Algebra was one of those classes that never failed to test my patience. I could memorize formulas, sure. I could even explain them back if I had to. But applying them? That was where my brain started chewing its own leg off. The numbers didn\u2019t click into place the way words or instincts did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today was worse than usual. Mr. O\u2019Leary had given us an in-class assignment: a set of quadratic equations that seemed deliberately designed to piss me off. My pencil tapped against the paper in an uneven rhythm, my handwriting getting messier with every line. The wolf in me didn\u2019t like the idea of being beaten by\u2026 symbols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou look like you\u2019re about to eat the worksheet,\u201d Gabriel said, sliding into the empty chair next to mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I growled \u2014 low enough that only he could hear \u2014 and pointed at the half-scribbled mess in front of me. \u201cThis makes no sense. At all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He leaned over, scanning my work. \u201cOkay, first problem \u2014 you\u2019re skipping steps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBecause steps are boring,\u201d I muttered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYeah, but they get you to the answer. Here\u2014look. Factor this term out first, then<\/em> combine the like terms. It\u2019s not about being fast, it\u2019s about seeing the pattern.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I glanced at him. \u201cYou\u2019re really good at this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He shrugged. \u201cIt\u2019s just logic. You\u2019d get it if you slowed down.\u201d He said it without the smugness most people used \u2014 not like he was better, just like he wanted me to win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I sighed, erased half the problem, and tried it his way. He kept talking me through it, calm and patient, until the numbers actually started falling into place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then it happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From the far side of the room, a sharp hiss of air \u2014 fast, thin \u2014 cut through the background chatter. I didn\u2019t think, didn\u2019t look. My hand shot up and closed around a sharpened pencil in mid-flight, less than an inch from Gabriel\u2019s face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The room went dead silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I turned the pencil over in my fingers once, then glanced at the kid who\u2019d thrown it. \u201cThanks,\u201d I said evenly, \u201cI needed a sharper one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I set my old, dull pencil aside and started working the next equation with the new one, like nothing had happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gabriel staring at me \u2014 not just surprised, but really<\/em> looking at me, as if trying to process what he\u2019d just seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat was\u2026\u201d he began, but stopped. \u201cFast.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cReflexes,\u201d I said with a shrug. \u201cGuess I\u2019m good at something<\/em> in this class.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n No one else said a word for the rest of the period. And though Gabriel went back to explaining the math problem, his eyes kept flicking to me, like he wasn\u2019t sure if I\u2019d just saved him from losing an eye\u2026 or if he should be just a little bit afraid of how easily I\u2019d done it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Algebra was one of those classes that never failed to test my patience. I could memorize formulas, sure. I could even explain them back if I had to. But applying them? That was where my brain started chewing its own leg off. The numbers didn\u2019t click into place the way words or instincts did. Today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-high-school-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions\/32"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}