A Minor Mathematical Miscalculation

I woke up early that day, which was simply unheard of. Mom had to wake me up three or four times before school, but that day I was too excited to sleep. It was time for the math competition!

Our math teacher had been giving us sheets and sheets of math problems for months then, and I knew that I could do most of the. The real question was, could I do them well enough. Finally, I was going to find out. Finally I was going to be timed, graded, ranked, and I'd know if I was good enough or if I should start with my future in underwater basket weaving. I hoped not...darn it, math was fun!

I got up early that morning, but that just made it all the more grueling of a day. 6 hours of math with a break for lunch; after about three and a half my brain was mush. So I was pretty sad when I didn't place at the end of the day, but I wasn't too surprized.

I wasn't too surprized, but my teacher was. So we had to wait, and wait, and wait while she talked to the judges, while she went through the scores, examined the answers. We had to wait while she found the math error that caused me to fail to place.

The math error which wasn't mine. I added, subtracted, multiplied and logicked my way fine through the day. The judge, however, should have known that scores are added, not subtracted.

A single line of difference, but oh what a sad day. Until I learned I didn't have to take up underwater basket weaving...quite yet.