“Cal, it’s time for school!” yelled Clare. Callum walked down the stairs and headed to the car. Of course, school. 

“I have a math test today,” said Callum

“Oh really,” answered his older sister. “Did you study?”

“Uh… no,” answered Callum. “But don’t worry! I always have my ways of passing.” Clare rolled her eyes at him.

“Callum, this cheating is going to catch up to you someday...”

 

Callum walked into the large school building, immediately spotting his friend, Kate.

“Hey Cal,” said Kate “You ready for the test?” 

“About that…” Cal answered. 

“Cal! We have the test in literally two minutes!” 

“Well, I’m gonna hope for the best.” The two walked into the classroom and sat at their desks.

“Hello class,” Mr. Wilson began “Today we have our unit eight test.” Callum felt like his heart was beating through his chest. “The test is 12 questions, and you will have 30 minutes to complete it. You may begin as soon as you receive one,” he said as he passed the tests to the students. Callum was sweating at this point.

Maybe the questions are easy. I’ll just skip around! He thought to himself. They were far from easy...

 

These questions are too difficult. He thought to himself. Callum pulled out his phone secretly and started googling answers. 

“Callum,” Mr. Wilson said “you are not allowed to google answers. Your test is invalidated.” 

BAM!  

Everything went dark.

 

Callum awoke in the nurse's office. 

“Ugh, what happened?” he asked. 

“You got hit in the head with a math book. Nobody knows where it came from.” Kate answered. Callum looked at the room around him. Numbers were everywhere. He wiped his eyes to make sure it wasn’t fake. It was all real... 

“Okay, sweetie. You can go back to class now.” said the nurse. Callum walked back to class with Kate. 

With every step he took... he saw math. 

This might come in handy. He thought. 

When they returned to class, Callum used his newfound power to show off. At first, this was a nice power. But eventually, everyone was using Callum to do their homework. 

Okay, this power is starting to feel like a curse. He thought. How do I get rid of it? He decided to just go home. Maybe he would sleep it off? When he arrived at his bedroom, Callum watched as a portal opened under him. Callum opened his eyes and before him stood people in noble clothing. 

"Callum," the one in the middle said, "you have been summoned by the math gods."  

"Gazoontite?" He responded. 

"We are PEMDAS. Pam, Emma, Maddie, David, Anthony, and Sally." 

"You have 24 hours to remove the curse by finding the protractor of power or you will forever have it. Good luck." A portal opened under him. 

"AHHHH" he screamed as he face-planted the bedroom floor. 

"I have tall ceilings!" He yelled as he shook his fist in the air.

Callum pulled out his walkie-talkie. 

"Kate, you there?" he asked. 

"Yeah," Kate answered. 

"Meet me at the creek in 20 minutes. It's urgent." Callum said. 

"Are you okay?" She responded. 

"Yeah, just be quick." Callum quickly put his shoes on and headed to his and Kate's meeting spot by the creek. When he arrived, he saw Kate skipping stones on the water. He sat next to her.

"Math Curse? How do you expect me to believe you've been cursed with math? I need some proof. Calculate the wind and water speed." said Kate.

"The water is moving at 10m/s and the wind is at 67ft/s," Callum answered.

“Okay, I believe you, what do we do now?” she asked, still weary.

“We prepare...” he answered.

To be continued…