Chapter 14: Opportunity

VI POV

Ma'am Bea starts discussing a new topic enthusiastically. I know that our teachers look tired because of the upcoming exams yet Ma'am Bea's eyes were filled with joy that she didn't give us any assignments to accomplish.

Maybe, Frank won first place again in one of his math competitions. I'm not that surprised by anyone since he's at his prime. He got used to competing already.

It might be Dan. Dan's performance has been greatly improving and I don't know how difficult the exams would be. Yet, I am quite confident that he will ace the exams. Maybe, Ma'am Bea is proud of Dan's improvement.

As I was about to leave the room, ma'am Bea approached me with her warm smile. "Do you remember that competition in which I recommended you to join? The one where I asked you to pass a copy of your solutions for Asia's Math Youth Competition? You did it! You're qualified for the pre-final round!"

I covered my mouth and jumped out of excitement. I couldn't believe the news.

***

Beep beep

My alarm went off again. It's already 4:30 AM yet I couldn't believe my dream. That couldn't possibly happen, right? But I have to write it down in my dream journal just in case.

Journal Entry: #08122018

People involved: Ma'am Bea

Location: Classroom

Time: Took place after Math period, around 3:50 PM

Description: Became a qualifier for the AMYC

***

Some were all rushing their presentations when suddenly the lights went off. Ughhh, another power interruption today. I won't be able to print my reviewers 'til the power comes back.

Ma'am Bea wore a yellow sweater on top of her white uniform today. She looks a lot younger as she radiates her smile towards the whole class. "Good morning everyone. We may not have electricity at the moment but hey, we can still find a way to make today's class stimulating. I have prepared an activity that everyone will enjoy."

Ma'am Bea gave us the instructions then we immediately went outside to take some pictures that would show the transformation of graphs. Later on, we would graph these pictures on the board and show the estimated angles for each shape.

Some looked for the obvious ones. Like a pencil rotated around 45 degrees. Flowers, rocks, etc. Most are nonliving things. Yet, I didn't know what's in my groupmates' imagination. Gab and Rex grabbed a living cat and rotated its body while it was lying down.

"Don't you move, little kitty.", exclaimed Gab. Rodney, on the other hand, took pictures of the cat. While I'm watching them do this silly stuff. Rodney leaned nearer to me and whispered, "You'll explain for us, right?"

I shook my head. "I will but look at the amount of silliness you're putting on for our presentation later. How would you even draw the cat's figure on the board?"

"Don't worry Vi, you're one of Ma'am Bea's star students. She'll appreciate our efforts, besides she mentioned that we should be as creative as possible."

"Hahaha, funny.", I replied with a quiet voice.

After taking pictures, most of us came back to the classroom and rested for a few minutes. Ma'am Bea started writing on the board: Asia's Math Youth Competition

"Before we proceed with graphing, I would like to encourage each one of you to participate in Asia's Math Youth Competition. It's an annual Mathematics competition where everyone around Asia is invited and I'm glad to say that we received an invitation from the organizers themselves. Thus, I will be listing students who are interested in this particular competition so don't hesitate to approach me."

After numerous presentations, Ma'am called us next. We were the last to present yet our was out of the ordinary. Gab drew the cat's silhouette and Rodney showed Ma'am Bea the pictures of the cat. I was thinking deeply about how I would explain the rotation of our polygons since there were six irregular cat-shaped planes drawn on the graph.

"Interesting… out of all of the groups, you are the only group who used an animal to illustrate its rotation from the cat. Let's proceed with your presentation"

The others snickered at our drawing on the graph. Gab pushed my shoulder a little to the middle. I cleared my throat and started explaining, "I know that this may look confusing but I hope that you'll understand our explanation. In this graph, we may observe rotations and reflections of the plane, specifically the cat drawing. Let's assume that there is a line tangent to the cat's body."

I opened the cap of the marker and drew a line passing through one point of the "cat silhouette" plane. "Assuming that the tangent line passed through the "midpoint" of the cat, we may estimate that the angle of this cat is 45 degrees above the x-axis. Likewise, when we rotate the cat again by 45 degrees, we may infer that the cat is perpendicular to the x-axis. Thus, we may observe the rotation in these irregular polygon planes "

I took in another breath and continued, "In addition, we may also say that the graphs of their reflection can be seen here. If we look at the cat-figure graph at the left and right of the y-axis, we may say that it has a horizontal reflection. The same can be said for the original plane drawing and the drawing below the y-axis, yet we call this the vertical reflection."

Everyone was left speechless, though I hope I'm right. I don't want to disappoint Ma'am Bea.

Ma'am Bea replied critically, "That would be considered correct if you only consider the tangent lines touching on the plane or the "cat" drawing. If reflection and rotation of planes, you should consider all the points of the plane to be rotated around the plane's midpoint by 45 degrees so that the plane is correctly rotated. Likewise, you're partially correct that the planes are reflected, yet we cannot conclude that it has been reflected by its x and y-axis. Yet considering that it's incredibly difficult to draw the cat plane and its position especially when it is a living and moving animal, it's alright that the reflections and rotations of the planes aren't exact. Thank you Violet's group for presenting."

After two more presentations, everyone settled down as Ma'am Bea began to speak. “Thank you everyone for your active participation. For today’s activity, I’ve decided to give all of the group perfect scores and will obtain plus points for explaining today’s concepts well.”

Everyone in the classroom cheered. Ma’am Bea has always been kind and considerate to us since grade 7. Sometimes I wonder whether she has ever been mad at anyone before. She always wears a smile on her face and she seems happy all the time.

“Anyway, that’s it for today! Goodbye, and thank you class!”

Everyone stood up and greeted our teacher back, “Goodbye and thank you, Ma’am Bea.”

I fixed my things and kept my math notebook in my school bag. I went out of the classroom to the comfort room. While going back to the classroom, I noticed Ma’am Bea speaking with a male teacher near the stairs. I looked away and walked straight.

I heard Ma’am Bea’s voice calling me. “Wait, Vi! Come here.”

I sighed quietly and came near Ma’am Bea and her companion. “Remember my announcement a while ago? Would you like to join?”

I hesitated to reply. “Ma’am, I’m not sure if I’m ready for this kind of competition. I’ve never competed in any math competitions before and I’m afraid that I might not even qualify.”

Ma’am Bea patted on my back lightly. “Just try to solve and do your best Vi. I actually wanted you to join and give you the chance to showcase your math skills. If you ever decide to join, just give me your solutions and answers then I’ll handle the rest. Alright?”

I smiled back with apologetic eyes. “Okay ma’am, I’ll decide on this carefully. Thank you for the opportunity, Ma’am Bea.”

Ma’am Bea looked at her companion. “Sir Eu, remember that you have to treat me with samgyupsal later after we finish work. ”

I lowered my head and avoided eye contact. Should I leave them alone already?

He smiled back at her, “You’ll let me ta-”

She immediately covered his mouth. “Yes yes, I won the bet. Just make sure that no one should see us together, especially not in front of our students. They may get the wrong idea or the news might spread out quickly.”

“Okay okay, I understand what you mean. I “lost” from a bet.”

She lightly hit his arm with her elbow while her eyes lit brighter. “Ouch. Is it my fault that students make suspicions because I’m handsome? My students have been wondering about whether I’m dating someone right now and of course I couldn’t tell them because they might tell the person I like through social media. They’re also good investigators, sometimes I wonder if I taught them too well on logical reasoning. But you have to agree that I’m pretty good-looking, right?”

She raised an eyebrow. “If you want an honest opinion, you can ask one of my students. Vi, would you agree with Sir Eu?”

“Uhmmmm,” I looked at Sir Eu from head to toe. “Well, for me ma’am judging people based on whether they’re handsome or not varies on others’ standards. For me, Sir Eu looks handsome and charismatic.”

He grinned while looking at her. “Told you so ma’am.”

She straightened her back and faced my side. “Well, Vi, Sir Eu and I will be going now. I heard that there were already rumors about Sir Eu’s relationship, so please don’t spill anything you’ve from our conversation. I have your trust, right?”

I replied, “I promise that I’ll never tell a single soul, ma'am.”

This was the first time a teacher has given me the chance to compete. Yet, am I capable enough? I only taught Math but I only volunteered for bonus points for my grades. Is this what I’ve dreamt of a while ago? Does it mean that I’m meant for this?

All of a sudden, my vision suddenly turned vague and my head started aching a bit. I blinked my eyes a few, hoping that my vision would clear up soon. What just happened? This has never happened to me before.

I closed my eyes again and calmed myself down. Suddenly, I heard a man’s voice echoing in my mind. “You may not recall me for I came from centuries ago. Yet I shall complete my mission for which I begged Bathala. I shall be here when the time is right.”