Kuebiko

sonder

Sonder is the only one who could ever match Ellipsism grade for grade, even in History which was her specialty. He always sat in the front with her and me. He always raised his hand faster than she did and sometimes faster than me. You need to understand that Sonder is the kind of rainstorm that makes the flowers grow.

On Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we have class quizzes over the material we did for homework. Each is ten points and an extra credit point. You have to get all eleven questions correct to get an A, otherwise only ten is a B. The top of her papers form tally marks with the number of points she has gotten correct. If only I knew what she was counting up to.

Monday's quiz covered the great battle of Andrew Jackson v. The Banks of the United States. I finished it faster than Sonder did. So fast that I had time to take the hall pass down to the library to pick up the book on trout that came in at the library for me. When I returned to the room, Ellipsism had only filled in half the answers for the test. Five points would get her an F.

Even on a small assignment, an F would drop her down at least six points. She couldn't get such a pitiful grade on such an unimportant quiz.

The teacher called time even before the seven minutes to take the quiz were up. The rows of students behind us were already done. Ellipsism wasn't. We traded papers because she doesn't like it when boys saw her grades. I had to put my entire book bag up on the desk to dig out my pencil bag. I could barely lift it with all my books in it. Sonder grabbed a strap to help me. I dug out a green pen to grade with. That is one of the rules, you know, all students must grade others' work in green, but we grade our own work in orange and teachers grade our work in red. When we do the assignment, it must be done in black or blue ink, otherwise we get no credit for the assignment.

Her first answer was incomplete. She gave the correct order of Jackson's actions to kill the bank; however, she did not explain why each step was significant to American history. I had to mark her down for that one. There is no such thing as half credit for us. Her second answer was complete enough for the full point, but the third and fourth answers were incomplete. Her fifth answer gave the wrong year. She was ten years off. I marked her one single point at the top of her paper. We are required to circle the grade we give otherwise the teacher can dock us points from our test for improper grading. With a solid line marring her paper, I suppose that her tally marks were still counting.

I could not look at Ellipsism as I handed her back her paper. She returned my paper. At least one of us would get credit for the assignment. She had drawn two lines next to my name without circling them. She knew that a simple circle on my paper would cost her the one point she had earned for herself. I caught Sonder looking at her paper when she handed it to me to be passed down to the end of the row.

No one had ever gotten one point on a quiz before. Ellipsism must have been waiting for the teacher to turn their back to put out quizzes in the room's filing cabinet. Every classroom has a filing cabinet protected by a padlock. The combinations change every week. All assignments from the time we complete them, turn them in, get them back, then turn them back in for records are held in that cabinet. It takes about a minute for the teachers to turn the dials and file our quizzes away. In that time, Ellipsism got up and left the room. She didn't even ask for a pass to go to the bathroom. She even left her backpack. You need to understand, our backpacks are our lives. She won't be able to even get into the athletics department without the change of clothes in her backpack.

Groups of students every year have breakdowns, but they are expected to do it quietly in their dorm room. No one has ever run out of the room before. Ellipsism did not return at the end of the period to pick up her backpack. I set my backpack on top of the desk to shove my binder for that class back inside it. Every subject has a different colors. Social studies based classes are powder blue, so all my binders, notebooks, and text book covers must be that shade of powder blue.

"I do not think you need to carry all that around with you," he said.

Some things I could leave behind, that was true. I only really needed my History binder and spiral, my Calculus notebook and pencil bag, my Chemistry lab book and binder, my French textbook and binder, and my work uniform.

"Never know what I might need," I replied.

"'Cause you definitely need all that. Looks like you and Ellipsism have that in common. Carrying this backpack might make me sore tomorrow," he said.

"These things could drown someone," I said.

"Right, if you fell in the lake and couldn't get it off you, it could drown you like a sack of bricks," he said.

"I can't believe Ellipsism got one point out of eleven," I said.

"Getting less than eight requires effort. She studied with me all last night for this. We were going to go see the orchestra concert, but she wanted to study all night instead," he said.

"Her favorite place to go when she is upset is the bridge across the lake. She probably ran there," I said.

"Then I'll go get this back to her. If it doesn't crush my spine before then," Sonder said and left me to go return the book bag to Ellipsism.