written and illustrated by Abigail Elston

 Standard CC.2.2.7.B.3: Model and solve real world and mathematical problems by using and connecting numerical, algebraic, and/or graphical representations

     DAY 1

In a small town, far, far away, are two 7th graders in Mr. Hall's ninth period history impatiently staring down the clock. When the bell rings, they jump out of their seats and fly down the halls to the music classroom.

It's the beginning of January, or in other words, the beginning of spring musical rehearsals at Orchard City Area Middle School.

Tanya burst through the door 2 seconds before Rhett triumphantly calling behind her, "I beat you!" Rhett tumbled into the classroom with a groan. Mrs. Murray, a music teacher at the middle school and the director of the spring musical, laughed saying, "You two are ridiculous."

Tanya and Rhett had been friends since last year, when they met at their first ever rehearsal of their first ever middle school spring musical. 

Many familiar and a few new faces soon trickled through the door while talking animatedly. Today everyone would find out what role they had been cast as.

“Attention everyone!!” called Mrs. Murray, “Listen for your role: Simone—Detective, Brett—Colonel Mustard, Sophia—Miss Scarlet, Tanya—Mrs. White, Rhett—Professor Plum…”

Tanya and Rhett had stopped listening. Tanya asked, “Who is Simone?” while Rhett said, “How did that new girl get the lead??”

After Mrs. Murray had finished relaying the cast, she directed everyone to arrange themselves in a circle to play some ice breakers. “To give a good performance it is important you all know each other,” she explained.

     DAY 2

As Tanya and Rhett speed walked to the music classroom, they discussed the new girl Simone. “She just seems so stand-offish,” Rhett remarked, “And the fact that she refused to sit with everyone during ice breakers! She definitely thinks she is better than everyone.” Tanya nodded her head in agreement. “I could have sworn she was giving me the side eye when I looked back at her, too. I was only trying to smile at her!”

They reached the room after everyone had already arrived and taken a seat. Simone was already sitting quietly in a seat. After a quick glance in their direction, she pretended not to see them.

Mrs. Murray greeted the group. “Good afternoon actors and actresses! Today we are going to read through the script.” But as she turned to pick up scripts and distribute them, she laughed. “I could have sworn I printed them off already! Where did they go?” Mrs. Murray turned back to address the group. “Here’s what we will do. I’ll split you all up into groups to look for them.”

After a laborious search with no success, Tanya and Rhett were sent to print off more scripts. “What if Simone took the scripts?” Tanya whispered to her friend. “But why would she do that?” “To make herself look good! Say we were to look for the scripts to no avail only for her to triumphantly turn up with them!” Tanya mused.

Rhett wasn’t convinced, “But maybe Mrs. Murray just forgot to print them.” “Hmm, that could be the case,” admitted Tanya. Rhett’s eyes lit up with an idea. “Let’s check the printer jobs to see how many copies were printed today. If we can find a job that has exactly 14 copies, it is probably the scripts since there are 13 actors and 1 director who need them.”

Rhett excitedly jabbed the “settings” button only to find that the printer would only tell him that 114 total copies had been printed that day. “Darn it!” he exclaimed. But then Tanya’s eyes lit up. “What if we ask each teacher how many copies they printed today after rehearsal?” she inquired.

After rehearsal, the pair found out that 2 teachers had printed out 20 copies each and 4 printed out 15 copies each.

Did Mrs. Murray print out the scripts?

     DAY 3

Tanya and Rhett made sure they were the first to arrive at Mrs. Murray’s classroom that rehearsal. They sat in the back and carefully watched for Simone’s entrance. When she walked through the door, she saw them staring and immediately hurried to find a seat, her cheeks flushing a bright red. Rhett glanced knowingly at Tanya.

Mrs. Murray got started as soon as everyone arrived. “I’m sorry again about the disruption of yesterday’s rehearsal,” she started, “but today I made sure I would have our scripts by keeping them safe in my computer bag.” With a smile, she reached into her bag to grab the scripts… but could not find them. “Well that’s curious,” she muttered, “I could have sworn…” Mrs. Murray trailed off and glanced confusedly at the students.

The group was again split up and sent to search in various places. This time, Simone and her partner returned with the missing scripts claiming to have found them in the teacher’s lounge. The whole group cheered, except for Tanya and Rhett.