Frannie stared at her test paper for a few more minutes before she began. She skimmed over the fifteen questions. She didn't know one single answer. The test was multiple choice, so she figured that even if she guessed the answers, she still had a one in four chance of getting it right.

Frannie tried to remember what she had heard in class, and what she'd looked over. She could only remember a couple of things. She knew what a flower was, she knew what a person was, but she had no idea about the other Land words like walk, airplane, and grasshopper. She was the last one to finish the test.

The rest of the afternoon, Frannie was quieter than normal. She didn't even want to play catch like she and her friends normally did at recess. "Is there something wrong?" Suzy asked. "Yeah, Frannie-Fran, you look down. You got sore gills or something?" Carter asked.

"No, nothing like that," Frannie said. She paused for a minute. "What did you guys think of the test?""I thought it was easy," said Tommy. "I studied really hard."

"It wasn't easy, Tommy," said Suzy. "I studied hard too, but I know I got some of the answers wrong.""Eh, I did okay," said Carter. "We'll see this afternoon, I guess. How did you do, Frannie?"
Frannie thought for a moment. What should she say?

Should she tell the truth? "Guys, I failed that test," Frannie said. "I didn't study at all. I went to the game instead."

"Frannie!" they all said. "Why did you do that?" asked Suzy. "I don't know, I didn't make a good choice, did I?" As soon as Frannie said that, Mrs. S came outside. "Frannie, I need to see you after school."

"Okay," called Frannie. "Oh, no! She knows that I didn't study," Frannie whispered to her friends.
"Just make something up," said Tommy. "Tell her a dog ate your study questions."

"What's a dog?" asked Frannie. "It was on the test!" Suzy said. "I think you should tell Mrs. S the truth, lying will only make it worse.""I don't think it could get any worse," Frannie said softly. As soon as Frannie said this, the bell signalled the end of school.

Their teacher came outside and told everyone to finish their games and clean up. She reminded Frannie to come inside so they could talk. Frannie sat nervously in her desk. Mrs. S sat across from her and said, "Frannie, I'm concerned about your test score. Did you not understand the material?"

Frannie struggled for a minute. She was trying to think of a good lie. She didn't want her teacher to know that she had made a bad choice. "She'll think I'm stupid!" Frannie thought. "But, what would she think if she found out that I lied?"

Frannie decided that telling the truth would make her look better than being caught in a lie. "I understood the material, ma'am. The problem was that I didn't allow myself enough time to study.

I went out with my friends instead. I'm sorry. I know I should have been studying. I learned my lesson."
"Frannie, I'm very happy at how honest you've been," said Mrs. S. "I've decided to let the entire class earn up to half the points they missed if they correct their tests. We'll talk about it all together on Monday."
"Thanks, Mrs. S!" Frannie said.

"You're very welcome. Now, go catch your bus.""Thanks again Mrs. S! See you Monday!" Frannie felt so much better.

Frannie swam excitedly to her bus and sat down by Suzy, Tommy, Carter and Bonnie. "You guys will not believe what Mrs. S said!" Frannie started telling her friends. "She's going to let the whole class make up half the points we missed, if we correct our tests on Monday!"

"Awesome!" Tommy said. "Did you tell the truth?" Suzy asked. "Yeah," Frannie said, smiling, "And I'm glad I did. She would have known I was lying.""You're probably right," Tommy said. "Telling the truth was a good idea."

For the rest of the bus ride, the friends talked about their first week of school. They laughed about their teacher being a monster, how hard their first test was, how scared Frannie was to ride the bus and how happy they were that they had stayed friends through it all.

Frannie smiled as she listened to her friends, both old and new, laugh and tell stories. Frannie had the best time this week at school. She had learned more about herself and her friends than ever before. She didn't want it to be over. When the bus came to her stop, she swam into the house. She couldn't wait until Monday, when she could go back to school.

- The End