You mean it gets really cold? Even colder than this? No way!

Everything went wrong that day. The English teacher asked me to read aloud, and I refused. I’d probably flunk the class if I continued doing this.

In algebra Jerry moved his desk toward me so I could rest my feet on the metal basket. That was pretty neat but then I caught Kathy staring at my feet because my socks were bulging out of my shoes. How embarrassing!

And then the algebra teacher called on me. “Cristina, could you, please, come up and solve this problem?”

All eyes were on me, but I walked to the board and tried to concentrate on the problem.

(3x + 5) (2x + 7)

I remembered what the teacher had said the day before, the word FOIL would help solve this problem.

• F for first. Multiply the first two terms.

  (3x) (2x) = 6x²

• O for outside. Multiply the outside terms.

  3x × 7 = 21x

• I for inside. Multiply the inside terms.

  5 × 2x = 10x

• L for last. Multiply the last terms.

  5 × 7 = 35

So, I came up with: 6x² + 21x + 10x + 35 I almost sat down, but the teacher stopped me. “Wait a minute, Cristina. You need to finish it.”

I looked back at the board, and saw what she meant. I needed to add the common terms to finish the problem.

6x² + 31x + 35

“Perfect,” the teacher said.

That should have made me feel good, but when I was walking back to my desk, I overheard Jerry whispering to Kathy, “I told you! She understands English.”

Kathy didn’t answer and instead, she stared at my socks.

When the bell rang, I packed my books in a hurry to go to the bathroom and take off at least one pair of socks.