going to read it though, so if you want to put personal things, you can, but you don't have to. I'll reply to things you write, and go over your grammar a little."
I open to the first page, and she hands me a pretty, purple pen. I begin to write what comes into my head.
October 1, 2002
Today was very exciting. Buttercup, Bubbles, and I spent all day waiting to meet our mentors. They all seemed very nice. I haven't met Freesia, or Brenden yet, but if my sisters like them, then I'm sure I will. Sheri has been really nice to me. I really hope we get to start learning things tomorrow. I should ask her if she's in any clubs or anything. I wonder what she likes to do. I wonder what the girls and I are supposed to do if the mayor calls the hotline phone. We don't have any sort of hotline phones here, or a way to contact each other. I'll have to ask Professor that later.
Sheri is sitting next to me again, and I see her look down at her watch. I set my pen down and she tells me it's just about time to go. We both stand up, and I reach for her hand. We walk down the stairs, and out her door. Once we make it outside, I look around. I wonder how far we are from home. We start walking down the street. I notice how close we are to home, and it takes less than five minutes to get home. I walk in and see that I'm the first to get home. I can't wait until I can hear all about what Bubbles and Buttercup did. I guess I'll have to wait until they get home.