The Cinderella Theorem Read Online Free PDF Page A

stomach!”
    “From
freaking out about the test. I can’t believe you missed the first day of school
just to have an extra day of study.”
    Corrie
is obsessed with history. She can’t get enough of Henry VIII and Czarina
Alexandra. Her history obsession has led to her being a tad deficient in the
mathematical areas of the world. I think it’s a little strange to be so
captivated by dead people, but she thinks it’s equally strange to spend your
free time reading books about ratios and proportions.
    “It’s
called test anxiety, Lily. It’s an epidemic.”
    Corrie
is in what I think is a very easy math class. If I were in her class, my only
anxiety would come from knowing that I could teach the class in my sleep. But
since dead people are her forte, I guess that’s okay. To each her own.
    I
opened the present.
    “Do you
like it?” Corrie gets very excited by birthdays. The present was a biography of
Isaac Newton. Mr. Laws of Motion, himself. “I think it is a nice compromise
between history and math.”
    I
smiled. Did I like it? I had only been hinting to my mother about this book for
three months. And instead of mathy goodness in the form of the life of Sir
Isaac Newton, my parents gave me a book of fairy tales. Yeah, I was thrilled by that gift.
     
    The
value of Corrie’s present to me was incredibly > the book of little kid
bedtime stories.
     
    “I
love it. Thank you very much, Corrie.”
    “So
where did you go for dinner last night? Did you see any famous writers like you
did last year?” Corrie flipped her dark hair behind her shoulder.
    Last
year, when we were out for my birthday, Mom bumped into a group of famous
writers. They all wrote poems and little story things for me about my birthday,
right there in the restaurant.
    “Well….”
What am I supposed to say? “We didn’t go out. We just had my favorite meal at
home.” There. My answer to Corrie = truth (sort of).
    “You
ate at home? You never eat at home for your birthday.”
    See?
Corrie understood the mathematical quandary that yesterday threw me into. She
understood the normal way of celebrating my birthday.
    “I know.” Was there anyway I could change the
subject? “My mom just wanted to celebrate quietly at home. She’s been kind of
busy since the last book tour.” Also truth. Mom did finish a big promotional
tour in July. Of course , she’d want to be alone with her only daughter
for her daughter’s fifteenth birthday–alone, with her living (non-deceased)
husband and seven small people carrying food.
    “Bummer.”
Corrie genuinely understood my birthday disappointment. I mean, she did have
the naked, four-year-old poopy screamer last year. “Well, what did you get?”
    Hmm.
What did I get? Nothing much, just my father, access to another world, and a
book of barely believable children’s stories.
    “A
book.” Truth again. Stats on truth-telling: Lily = 100%.
    “Not
the book I gave you?” Corrie was horrified that she might have accidentally
made my birthday worse.
    “No.
I guess Mom was too distracted to notice all the hints I left about Newton.”
    I
think Corrie would have asked what the title of the book was if the fight hadn’t
started then. Kelly Stewart and Trista Anderson started fighting over who was
stealing whose boyfriend. Mr. Hatfield, our principal, and several other
teachers ran over to stop the girls. I was blissfully swept away for the moment
in a normal high school routine. [14]
    My
first class was Legendary Literature. I realize that it is only the second day of
school, and I further realize that two days do not equal sufficient time to
form an opinion of a class. Nevertheless, I do not like that class. And after
today’s assignment, I know I never will.
    “We
are going to analyze fairy tales this semester!” (Everything Mrs. Fox says
seems to possess an exclamation mark.)
    I
rolled my eyes. Not more fairy tales. It’s like I’ve made an error at the
beginning of a long equation and now I can’t