I made it to school on time but barely. I had a habit of cutting things close. I
walked the same tightrope with my grades: How little effort could I put in
and still get an A? I wasn’t lazy. I was practical. Picking up an extra shift
was worth trading a 98 for a 92.
I was in the middle of drafting an English paper in Spanish class when I
was called to the office. Girls like me were supposed to be invisible. We
didn’t get summoned for sit-downs with the principal. We made exactly as
much trouble as we could afford to make, which in my case was none.
“Avery.” Principal Altman’s greeting was not what one would call
warm. “Have a seat.”
I sat.
He folded his hands on the desk between us. “I assume you know why
you’re here.”
Unless this was about the weekly poker game I’d been running in the
parking lot to finance Harry’s breakfasts—and sometimes my own—I had
no idea what I’d done to draw the administration’s attention. “Sorry,” I said,
trying to sound sufficiently meek, “but I don’t.”
Principal Altman let me sit with my response for a moment, then
presented me with a stapled packet of paper. “This is the physics test you
took yesterday.”
“Okay,” I said. That wasn’t the response he was looking for, but it was
all I had. For once, I’d actually studied. I couldn’t imagine I’d done badly
enough to merit intervention.
“Mr. Yates graded the tests, Avery. Yours was the only perfect score.”
“Great,” I said, in a deliberate effort to keep myself from saying okay
again.
“Not great, young lady. Mr. Yates intentionally creates exams that
challenge the abilities of his students. In twenty years, he’s never given a
perfect score. Do you see the problem?”
I couldn’t quite bite back my instinctive reply. “A teacher who designs
tests most of his students can’t pass?”
Mr. Altman narrowed his eyes. “You’re a good student, Avery. Quite
good, given your circumstances. But you don’t exactly have a history of
setting the curve.”
That was fair, so why did I feel like he’d gut-punched me?
“I am not without sympathy for your situation,” Principal Altman
