Chapter 6: Teacher's Troublesome Pupils

The smell of ink on paper is evident as stacks of short bond paper had been sitting on the teacher's table for a while now.

*crrrrrrk!*

" Next! "

*crrrrrrk!*

" Hey! stop dawdling. Gimme your pencil! "

*crrrrrrk!*

"Next!"

Thin sheets of pencil remnants keep on falling as tiny hands roll the boxed sharpener: if there were any tiny hamsters, they would have made themselves home on top of it.

After getting their pencils sharpened, the grade one pupils settled on their seats. It is a wooden school bench with a table at the back: open compartment under the table and a pencil placement spot on it.

The school benches are lined up in 4 rows, 6 bench each row. At the very back of the tables loom 2 by 6 meters mini library that is exclusive for grade one pupils's use. At the front are 2, 1.5 by 3 meters chalkboard. Above them are the 26 English Alphabet.

To the left are 4, 1 by 4 meters glass window which is currently opened wide. To the right is the 1 by 4 meters door located at the back.

" Hey, Sanus. Do you have an extra eraser? "

Sanus was busy staring blankly into nothing: her palms on her chin, leg over the other. Then a voice on her right intruded her peace.

[ So annoying. ] she thought.

It was Rent. He was standing there, showing Sanus the chewed eraser of his pencil : hoping that Sanus had an extra eraser.

The over-exuberant guy who kept on squealing in a high pitch sound or somewhere pinching a classmate without any reasonable explanation, is quiet for once.

If not, he would have been everywhere: tattling and bothering everyone with an overflowing energy nobody knew where it's stemming from.

" Get that thing away from me! " Sanus said as she stood abruptly, backing Rent for a few steps.

[ I should have broken his leg. He even dared to stand before me while I am sitting! ]

Not letting her contempt show on her face, Sanus sighed in defeat: spotting a familiar figure waving at her with an almost intoxicating smile.

The girl wore a sky blue, school jumper skirt uniform over a white t-shirt. Her original hair color was black, which can be observed from the newly grown hairs, near the scalp among her silver-dyed hair.

Sanus can still remember Clara dyeing her hair after noticing that Sanus was the only one with silver hair.

" Clara. " Sanus whispered under her breath.

Sanus wanted Rent gone more than ever, so she thought of the most convenient solution that came to mind. Even though it was her secret, it didn't matter now.

" Under the classroom, many pencils have always been carelessly dropped. If you're lucky, you might find one with an eraser. "

The L-shaped building stood with a number of square posts of about a meter in Height, holding it upright. It consisted of 3 classrooms for grades 1-3 and a kitchen for the teachers.

There were some holes on the floor which clearly just fell on its own: eating every neglected pencil down to the dusty hollow under the building.

" Oh...okay! Thanks. "

Sanus almost skipped towards the door where Clara had been waiting patiently: leaving her classmate behind.

" Is there anything I can do for you Clara? "

The older girl shook her head in disagreement and then handed her a boxed food.

"Here! Honey sandwich. I made extra since I know you don't even bother preparing snacks."

"Um- thank you, Clara."

Sanus felt awkward being the one receiving favors. The only thing she ever received were pleads for assistance, errands and when people wants something from her.

" Well, that's it! Good luck with your exam, Sanus! "

Clara trotted away to the next classroom happily as she bumped into someone: a teacher with wrinkles on her skin and white hair covering her head. Sanus can hear her say, " I'm so sorry, teacher! "

" Be careful next time. " the teacher said.

When she saw Sanus who still can't take her eyes off of Clara's retreating figure, she immediately told her, " Okay, Sanus. Go to your seat now. "

To Sanus, she was just an old lady whose teeth and gums fell while brushing. It happened during recess when Sanus was the first to arrive at the sink. What she didn't know is that it wasn't really the teacher's teeth but her denture.

Everyone ran to their own designated seats because the teacher began distributing the exam papers. In the mind of a grade one pupil, this day is no different from any other as they have yet to realize the importance of exams.

*clap clap clap!*

"Okay, listen up! What you have to do is simple: read the instructions carefully and do what is being asked. Don't write or do anything unnecessary!"

"Yes Ma'am!"

Sanus quickly turned her 1st exam paper and it read 'Math' on top of it. She saw illustrations of 4 red ants + 2 black ants = .

As a child, her brain is not yet ready for mental computations but she understood the concept of addition very well. As such, she proceeded by counting the number of ants rather loudly.

" 1 2 3 4 5 6. " then she wrote a 6 on the box provided after the equal sign.

Other pupils copied the example of their classmate, erasing the numbers they have written bellow each ant: realizing that they are not allowed to write anything other than the answer on the exam paper.

" 1 ant..2 ant..3 ant..4 ant..5 ant..6 ant. "

The teacher didn't correct this behavior which almost all of her students did. She thought that perhaps [ vocalizing the numbers would help facilitate their memory. ]

However, " Pupils, please lower your voice so that you will not disturb each other! "

After hearing this, the kids began counting diligently through whispers. The teacher is very happy and optimistic about her pupils as she left them, planning to take it easy in the kitchen.

[ I hope my pupils really do well. I want to flaunt my teaching skills too like the others! ]

When the teacher went on her merry way, Sanus was left with a difficult decision. She can't really count when it comes to multiplication and they learn the multiplication tables only at grade 4.

[ Forget it! Whatever happens happen. I need to answer this first. ]

The question read 7 × 8 = but Sanus'brain can't record such complicated instructions in her mind. As such, she began scribbling on her wooden desk.

It read, 1111111. 1111111. 1111111. 1111111. 1111111. 1111111. 1111111

1111111.

After that, she counted 56 and wrote it again on the box provided. Another question read 45 ÷ 9 = .

Of course, Sanus scribbled on her bench again. It read, ( 111111111 ) ( 111111111 )

( 111111111 ) ( 111111111 ) ( 111111111 ).

The answer was 5.

---After Exam---

" Excellent! Everyone is very good at Math "

[ They also did good in science. They just need to work on their spellings. ]

The teacher sighed, looking at an exam paper as it illustrated a picture of the human body. As far as the teacher imagined, the misspelled words overwhelmed her old heart.

It was written ice instead of eyes; mawth instead of mouth; fit instead of feet. Her pupils certainly made it look like they were writing homophones. [ They definitely made it an English Exam. ]

*sigh*

Not only that, there was a pupil she didn't want to name. The pupil cheated on Sanus' Exam Paper as it is obvious due to one stupid mistake.

It read on the top left corner of the Exam Paper, < Name: Sanus Luminer >.

The penmanship is definitely not that of Sanus. It was so stylish: there's no way that she, who couldn't care less about anything at all, would be that diligent nor is she that patient to spend time on such trivial details.

[ When I went to collect the papers, Sanus was literally drooling on her desk! Thank goodness, her paper didn't get wet. ]

*sigh*

Sanus who was awoken by the collection of exam papers didn't hide the obvious irritation in her sleepy eyes: cheeks reddened by the pressure applied while sleeping and saliva sticking on it.

The teacher remembered telling her, " Don't wipe your face with your hands! Go wash it with water, now! "

The child didn't even bother any kind of reaction like embarrassment. She just walked away lazily, disappearing out of the door.

The teacher would have collected the papers in peace but reality wouldn't have it any other way.

" Oh my goodness! "

The desks were filled with so many 1 scribbles, she would have been fired for doing such sloppy work. [ Ugh! children are nothing but demons! ]