Chapter 5: 4. A friend

I'm still sitting up, figuring out how to complete this impossible task. I stand up from my sitting position and fold the covers back where they were before I rested. For the time being, I need to stay low for a while, and I hope word doesn't spread fast. I start to make my way to the kitchen. I enter the kitchen, where I see Steve and his mother sitting down and enjoying their food. Steve's mother looks over my shoulder. "Hey Marcus, how was your sleep? Hurry and eat. Steve can walk with you to school. Sorry, but you're going to be taking the train." I sit next to Steve and scarf down the food because I don't know if this will last. Steve gets up from the table, grabs my shoulder, and rushes out of the house. As Steve and I are walking outside, he hands me a bag.I guess I can use it for school. I write my name and how I know Steve on a scrap of paper, but I keep it as brief as possible. The teacher starts his lesson by discussing the different ways to find X, as I'm focusing on the lesson. I lean over and ask Becky, "Can I have a piece of paper and borrow a pencil?" She reaches inside her book bag and pulls out a notebook and a metal pen. She leans over, hands me both, and tells me, "You can keep them, OK." I open the notebook and start taking notes on the lesson. As he continued the lesson, he told the class, "Class, tell me how to find what X is in the problem." The problem on the board is something I have never seen before. I look down and write about the problem in the notebook. The problem is written like this: "X [3-5] = Y [5+9]." I glanced at the class to see if anyone got done with it. As I was looking around and my right hand was doing the problem. I raise my hand to answer the question, and the teacher looks up and sees my hand raised. "Marcus, you got the answer," the teacher says, and I can feel the excitement in the air. I stood up and went to the board to work on the problem; as I got to the board, my mind went blank, then I looked back at the class. The teacher tells me, "Marcus, turn around, please," as the class stares in awe at what I've written on the board. The scarcity in his voice worried me about what I had written on the board for the answer, so I turned around with my back turned to the class to see what everyone was shocked by. I took a long look at the board. I saw the answer, but it was written in a different language, with different symbols. At the bottom of the board is "the truth about yourself."