Bella

Bella sighed in exasperation as she tried to figure out how to solve the equation on page 7 of her notebook. Why in the world was it necessary to mix numbers and letters together? It seemed like algebra was invented just to torture kids in school. She debated raising her hand and asking the teacher for help, but she didn't want to make herself look silly struggling to do what she was sure that other students were breezing through.

She noticed that the kid (Josive if she remembered correctly) sitting diagonally across from her kept glancing around at everyone around him. *He must already have solved this one,* Bella thought, since he was definitely not paying much attention to his book. Maybe he could give her a hint on how to solve it. "Hey," she whispered, tapping him on the shoulder. "You're Josive right? Do you know how to solve problem 16? I can't figure it out."