"Eyes on your own papers, please," Maria Ivanovna said, her voice calm but firm. She handed out the sheets.

The morning sun hit the chalkboard in Class 3B, but no one was looking at the light. Today was the day of the for the second quarter, and the tension was thick enough to cut with a ruler.

By the time he reached the at the bottom, the classroom was silent except for the scratching of pencils. He figured out the pattern, wrote down the final answer, and laid his pencil down.