Chapter 98: First Day Experience

The moment she stepped into the school hallway, Nora suddenly felt lonely and nervous. She had been pretty carefree earlier.

After all, as a seventeen-year-old, what did she have to fear about kids several years younger than her? However, she was wrong.

She still felt nervous and a little excited as she approached her class. It was easy to find, with the 4-A written boldly above the door.

Clutching the straps of her bag, she took a deep breath and entered.

There were a few kids already present, with most of them being her age. Only a few were younger and older.

Grinning faintly, she waved at them all. "Good morning, everyone."

Several eyes turned to her, surprised. No one had expected that anyone would be bold enough to address the whole class—especially on the very first day.

Nora ignored their reactions and took a seat with her name on it. With nothing to do but wait until the teacher arrived, she simply took out a mermaid book and began reading.

Several other kids entered the class, and eventually, the whole place was filled. At 8 AM sharp, the class teacher entered.

She stood before them all and smiled. "Nice to have you all here. You’ll be fellow classmates with one another for years so get acquainted with one another. I’ll begin the roll call now. If you hear your name, just say the word ’present’."

The kids nodded, and she started.

"Mary Anderson?"

"Present!"

"Ahmed Kuram?"

"Present ma’am!"

"Sophia Trevor?"

"Present!"

......

The woman continued calling their names until she had finally confirmed that all twenty students in her class were present.

"Alright. Let’s get started with the lesson today."

She stood up, picked up the marker and wrote on the board.

Basic Mathematics.

Several kids groaned at the sight, but they didn’t complain too loudly. The teacher smiled and said to them, "Today, we’ll be dealing with addition and subtraction of large numbers, as well as word problems."

The students eased slightly. After all, they were used to this already. Meanwhile, Nora sighed.

’So this is what we’re going to be doing? My studying of algebras is unnecessary?’

Even as she grumbled internally, she still felt a flicker of pride. Her knowledge might not be useful now, but it would surely be useful later.

Focusing her gaze on the teacher and the board, she paid attention to the lesson.

The woman wrote on the board: 4,825 + 2,175 =?

"So... I know this shouldn’t be hard for any of you. Try it out and tell me your answer," She said with an encouraging smile.

The students immediately began scribbling on their notes, counting on their fingers and writing solutions to the problem.

Meanwhile, Nora fixed her gaze on the board, racking her brain as she tried to solve everything in her head.

The teacher noticed her and asked, "Sweetie, you’re not solving?"

Nora replied to her without looking away. "I am."

The teacher was taken aback, but fell silent and simply watched.

A few seconds later, Nora answered, "That’s seven thousand in total."

The teacher blinked, even looking at the question again. Indeed, Nora’s answer was correct. She turned back to the little girl.

"How did you solve it?"

Nora pointed at the board. "I simply separated the numbers before adding them. Four thousand goes with two thousand, while eight hundred goes with a hundred. Then, seventy five goes with twenty-five. Add them all up and you have seven thousand."

The teacher smiled, amazed. "That’s smart of you. Keep it up."

Nora nodded, a faint smile on her face. ’At least I can do this.’

The other students soon began turning in their answers. Most of them got it correctly, while only a few got it wrong.

Regardless, the woman did a correction for everyone using the thousands, hundreds, and tens-place method.

After ensuring that everyone got it, she moved on to a few other questions. Again, Nora got each question first without using a book and a pen, surprising the teacher.

By the time they did the fifth question, no one had gotten it wrong.

"Nice! You’re all geniuses! Your parents will be so proud of you," The teacher said encouragingly.

Nora rolled her eyes. ’I don’t know about you guys, but my parents are proud of me as fuc—hmm. That’s not right for a child like me.’

Unaware of her bizarre thoughts, the female teacher continued.

"Since everyone has gotten this, let’s move to word problems."

She cleaned the board, then wrote: A fruit shop has 3,450 oranges. It sells 1,275 in the morning and 968 in the afternoon. How many oranges are left?

"Alright, let’s try to solve this."

Some students stared at the board for a longer time, trying to decipher the sentence before solving. Nora did the same, but she was already solving.

’3450 – 1275 – 968...?’

A minute later, she said, "That’s one thousand, two hundred and seven."

The teacher was once again amazed and impressed. "Good job, Nora. Keep it up."

The girl smiled and nodded. Regardless of how simple the questions might be, she was already enjoying her school life.

A while later, it was time for lunch break. Having brought the food specially prepared by her father, Nora eagerly took out her lunch box and opened it.

Instantly, a hunger-stirring aroma flooded the classroom, forcing even the teacher to take a look and a sniff.

She quickly discovered that the aroma was coming from Nora’s food.

’Hmm... her mother must be a great chef.’

Shaking her head, she refocused on her lesson notes.

Meanwhile, Nora took her time eating. Once she was done, she packed up the lunch box and kept it in her bag.

"Time to go play!"

She left the classroom like the other students, visiting the playground. Although it felt a little weird to associate with kids under ten years, she still found it nice. So, she managed to enjoy herself a bit, even making a friend or two before returning to the class.

Lesson commenced again, with short breaks in between them until it was almost evening. The bell rang, signalling the end of classes for the day.

Nora closed her book and stood up. She couldn’t wait to get back home. Sure, school was interesting, but nothing could ever compare to her home.