Hello, Middle School
***COLD OPENING***
It was Wednesday, August 24, 2022, and it was five in the morning. Lisa walked into the living room in her pink pajamas before talking to objects.
“Good morning, couch. Good morning, floor. Good morning, TV.”
Lisa exited the living room and entered the kitchen.
“Good morning, refrigerator. Good morning, stove. Good morning, toaster. Good morning, microwave oven.”
Lisa entered the bathroom.
“Good morning, toilet. Good morning, tub. Good morning, sink.”
Lisa entered the dining room.
“Good morning, table. Good morning, chairs. Good morning, windows.”
Lisa entered Ashley’s bedroom while Ashley was lying in bed.
“Good morning, bed. Good morning, pillow. Good morning, Ashley.”
“Get out if you want to see another morning,” Ashley warned.
Lisa began leaving the bedroom.
“Goodbye, bed. Goodbye, pillow. Goodbye, windows,” she continued.
***COLD OPENING***
It was Tuesday, September 6, 2022, and it was in the evening hours (primetime). Amore was sitting on the living room couch in the lit living room while watching TV alone. Then Ashley went ahead and walked into the living room. She sat down on the living room couch, picked up the TV remote, and began changing the channel. Amore continued watching Ashley change channels. Then Amore spoke.
“Hey, I was watching that!”
“I know. And now I’m watching that.”
Ashley continued changing channels and disrespecting Amore. Amore quickly took the remote from Ashley’s hand and began changing channels. Then Ashley went ahead and quickly took the remote from Amore’s hand before changing channels. And Amore quickly grabbed the remote while Ashley was still holding onto it. Both girls were holding the remote.
“Let it go or else you won’t see sixth grade.”
“I’m already in sixth grade!” “I’m not surprised that dumb brain of yours couldn’t figure that out.”
“Yeah, well, I’m in tenth grade now. Therefore, I’m not gonna let a sixth grader tell me what to do. Now, let it go.”
“I’ll let it go when you let it go.”
“How about you let it go first?”
“No.”
Then both girls went ahead and set the remote down on the living room table. Both sisters began arguing about their access to the TV screen. And both girls continued arguing about it. And the arguing continued.
John opened the front door, and the girls stopped arguing. The girls began watching whatever was on the screen and being quiet. Rebecca saw her father as she walked into the living room. Then Rebecca went ahead and asked a question.
“Dad, can you help me with my math homework?” “Third grade math is hard and I want to learn how to divide.”
“Sorry, Rebecca. Your old man is too tired from work since I’ve just extended the hours that Amore is open. Also, I’ve got a huge announcement to make.” “I’m bringing back the ice cream sundaes offer from last year starting next week. That means I’ll be gone even longer since the restaurant will be open next Sunday. And that means we’re all have ice cream sundaes from the restaurant for dessert all of next week just like last year.”
“But why is it coming back?” “I thought it was only a limited-time offer,” Rebecca spoke.
“Well, since they keep rebooting stuff on the tube, I thought to myself ‘Hey, why not?’ And our rival, The Moon, is doing a different week-long offer with soft drinks the same week.” “So, how was everyone’s first day of school today?”
“Not good. I still don’t know how to divide.”
“Well, why don’t you ask Amore or Ashley for help?” “They’re older than you and should know how to divide by now.” John went ahead and exited the living room.
Rebecca saw him exit the living room before walking over to Amore and asking for help. “Amore, can you help me learn how to divide?”
“Are you insane?! How am I going to have enough time to help you divide knowing that the ‘bad luck’ offer is coming back to get me?!”
“Don’t you get it, Amore?” It wasn’t the offer that gave you all that bad luck. It was that dumb brain of yours,” Ashley insulted.
“Shut up!” Amore replied disrespectfully. “Now, I just need to think about how I can generate the best luck possible next week so I don’t have the same bad luck as I did last school year.”
“And how are you going to do that?” Rebecca questioned.
“I have absolutely no idea. That’s why I’m just going to go to my room and think about it for a little while.” Amore went ahead and got up from the couch before exiting the living room and entering her bedroom.
Rebecca went ahead and sat down on the couch next to Ashley. “Can you help me learn how to divide?”
“Sure, why not?”
“’Sure, why not?’” “You’re not even going to tell me to shut up?” “Why are you being nice all of a sudden?”
“Because I’ve finally decided to change my evil ways from this point moving forward. That means no TV hogging, no bathroom hogging, no mean insults, and no disrespect from now on.”
“Great!” “So, can you help me right now?”
“In a little while. But for starters, division is basically subtraction in reverse.” “Like, for example, what is four minus two?”
“Two.”
“And if four minus two equals two, then that means two divided by two equals four.”
“And that’s basically all there is to it?”
“Pretty much.”
“Wow, I never knew dividing was so easy!”
“And if you want, we can practice with some examples later on.”
“I’d amore that very much.” “Thanks, Ash!” Rebecca went ahead and happily got up from the couch before exiting the living room.
***
It was Saturday, September 10, 2022, and it was in the morning. In the dining room of the Cooper household, Rebecca was sitting down and eating some cereal. Meanwhile, Ashley pulled out a bowl from one of the kitchen cabinets and began pouring some dog food into it. Then Ashley went ahead and began pouring some water into the bowl from a glass of water. And as Max was standing near Ashley and watching her, Ashley grabbed the bowl of dog food and set it down on the floor for Max to consume. And Max gladly began consuming the dog food before Rebecca asked a question.
“Why on Earth are you using a human bowl to feed Max instead of a doggie bowl?”
“I have a pretty good feeling you’ll have your answer sooner rather than later.”
After Max was done consuming his food, Ashley went ahead and used the same uncleaned bowl to fix some cereal for Amore. She used a box of Lucky Charms to pour some cereal into the bowl. Then she grabbed some milk and poured some of the milk into the cereal bowl. And this was all being execured by Ashley without Amore’s knowledge. After she was done pouring the milk into the bowl, she walked over to the dining room table and set the contaminated bowl of cereal down on the table.
Amore went ahead and walked into the dining room before speaking.
“Good morning, everyone.”
“Good morning, Amore.” “Hey, I just thought of a pretty genius way to improve your luck before next week.”
“Well, since Sunday is tomorrow, I’m all ears.”
“You can start by eating some Lucky Charms. Plus, they’re not called Lucky Charms for nothing.”
“Well, I haven’t had any cereal in quite a while now. Thanks, Ash.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Amore went ahead and sat down at the dining room table. Then she grabbed her spoon and was about to eat the cereal.
“I wouldn’t eat that if I were you,” Rebecca warned.
“Why not?” Then Amore suddenly realized something was wrong. “Ew! Gross!” Amore put the spoon back in the bowl in disgust before exiting the dining room.
“Hey, I thought you said you were gonna change your evil ways from now on.”
“By now, I meant right now.”
“Well, when are we gonna start practicing division together. You said you were gonna continue helping me with my division problems four days ago.”
“Later. I’ll let you know when we can get started.”
“And is my cereal contaminated?”
“If I did contaminate your cereal, trust me, you would know.”
Then Rebecca went ahead and kept eating.
Amore angrily walked back into the dining room before talking to Ashley again. “And just so you know, I making my own cereal this time! And it isn’t going to be Lucky Charms!” Amore went ahead and walked into the kitchen to make her own breakfast.
“Is it just me or do redheads have very short tempers?” Ashley joked.
Then everyone’s morning went ahead and continued.
***
Later, it was Saturday afternoon. In the living room of the Cooper household, Amore was sitting down on the couch and writing a list with a pencil and paper. Meanwhile, Sam was sitting on the same couch while watching TV.
“So, how are you coming along with that list of yours?” Sam questioned.
“Well, I think I’ve done a pretty good job so far with making a list of positive things to think about to increase my good luck.” “You wanna know some of the things I wrote down?” “The extra positive thinking could increase your good luck as well.”
“Well, since you put it like that, of course.”
Amore picked up her list and began reading. “Number one, pizza.”
“Well, that sure isn’t a surprise.”
“Number two, ice cream.”
“Yeah, I don’t know about the second one.”
“What’s wrong with thinking about ice cream?”
“Thinking about ice cream might remind you about the offer happening at Amore next week. You might also wanna consider not thinking about ice cream sundaes while you’re at it.”
“Well, I guess you do make a good point. I’ll just go ahead and cross out ice cream and ice cream sundaes on my list.” Amore went ahead and used her pencil to cross out exactly two items on her list. “And, done!”
“Okay.” “So, what else did you put on your list?”
“My family. Because I amore them so much.”
“And here comes another suggestion.”
“Include Max?”
“I wasn’t going to go there, but you should probably include Max. What I was going to suggest is that you include the words, ‘except Ashley’ in parentheses.”
“Good thinking, Sam.” Amore went ahead and updated her list for positive thinking. And after she was done updating her list, the girls began talking again.
“Okay, what else did you write down?”
“Next school year. That way, you’ll be in sixth grade, I’ll be in seventh grade, and we can finally see each other again during school hours. Because I miss us hanging out together at school now that I’m a middle schooler.”
“I miss it too. School feels so much different without having you around.”
“I also wrote down Jake since I already get to see him during school hours.”
“What about breadsticks?” “Please tell me you included breadsticks.”
“I did. And I added in a lot of other food items from the restaurant that aren’t pizza.” “Hey, I remember that time I convinced Dad to start selling other food items that aren’t pizza!” “How on Earth did I forget to include that?!” Amore went ahead and began writing again.
“Good luck with the rest of your list. A lot of positive thinking is also on a TV screen, but I guess that’s your loss.” Sam changed channels and continued watching television.
***
Later, it was Saturday evening as the sky was completely dark outside. In the hallway of the Cooper household, Amore successfully snuck into Ashley’s bedroom. Meanwhile, blue lighting filled Ashley’s entire bedroom as Ashley was lying on the bed while using her smartphone. Then Amore whispered.
“Ash, it’s me.”
Ashley set her phone down on the bed before getting up from the bed, walking over to the night light, turning off the night light, and turning on the bedroom light. “What do you want now?”
“I’ve decided to do random acts of kindness to increase my good luck before next week and I was wondering if you could help me out?”
“Yeah, I know a pretty sweet act of kindness you could do for me right now.” “Get out!” She pointed at the door.
“I’ll let you sneak into my room.”
“Go on.”
“Since you’re pretty good at stealing things from people, all you have to do is sneak into my room and take something from me.”
“But wouldn’t that be giving instead of stealing?”
“I’m giving you permission to steal something from me. The only thing I ask is that you don’t take anything too valuable.”
“Cool!” “So, when can I start?”
“Anytime you want. Or you could start right now.”
“Okay.” Ashley went ahead and exited her bedroom before entering Amore’s bedroom.
***
Later, Amore went ahead and walked into the living room where Rebecca and Lisa were sitting on the living room couch and watching TV together. Amore walked over to the couch and sat down on it before speaking.
“Hey, you two mind doing me a favor?”
“You wouldn’t help me with dividing, so of course I mind.”
“I’ve decided to start doing random acts of kindness to help increase my good luck before next week. All I need you guys to do is sneak into my room and take something from me.”
“And you’re not going to get mad or anything?” “Because I’ve heard that redheads have very short tempers,” Rebecca commented.
“Not at all. I’m basically giving you permission to steal whatever you can from my room. The only exception is that you don’t take anything too valuable. And you both can start anytime you want.”
“Count me in,” Rebecca agreed,
“Me too,” Lisa added.
Then Rebecca and Lisa went ahead and left the living room to take something from Amore.
***
Later, while it was still evening, Amore was standing near her open bedroom door. Amore saw Max walking into Amore’s bedroom. Then Amore went ahead and closed her bedroom door from the inside.
“Okay, Max. As another random act of kindness from yours truly, I’m going to let you do number 1 or number 2 inside my room. That way, you’ll have a safe place to go ahead and relieve yourself.” Amore used her smartphone to start a timer. “And your time starts.” “Now.”
Then Max went ahead and used the bedroom as a dog bathroom.
Later, while it was still evening, Amore was alone in her bedroom with the door closed while she was wearing her pajamas. “Okay, that’s four random acts of kindness taken care of. And now it’s time to take care of my fifth random act of kindness. Giving myself a good night’s rest before the offer starts tomorrow morning.”
Amore went ahead and walked over to the bedroom light to turn it off. Then she walked over to her bed before lying down in it. And she started falling asleep.
***
It was Monday, September 12, 2022, and it was in the afternoon after school. In the living room of the Cooper household, Ashley and Amore were sitting down on the living room couch and watching TV together. Then Amore started a conversation.
“You know, I’m glad that we are watching something on TV that we can both agree on.”
“So, how bad has your week been so far now that the sundaes offer is back in action?”
“It’s actually been pretty good. I think I am really starting to feel the good luck coming on after taking the necessary precautions last week.”
Then Ashley and Amore continued watching TV. Rebecca angrily stormed into the living room and began giving Ashley a piece of her mind.
“You are such a liar!”
“I had no idea redheads were liars too,” Ashley replied.
“I’m talking to you, blackhead!” “I got an E on my last math assignment all because of you!”
“Hey, don’t blame me for the reason that you’re so stupid.”
“So, you did lie to me!”
Ashley went ahead and sighed. “Okay, fine, I lied.”
“But why?! I thought you said you were changing your evil ways for good!”
“Yeah, but unfortunately, lying is one of my evil ways. PLus, you were being pretty annoying.”
“By asking for help with division?! How on Earth is that possibly being annoying?!”
“It just is. Beat it, E student.”
“Mom!” Rebecca shouted.
Donna went ahead and entered the living room. “What’s wrong, Rebecca?”
“Ashley just made me fail my math assignment on purpose by telling me the wrong way to divide! She told me that division is the reverse of subtraction!”
“But she started it!” Ashley countered.
“Okay, first of all, division is definitely not the opposite of subtraction. That would be addition. Second, division is the opposite of multiplication. It’s all about breaking things apart.” “Like, for example, what’s four times four?”
“Sixteen,” Rebecca answered.
“Now, in reverse, what’s sixteen divided by four?”
Then Rebecca went ahead and began doing the math in her head. “Four.”
“And that’s basically what division is.”
“Wow, I never knew dividing could be so easy.” “How could I be so dumb?”
“Because you are dumb, E student.”
“Ash, go to your room! I’ll deal with you later!” Donna ordered.
Then Ashley did what her mother said and began walking back to her bedroom.
“So, if subtraction is the opposite of addition, that means division is the opposite of multiplication. It all works together for the basic existence of math itself. Thanks, Mom.”
“I’m glad I could help,” she spoke with a smile before exiting the living room.
***
It was Saturday, September 17, 2022, and it was in the evening. In the dark living room of Amore’s house, Amore and her sisters were all sitting down on the living room couch and watching TV together. And there was no conflict between them at all. Then Amore began speaking.
“You know, I sure am glad we all could agree on something to watch together.”
“I couldn’t agree more. Plus, I’m starting to get As on my math assignments. I think I’m starting to get better and better at dividing. Here’s another math example.” “If three times twenty-four is equal to seventy-two, what is seventy-two divided by twenty-four?”
“Duh!” “It’s three.”, Amore told.
“Wrong! It’s the number of days Ashley got grounded thanks to me telling.”
“Yeah, F.Y.I., never ask the oldest one for help with anything,” Amore warned.
“So, since third graders have to learn how to divide, what is math like in the sixth grade and tenth grade?”
“Math is definitely way more complicated in sixth grade.”
“Don’t even ask.”
“Well, now that this is the last day of the week, I’ve actually had a pretty good week while the sundaes offer has been active. I guess all my hard work paid off after all.”
“Speaking of weeks, what is seven times one?” Rebecca questioned.
“Seven.”
Rebecca continued, “So, if seven times one equals seven, that means seven divided by one equal seven. I’m on a roll tonight.”
“Yeah, but could you mind not talking about school for a little while?” “It’s still Saturday,” Amore told Rebecca.
“Hey, I just realized something. If the four of us each get two slices of pizza, four times two is eight. That would be eight pieces in total. Eight pieces divided between all four of us would equal two slices per person.”
“Didn’t you hear what I just said?”
“And what if that doesn’t just apply to pizza? What if it applies to other foods like pecan pie, apple pie, strawberry pie, and blueberry pie?”
“It’s still Saturday,” Amore indicated.
“And what if division just doesn’t apply to the foods we eat? What if it could also apply to what we drink? Would the division problem be enough to quench our thirst?”
“Here’s a math problem.” “How long will it take for you to shut up?” Ashley asked her.
“And what about Christmas? It’s only three months away. If all the Christmas presents were divided equally, would we all get enough presents and have a happy holiday season? Would the presents even be good enough?”
“That’s it! I’m out of here!” Amore exclaimed before leaving.
“Count me in as a ‘minus one’ as well,” Ashley added before leaving.
Then after that, both girls went ahead and exited the living room. Meanwhile, Rebecca and Lisa were still sitting on the living room couch and watching TV. Then Rebecca resumed speaking.
“Hey, maybe I could even teach a kindergartner like yourself how to divide early.”
Then Lisa went ahead and got up before exiting the living room without even saying a word. And Rebecca continued watching TV all by herself before Rebecca spoke to herself.
“Well, it looks like my plan actually worked. Well, remote, looks like it’s just you and me.”
Then Rebecca went ahead and began using the TV remote to look for something to watch on TV. And Rebecca continued hogging the TV. And after all that, it turned out to be a great start to a new school year for Amore Cooper.
