I’m a little embarrassed to say I did this at the ripe old age of almost 15, but we were having a blast

Based on a true story

Studying math is boring. No, scratch that, studying math is BORING. Math is so boring, in fact, that YOU MAY EVEN TURN INTO AN X-AXIS BY MISTAKE. Yes, that’s better. Forewarned is forearmed. I got together with Tehilla, the wackiest kid in my class, to study for the math Regent, plus of course my good friend Esther. Tehilla kept up a steady stream of jokes, and Esther and I were cracking up straight through. Esther ensured we got studying done too, so I had the best of all worlds.

Finally, after eight hours of studying (okay, okay, of eating pizza and yapping and gossiping and jumping on Tehilla’s backyard trampoline) we were done reviewing all 16 grueling chapters of Algebra 1. Showtime! We needed to test ourselves to check if we had the concepts down pat. I ripped out some blank paper from the back of my math spiral, and suddenly we all yawned. Simultaneously, I promise.

Esther’s idea was to write up a math test using examples from the book, and then exchange papers.

No way I was gonna live through that one. I sighed. Tehilla’s eyes widened and she looked like she was going to give such a hearty sneeze, but I knew her better than that. It was the look she got on her face when she had a zany idea. I wasn’t disappointed.

“Let’s all write the math examples on each other’s faces, and then answer each other’s questions!”

“Yeah!” Esther and I screamed. The idea was complicated to execute, but we were determined. Wait until my classmates heard about this one! We sat down on the carpeted floor in a little circle. Pulling examples from the textbook, I wrote math problems onto Tehilla’s face, while Esther wrote onto my face, and Tehilla wrote onto Esther’s face. Our roaring laughter while we were writing examples was punctuated only by, “Stop laughing, you’re shaking too much!”

Our faces proved too small to contain all 16 chapters’ worth of algebra problems, so we moved on to necks and hands. After 20 minutes, we were all covered in ink!

I’m a little embarrassed to say I did this at the ripe old age of almost 15, but we were having a blast.