Jamee receives an F on her geometry test from her math teacher, Mrs. Guessner. She will be required to get her parent’s signature on the test and return it to the teacher. After handing back the tests, Mrs. Guessner asks Jamee about question number 11—one Jamee solved correctly but most students got wrong. Jamee, upset and feeling stupid, can’t remember how she solved the problem. Mrs. Guessner tells Jamee that she should take her studies more seriously, but Jamee snaps back that no one is ever going to ask her to solve for x in real life. 

After class, Mrs. Guessner tells Jamee that she will be offering a retest after school on Thursday and that she wants Jamee to come in for tutorials after school for the next couple of days. Jamee protests that she can’t do that because cheerleading tryouts are after school that week. Mrs. Guessner sternly tells Jamee that she will not be able to be a cheerleader unless her academics are good. She then compares Jamee to her older sister, Darcy, and Jamee shuts down. She resents the many comparisons that have been made between her and Darcy, who is a smart, dedicated, college-bound junior at the school.