Magic Pen

Jack was so worried it was Jack's big day. It all depended on this one test, and Jack's knees were shaking and he was trembling. The test would tell Jack if he was smart enough to go to the 6th grade, but if he didn’t pass Jack would have to stay an extra year. Sasha, Jack's best friend, was equally worried about the test. Then Jack saw Sasha in the hallway. 

“Hey Sasha, did you study for the big test?” Shouted Jack.

“No, did you?”

“No I didn’t, but hopefully I will pass. I don’t want to stay an extra year and study.” Jack told Sasha as they were walking to the classroom.   

 Jack's grandparents gave Jack something special in a beautiful linen box. They gave it to Jack on his tenth birthday. Jack's grandparents told Jack that he could only open it and use it on really big tests, and he was not to open it until his big test. Today was his chance to see what they gave him. He stepped inside the classroom. It had desks everywhere. On the desks there lay a paper, a pencil and an eraser. The teachers had removed the times table sheet and the measurement sheet. Except for that, everything looked normal. To a lot of students school was a prison cell because you had to learn for 7 hours with only two 20 minute breaks. 

Jack opened the box and saw an ordinary multi-colored pen with 10 colors. He didn’t understand why his grandparents gave it to him. But since his grandparents told him it was special, he would use it and see if there was something extraordinary. But Jack was doubting the pen. There couldn’t possibly be anything special about a multi-colored pen. Jack thought.  

The test started. The kids only had one hour, so he took out his special pen and started to write. But suddenly the pen erased the answer and wrote a different one! Jack was so surprised that he wanted to erase the answer and write a new one, but Jack was not able to erase because the pen refused to turn around. After that Jack just hoped for the best. He did not struggle to erase an answer that the pen had written but just let it do its thing. It’s like the pen had a mind of its own, because the pen seemed to know everything. It didn't stop for a break even once! It just kept writing! 

“I’m finished, Mrs. Ava,” shouted Jack as he stood up.

“Shhhh! Be quiet Jack, students are still working,” said Mrs. Ava while walking to Jack.

 The teacher was so surprised. Jack usually finished last and was bottom of the class in everything, so the teacher told Jack to check because she assumed that Jack had just guessed. But Jack would not go back to check as he was 100% sure, and no one could tell him otherwise. He had an amazingly smart pen that knew everything, how could he get anything wrong with such a clever pen.  

Jack told his friends but no one believed him. Only Jack's best friend Sasha believed him.

 “You liar,” said William with a disbelieving face.

 “There can’t be anything special about that pen,” said his friend Ezra.  “Besides, it is just an ordinary multi-colored pen,” said another one of his friends, Phillip.  

Finally it was lunch time. They all got their trays and sat down at the table. The golden crust of the pizza was shining, and the long white stretchy, sticky, stringy cheese was melting in Jack's mouth. He started eating the pizza. The sound of him eating the crust was so nice to Jack's ears. It smelled and tasted like heaven. He could still hear the cheese sizzling. While all ate their pizza, teacher shared test answers, and what they were doing that evening. 

The next day Jack went to school just to find out that he had passed the big test, and got the best grades from the whole fifth grade. That same day they had a pop quiz with similar questions from the test, but he had a big problem. HE FORGOT HIS MAGICAL PEN!

“What should I do, Sasha?” exclaimed Jack. Jack was so worried that he had lost all his color.

“Jack” said Sasha with a calm voice, “just try your best and believe in yourself.”

“Okay, I'll try,” answered Jack.

The quiz started. Jack did not finish first but he did not finish last either. After lunch they got their results back. Jack got the best marks of the class once again. Maybe I didn’t need the pen after all, thought Jack. I should not cheat anymore, I should believe in myself and put an effort into studying. That day Jack learned that cheating doesn’t help but believing in yourself does.