The Story Of Jesse The Math Genius

Submitted into Contest #10 in response to: Write a story about someone who is unexpectedly wise.... view prompt

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General

Chapter 1

By the time Jesse Mary was 6 months old, she was blurting out full sentences. You see, normally children would only be saying mama, dada, and short single words at this age. Doctors just thought it was because she was exposed to a lot of television at her age. Tyler, Jesse's 14-year-old brother was always watching his precious tv and playing video games in the living room, around Jesse. Tyler had to babysit Jesse pretty often, and most of the time he would just place little Jesse in front of an iPad screen and let videos play for her for hours on end. Jesse’s family were definitely not the most wise people ever, mom was a cashier at Walmart, dad worked at a toothpaste factory, and Tyler got straight c’s in school. But there was something off about Jesse. She would always be caught reading Tyler’s school textbooks and she always seemed to be solving math equations...everywhere. She would be counting her books and toys and dividing them, adding them, subtracting them, really anything she could possibly do that required brain work. some would say she’s a miracle child, but some didn’t. Like her family for example, they didn’t really understand Jesse. They thought it was just some stupid interest that wouldn't get her anywhere in life. In fact, they thought she was dumb! They would say things like “she doesn’t even know how to tie a shoe or match her clothes” “that stupid math trash won't get her anywhere, I never needed any of it so why should she?” Jesse grew up thinking her math skills were useless and just a hobby. So, she gave it up. Jesse gave up her dreams and endless passion for math because other people thought it was stupid.


Chapter 2

August 28, 2019, Jesse was now 4 years old and ready for her first day at school. She has been waiting for this moment all her life. Jesse wanted to be able to express her skills without being judged or put down, she wondered if she even had any more skills. In the morning she sprung out of bed and quickly threw on her prettiest dress that was a creamy white knee-length glory with big sunflowers on it. Her mom packed her lunch and then they both hopped into their Jeep drove off. She saw her school in the distance and got a little sparkle in her eye. When she walked into her marvelous school she felt her heart warm up, she felt ecstatic, amazed and mostly, she felt at home. Mom walked Jesse to her classroom, it was a big colorful room with lots of desks and chairs. It had posters on the wall showing the ABCs and simple math symbols. Jesse saw these and got memories of when she would do math all the time, she got a little sad but then quickly snapped out of it. Jesse used to always get sad at home when she couldn't do her math. She was tired of getting judged and trash-talked about from her family so she refused to do math. Her mother kissed her on the head and said “have an amazing day sweetie I love you”. Jesse approached her teacher, “Hello Ms. Vinela where do I sit?”. “Why hello there darling, why don’t you go take a seat next to the girl wearing purple”.


 Chapter 3

Jesse sat down and she felt exuberant. She was waiting for this day to come ever since she learned about what school was, which was 14 months old. Jesse thought her classroom was the most beautiful sight in the world. Ms. Vinela walked up to the front of the class and introduced herself, she also went around the room and made everyone else introduce themselves. All the students said their first name and their favorite color. Jesse’s turn came up and she joyfully spat out “Hello, my name is Jesse Rose Mary my favorite color is Amaranth Pink, my lucky number is 894 and I'm so happy to be here right now!” “Wow,” said Ms. Vinela “nice to meet you Jesse” she said with a glowing heart and a pearly white soft smile. “Okay now everyone go off and play for a bit,'' Clusters of kids ran over to the fake food and the coloring stations. Jesse went straight to the books and took 5 out, “Ms. V, why are these books so easy?” she said, “they are kindergarten books? I can get you a different book if you’d like” said Ms V with a big smile on her face. “no I'm good thank you”. After about an hour Ms. V told everyone to pack up so they did. She said that they were going to do a few simple math questions to see where everyone was at. Jesse felt happy but also pretty nervous people were not going to like her if she did all the questions correct. Ms. V says “what is 2+1?”, A little boy named Nick raises his hand quickly. “Yes Nick” 

“it’s 3!”

“Correct!” says Ms. V.

She continues the math questions and then calls out on Jesse because it looks like she isn't paying attention.

“Jesse!, what's 4+2?” 

“U-u-m it’s 5 I think…”  Jesse purposely got it wrong.

“It’s actually 6, but great try darling”

The other kids started to laugh and one boy called her a “dummy”. Jesse started to cry and ran off. Ms. V explained to the class that that wasn't a very nice thing to do and it was a harder question. Then she ran after Jesse until she saw her huddled up with her knees to her chest with tears running down her beautiful rosy cheeks. Jesse told Ms. V everything, everything about her family judging her for her math skills, how she was nervous to answer the questions, how she got upset about the other students calling her a dummy but her parents calling her “too smart”. She didn’t know what to do or how to act. She couldn't be herself but she also couldn't not be herself, she felt devastated... 



Chapter 4

Ms. V understood everything, she was so supportive. She told Jesse that she should pitch in and do the math and not listen to anything anyone says about her. After 2 weeks go by Jesse gets her first math sheet, it was full of easy questions like 1+1 and 3+2, she got them all done and correct in less than four minutes Ms. V was amazed, she knew that they were not that simple for a four-year-old. Ms. V began to put together a harder worksheet that was mostly meant for 3rd graders, she thought that is wasn't possible for Jesse to do something that advanced at her age. But Jesse did them, all. Ms. V marked the sheet and was amazed at what she saw, Jesse got every single one correct. Now 7 weeks of school has gone by and Jesse was having the time of her life, she couldn't be happier. Today Ms V took her time and put together a super difficult grade 7 math sheet booklet including addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. Obviously very hard questions for a kindergartener. She handed it over to Jesse and told her to just try the addition questions, so Jesse did… but she also completed every single question on the assignment in less than 12 minutes. This worksheet had 83 questions on it.“Ms. V, I'm done!” Jesse said with a glowing smile on her face. Ms. V walked over in doubt, “haha ya right, not physically possible,” she said. She looked over and saw that every question was done perfectly in beautiful neat handwriting. Her eyes opened wide and she was in shock. Then she brought it over to her desk and pulled out a calculator, and did all the questions. All of them were right? Ms. V squinted over at Jesse and walked towards her. She opened up Jesse's bag and jacket to look for a calculator, but she didn't find one. “How did you do this darling?” Jesse was confused “uh I used my brain and my pencil?”.


Chapter 5

School ended and Ms. V walked to the principal's office demanding a phone call with Jesse's mother. 

“Did you know that your 4-year-old daughter is a complete genius?” said Ms. V

“what are you talking about?” Jesse's mother said

“I think your daughter is at highschool level math, Mrs. Mary”.

“No, she is just smart with numbers”

“Just smart?!, just smart for a 4-year-old is knowing the whole alphabet already, she knows absolutely everything I've talked about, I think we should discuss moving her into a higher grade”

“ Yeah...that’s probably not necessary but do what you gotta do, thank you I guess”. 

Jesse was informed that she would be moving into a grade 7 class, she was told that if it was too hard she could lower back down. Jesse was pretty sad to leave Ms. V’s class because of everything Ms. V told her. To believe in herself, to not care what other people say, and that she was the most special and gifted girl she had ever met. But Jesse was also very excited because she will maybe learn something she didn't know in this higher grade. Jesse said her final goodbyes to her Ms. V and her classmates, Ms. V told Jesse that she would be checking on her to see how she's doing. After the Christmas break, Jesse was placed into grade 7, at the age of four. Everything was going incredible, she was at a level she needed to be at. She had also formed a very strong bond with Ms. V and invited her over for dinner every Sunday. Then Jesse would go over to Ms. V’s house on Fridays for tea and biscuits. Ms. V made the absolute best, mouthwatering, fresh biscuits ever. Her parents accepted the fact that Jesse wasn’t going to be a boring factory worker and she was going to be working in the math field. Jesse got made fun of occasionally because of her age and how teeny she looked compared to everyone else. But she didn't care anymore, she was finally where she wanted to be...



Chapter 6

5 years have passed and Jesse was now a 13 year old in grade 11 high school, everything was still pretty easy for her but she loves where she was in life…She got made fun of for being a “smart ass” and she was ALWAYS accused of cheating. But she had one best friend named Vern that would always stick by her side no matter what. Now Jesse obviously has her highs and lows, her entire life was nowhere near perfect but she stayed strong, she listened to everything Ms. V had said. Ms. V had sadly passed away from a car accident when Jesse was 10. Jesse was absolutely devastated. The one person in her life that had actually believed in her. The woman that got her where she was today. Jesse aspired to be like her one day. Jesse thinks about her every single day and honors her memory every second of every hour of every day. She tells stories of Ms. V to lots of people around the world. and she knows that Ms. V is up there watching her and she is so so proud. Jesse was now in math leagues competing against other schools, and of course they won every time. Jesse's highschool time was pretty great and sooner then later she would be put into a university. She was studying to be a Cryptographer, a decoder in mathematics. While she was studying that she was working as a student counselor, a pretty simple one that didn't need much schooling, Ms. V inspired this. Jesse loves helping people, she is creating huge impacts on young children's lives. She hopes that someone eventually looks up to her like she looked up to Ms V.  



Chapter 7

Jesse is now out of university with a career in cryptography, she was so wise she didn't even need to completely finish schooling. On her counseling job, she inspired young ones to always follow your dreams. She even made a little special friend named Sam, who would come over for dinner every Sunday...just like her and Ms. V, her hero. She made speeches about her life and how sometimes you just need a little push to get moving. She told everyone to move forward even when things get rough, that baby steps are better than no step, to always believe in yourself, and to do what YOU want and not what others want.


 The End.



October 11, 2019 03:28

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2 comments

Sadia Faisal
06:36 May 26, 2020

nice story, also like my stories if you like them and send me me feedback if you would like and please follow me.

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15:38 Oct 18, 2019

A well told story with a morale at the end.

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