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One Monday morning, Princess Miranda Rose Lapointsetta went into her classroom, 3B, at Mountain River Valley Elementary extra-extra early. She was there for extra-extra help from her favorite teacher, Miss Kinde.
Before this year, Miranda had never been to school. She was a princess who lived in a castle and had a very old tutor who didn’t teach her much. When Madame Cornelia retired, Miranda’s parents (Queen Mom and King Dad, or QM and KD for short) made her go to school. At first, school was terrible. It smelled like hard-boiled eggs, everything was loud and confusing, and she always had a headache. Worst of all, she had no friends.
But then a bunch of things happened, and Miranda became best friends with Maude Brandywine Mayhew Kaye, who was absolutely not a princess. Once Miranda had a friend and learned she needed glasses, she began to enjoy school. Things she once hated, like music class (which was very loud), lunch (which was very smelly), and PE (which was a little bit dangerous) were now practically okay, because everything was better when you had a friend to agree with you about how loud, smelly, and dangerous things were.
But right now, Miranda’s classroom was not loud or smelly or dangerous. 3B was quiet, because she was the only student there, and it smelled like lavender, because that was what Miranda’s beloved teacher, Miss Kinde, smelled like. Miss Kinde was just like her name. Kind! Wonderful! Amazing! She was always interested in what Miranda had to say and, best of all, even though she often reminded Miranda and Maude to stop talking to each other, she never switched their seats!
The only bad thing about Miss Kinde’s class, Miranda thought that early Monday morning, isn’t about Miss Kinde at all. It was about a test. A famously awful test called the Mandatory National Reading and Writing and Math Exam, which every student had to take at the end of the school year. Since the beginning of the year (which wasn’t that long ago), Miss Kinde had given 3B many, many practice exams. Because Miranda had never taken the exam before, and since Principal Fish thought it was extremely important, she often had to spend her extra-extra help time taking practice tests.
“I’m sorry to give you another exam,” Miss Kinde said sadly, handing Miranda a thick booklet.
“It’s not your fault,” Miranda said unhappily. Not only were the practice exams long, they were also confusing and boring. The exams caused fear and misery in both students and teachers alike. They took up time from the things the students and teachers really wanted to do.
Sighing, Miranda looked at the clock, grabbed a pencil from Maude’s desk, and waited for Miss Kinde to tell her to begin.
But before Miss Kinde could say “begin,” Maude Brandywine Mayhew Kaye roller-skated into the classroom yelling, “HELP!”
