Chapter 3

“Oh my child! That’s too little trouble.

You must learn to cope with circumstances that are not in your favor.

Remember that you all are in your last year of high school and soon will be leaving the village to attend the college.

 Therefore, you all would be stepping into a new city you’re not accustomed to living in.

 This is why you all must learn to adapt to the circumstances and never let the circumstances influence you.

 Or to state this otherwise, always find your way out of the problems you are or would be in. That’s too big an advice for you, too little trouble, yet I feel you must stick to this advice for the rest of your life. It will help you a lot.

” Concluded the professor just before the school bell rang. Martha understood the professor’s word and made a mental note to remember it when stuck in a problem, be it big or small.

Next came the period of Mrs. Bennett. Mrs. Bennett was that teacher in a typical school whom everyone feared. In Martha’s school’s case, even the principal held no right to object to Mrs. Bennett's deeds.

 The reason behind the terror of Mrs. Bennett was that she was the first ever teacher to have joined that school ever since its inception and hence been considered as a prominent figure. Moreover, she was conservative in her thoughts and believed that students’ activity must be restricted to study only. She preferred a sober greeting over the much animated “Good moooorning maaaaaaan!!”

She entered the class and as expected, the students greeted her in unison in the way she preferred. She asked everybody to sit down.

Her lips curved into a smile upon seeing her favorite, studious student Victoria seated on the front seat. Recently, in an inter-state tournament, she along with Martha had won gold medals in the mathematics Olympiad. Both Mrs. Bennett and Victoria exchanged a smile. However, she couldn’t find another dear student who used to accompany Victoria on the first bench.

On looking a couple of benches behind, she found Martha who was already posing a smile at her. She exchanged a warm smile with Martha as well.

Mrs. Bennett said, “Not quite often I see you sitting anywhere except first or second bench Martha.”

“Yes. Mrs. Bennett, I unexpectedly arrived late this morning. In fact, I have been hearing the same thing from so many people since morning” responded Martha, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Anyway dear, I heard you and Victoria performed exceptionally well at the Mathematics Olympiad held recently and bagged gold medals.

 Students like you are a pride to a teacher like me” said Mrs. Bennett since she only used to teach mathematics to the class.

Shifting her gaze one seat ahead, she again said, “On the other hand, there are students who do not even know how to solve a basic problem! Poor Matthew, I just checked the weekly test results and you have scored the least in the class. Perhaps you should learn something from Martha for the time being she is seated behind you.”

This made both Martha and Matthew embarrassed. Matthew, as witty as he is, responded, “Perhaps ma’am.

 However I don’t think if Martha is idle enough to have a word with me. She remains quite busy these days to not even have time to spare for little chitchats.” He maintained a tone as if to praise Martha’s efforts but only Martha herself knew the motive behind his compliments.

“She isn’t the kind to spend hours in the field practicing on something that wouldn’t yield favorable prospects in the future.

You’re that one. She knows her priorities really well and is seemingly striving towards her goal. It is high time you should get serious about things that’d matter to you in the future.” said Mrs. Bennett in a fuming tone. “Enough of this, let’s get back to studying the next chapter”

Although she didn’t like the way Matthew had taunted her on the pretext of compliments, she felt bad when he got scolded by Mrs. Bennett, for Martha knew how eagerly he wanted to gain recognition in the field of sports.

Halfway through the lecture, Matthew tore the last page of his notebook and wrote something on the paper.

He then folded it multiple times and waited for the right moment to deliver the paper to Martha.

 As soon as Mrs. Bennett turned her back to the class to solve an equation on the board, his right hand extended over to his left shoulder and went all the way to Martha’s desk behind.

She noticed that it was containing some sort of paper in it to which she whispered, “Now what is this?”

“Just take it!”

“I am not taking it. You keep up with taunting me in front of the teachers only.”       

“Mrs. Bennett can turn anytime now. I don’t have much time left” said Matthew quickly without even turning his head behind.

Much to Matthew’s assumption, Mrs. Bennett turned behind and noticed Matthew somewhat resting his right hand on his left shoulder. “What are you up to Matthew?” asked Mrs. Bennett.

Hearing Mrs. Bennett, Martha quickly snatched the paper from Matthew’s hand which gave an indication to Matthew to take back his hand.

He, instead of taking back his right arm, lifted his left hand to touch the elbow of the right arm and began to push his right arm even further to the left shoulder, as if stretching his right shoulder joints.

“Ah I have the sports tournament coming the next week Mrs. Bennett. So I thought to just stretch myself a bit.

 I am very excited for the match” blurted out Matthew, not at all being able to make a good excuse.

“Oh I see how excited you’re for your match. But I don’t think if mere stretching of shoulders would help. Nor would stretching yourself while sitting on the school bench would help.

 So why don’t you better get out of the class and do your stuff while I peacefully teach the other students!!” yelled Mrs. Bennett, barely able to hold back the anger exploding within her.