"Megan! The results are up!" Ohm said, running towards the board while pulling her along.

"Oh no. I am not prepared for the disappointment." Megan said, inching further away.

"What disappointment? I know you did well. You know it too." Ohm said, "Now, come on!" Megan followed him into the crowd, weaving through the other students to get to the front. 

She quickly located the Class 2 list and looked through it- but her name wasn't there. She looked at the Class 1 list- not there either. 

'I knew I wasn't going to do well,' Megan thought sadly. 'Well, time to check how far I dropped.'

She was interrupted by Ohm's excited yelling. "Megan! Come look at this!"

She looked over at him. He was jumping up and down near the Gifted list.

"What is it?" Megan asked him.

"I got into the Gifted program!" he exclaimed, still jumping up and down.

"Wow, really? That's amazing!" Megan said, hugging him. Of course there was a tiny flare of jealousy in her stomach, but she tried to ignore it and just be happy for her best friend.

"But......not just me........you made it too!" Ohm said pointing to her name- ON THE GIFTED LIST.

"What?" Megan gasped. "No way!"

"I know! We're going to be in the Gifted program together! Isn't it amazing?" 

"Who else made it?" Megan asked.

"Wave, unsurprisingly. It's mostly Class 1 kids......whoa. There's a Class 8 kid in the program!" Ohm said, eyes widening.

"Really? Good for them!" Megan said, just as surprised as Ohm.

"Should we head to the Gifted classroom?" 

"Sounds good to me!"

The classroom was in a part of the school Megan wasn't familiar with. Then again, even after months, she would get lost just walking to the bathroom. 

Ohm pushed open the door. Only Wave and two other kids, a boy and a girl, both with Class 1 badges were there. Ohm and Megan sat down side-by-side.

The girl turned around. "Another girl, finally. I'm Claire."

"Megan." Megan replied.

"Who's your friend?" Claire said, indicating Ohm.

"Ohm. We're both from Class 2." 

 Over the course of the next half an hour, six more students arrived. A pair of twins. A girl with glasses. A boy with glasses and a camera. Another girl. Then finally, the same boy who bumped into Megan and had an argument with Wave.

"It's that guy again!" Megan whispered to Ohm.

"Huh, you're right! Is he the Class 8 kid?" Ohm whispered back. The boy sat down next to Ohm.

"Do you have a pen that I can borrow?" Ohm asked the boy.

"Ohm, what happened to all the pens you borrowed from me?" Megan asked. He ignored her. 

"Yeah, hold on." the boy said, digging through his bag and passing a pen to Ohm.

"Thank you," Ohm replied, smiling. "Are you the student from Class 8?"

"You know me?" The boy asked.

"Of course! You're the first student from Class 8 to get into the Gifted program. Everybody was talking about you. I was afraid the Gifted program would be full of students from Class 1. It's good to see students from other classes as well," Ohm said. "I'm Ohm, from Class 2."

He shook hands with the boy.

"I'm Megan, also from Class 2!" she interjected. "What's your name?"

"Pang. From Class 8, but I guess you already knew that." he replied.

The door opened one last time and a man entered. He walked to the front of the class and began to speak.

"Hello, students. My name is Parama, you can call me Mr. Pom. From this day onwards, I'll be the advisor for the Gifted students such as yourselves. All of you are the most outstanding students. You have a special potential hidden within." He turned on the projector to reveal a set of numbers that flashed for only a second, before changing to the Gifted symbol.

2 3 3 = 48

"The Gifted program entails a lot of rules and details. You may have seen the badge box and documents under your desk."

Megan reached under her desk and pulled out the box and papers he was referring to.

"First of all, the Gifted program is a supplemental class. That means you have to attend your regular class . Those from Class 1 must go to Classroom 1." Then, looking directly at Pang, he continued, "Those from Class 8 must go to Classroom 8. After you finish your regular class, you must attend the program here."

Megan opened her badge box to see a class badge with a G on it.

"From now on, please pin your new badge in place of your old one." The screen flashed again with a new set of numbers, before changing into a bunch of English words. Finally, something she could read properly!

1 2 3 = 46

"Secondly, the program comes with many rules. I want you to read them in your own time. The most important rule of all is..."

The screen changed to show the words

"You are prohibited from letting people outside of this program know what we do here, under any circumstance." Megan saw Pang frown. "If you violate this rule, you will be expelled from the program, effective immediately. Lastly-" Another set of numbers.

4 3 2 = 19

"-find out why you are in the Gifted program. I'll give you one week. Please enjoy finding your potential. I hope all of you find your answer." Mr. Pom smiled. "The serious stuff is done. We'll get to a basic test."

One last number set was shown on the screen, but this one stayed.

2 3 4 = ?

"Does anyone know the answer to this question?" Mr. Pom asked. "Raise you hand when you do."

Megan's brain raced to put all the numbers together. The first three in each set had a space between them, so it probably meant two, three, three instead of two hundred and thirty-three.

If you added up the first number in each set, you got the second digit of the answer.

2 + 3 + 3 = 8

1 + 2 + 3 = 6

4 + 3 + 2 = 9

2 + 3 + 4 = 9. The second digit of the answer was nine. 

The other students were starting to raise their hands. Megan's brain sparked with an idea.If she turned the first number of each set into a negative and added them together......

-2 + 3 + 3 = 4

-1 + 2 + 3 = 4

-4 + 3 + 2 = 1

-2 + 3 + 4 = 5! So, 59. The answer was 59. Megan raised her hand.

After a few more seconds, everyone had their hand raised........except for Pang.