Then he handed Marianne hers. “Nice work, Ms. Blume,” he said as he made his way back to his desk.

And on the top of her paper she read:

B-

No way. It couldn’t be true.

Below it, Mr. Garcia had written out the point totals for all her tests and homework that semester and added it to what looked like two times—double!—the extra credit she was promised if she participated in Quiz Quest. Scribbled on the line underneath it was her point total and her overall grade in class: 72%.

Good luck in high school, it read. Keep up the effort.

Wait. This couldn’t be real. Even if he’d counted her on the team for extra credit like Vi had requested of him, he’d made an error by including it twice. Hadn’t he?

With some hesitation, Marianne ambled up to him.

In a low voice, she asked him if they could talk for a second, and he brought her to the corner of the classroom, beneath a poster that read Math Is Everywhere!, far enough away from the students’ desks to have some privacy.

“Mr. Garcia, you made a mistake.” She held out her test for him to see.

“Did I?” he asked, not giving the paper a single glance.

That day, he wore a bright green tie with the pi symbol decorating it. Had she gotten Mr. Garcia all wrong? Was he just truly awkward, like Vi said? Stern, trying hard to seem in charge, but unsure of himself? She had assumed so much about him.

Certainly, she could no longer see him in any way as hateful or mean.

Out of her periphery she saw Vi checking them out to see what was going on.

“You put the extra credit twice. See?” She pointed at her paper again. “You doubled it.”

“That can’t be,” he said. “Settle down!” he chastised a group in the back having an animated discussion.

“No, look.” Marianne held it out closer to his face. “The math is wrong.”

“I doubt that, Ms. Blume,” he answered her. “I’m pretty good with numbers.”

He took a step back toward the front of the room, but Marianne stopped him.

“Wait. That’s not okay. I didn’t earn it.” Marianne couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth, but she knew they were right. “I didn’t do work all fall or winter. I popped a bubble in your face. I left class. Then I didn’t even compete.”

Mr. Garcia seemed to ruminate on this. He put his hands in his pockets and rocked slightly back and forth on his heels. “Hmm. I’ve recently begun to examine the concept of point systems. They’re, um … complicated. The trouble with them, you see, is how they don’t always account for authentic change.” His face scrunched up in thought as he added, “Obviously, I’m not the first one to consider this, but…” He lifted a finger as if debating someone who wasn’t there and said, “Should someone be punished for low points earlier on when they’ve raised their points as time progressed? It’s getting harder for me to accept that.”