Chapter 1:

The Power

    Emily rushed to finish her math notes before the bell rang and started drawing down linear graphs that Mrs. Res had put on the whiteboard.

    RING!! RING!! RING!!

    “One more thing, class, before you leave,” Mrs. Res held her hand up for attention as the class fumbled to leave the torturous Algebra class. “You will have a quiz tomorrow in Algebra class. It will be on the linear graphs we just learned about today. Please be prepared.”

    Everyone groaned, and Emily froze. She looked up to see Mrs. Res staring right at her. Beginning to sweat, Emily panicked, Will I do well on this one quiz? Or will it be like all the others? Failures, with BIG. FAT. F’s?

    Emily calmed herself down, It’ll be fine. I’ll manage.

Uh-oh...

Yay!

We have a quiz!

    The class rushed out of the classroom, Emily among them. Emily’s blond hair bounced from side to side as she left the classroom, and her brown eyes dulled with disappointment about the quiz. She slung her blue backpack over her violet T-shirt and slipped her hand into her khaki shorts’ pockets. Walking with her black sneakers, Emily groaned, annoyed about that pop quiz. 

    Charles, her best friend, had brown floppy hair that bounced as he walked. His bright green eyes sparkled, and his sky blue backpack jounced on his back. He came over and asked out of the ordinary, “Did you use strawberry shampoo yesterday?” 

    Emily nodded and beamed, finally happy, “Yes! I’m glad you noticed!” The two best friends walked down the hallway, chatting about their day.

    After school, Emily headed to Charles house to study for the math quiz with him.

    “Hi, Emily!” Charles called out, and they went into the basement of the house. Inside the basement, Charles’s dad was working on his latest invention, something that gave people superpowers. Emily said hello, and they sat down on the floor, beginning to study.

    All of a sudden, a bright light shone around Emily, and she gasped, “What was that?!” 

    Charles looked up from his textbook and assured her, “Emily, it’s nothing. Stop getting distracted.”

    Emily apologized, and went back to studying, still slightly concerned.

    Just then, Emily felt a tingling in her fingers like ants were crawling up and down her hands. But when she looked down, she saw nothing. Feeling uneasy, Emily went back to her studying. Charles asked her, “Emily, what’s the definition of a linear graph?”

    Emily looked up and guessed, “Uh, it’s a graph… that’s linear?” 

Uh, it's a graph... that's linear?

Emily, what's the definition of a linear graph?

    Charles sighed and said, “We really need to work on your math.” Emily looked at the ground, ashamed.

    A moment later, when Emily looked back up, everything froze. Charles froze while reading his textbook, Charles’s dad was frozen while fixing his invention, even the falling screws froze in mid air. 

    Emily stood up, panicking. “What happened?!” Emily screamed, trying to shake Charles.

    Then, the realization hit her. Charles’s dad was inventing something that could give people superpowers, and time just froze.

    Emily’s eyes went as wide as watermelons. She had the power to freeze time!

    The time quickly unfroze, and Charles asked Emily, “Is something wrong?”

I CAN FREEZE TIME?!

     Emily’s shocked face quickly changed, and she assured him, “Oh… It’s nothing. Don’t worry. Let’s keep studying.”

    Charles nodded slowly, and told her, “Emily, I know that no matter what, you’ll get a good grade. Especially if you study hard and do your best.”

    Emily smiled, but inside, she thought, I hope that’s true…

Chapter 2:
The Quiz

    It was the next day, and Emily walked into her Algebra class, shaking with fear.

    She took a seat and thought, What if I do bad? What if I fail? Her back was coated with sweat.

    “Alright students, I hope you all prepared for this quiz because this will count towards your final quarter grade,” Mrs. Res announced.

    Mrs. Res walked up and down the rows and rows of desks and dropped off a quiz at each student. Emily fumbled with her pencil and eraser before starting her quiz. Emily looked at the first question, which said, “Graph this linear graph: y=5x+1” 

    Why is this so hard? I wish I knew what to do. I wish I could do my best like Charles said yesterday. But it’s so hard for me. Emily thought helplessly.

This is so hard!

The quiz starts now!