The whole classroom went silent.
Someone's grip slipped and a pen clattered to the floor.
"Vivienne filled half the board.
"He got it in two lines?"
Even the math teacher looked at the board, a little startled.
"Percy, this is beyond the syllabus."
"I know, sir."
Percival grinned, teeth white and easy.
"But on a multiple-choice question, I say faster is better. High schoolers shouldn't turn their noses up at college-level knowledge."
The math teacher smiled.
"Everyone, Vivienne's derivation was completely correct, but to save time in an exam, you might all want to hear how Percival explains it."
"Eh, no need to make it complicated."
Percival tossed the chalk down carelessly.
"Anyone interested can go read the Princeton Companion to Mathematics. I've got the original English edition—come borrow it from me after class."
"No way… he's even read that?"
"Norman and Vivienne are finished now."
Percival listened to the low murmurs around him.
Then he smiled and cocked an eyebrow at me.
"Grinding away like a bookworm gets you nowhere. Save your energy."
I smiled.
"Your steps do give the right answer, but only because the function in this problem is continuous at the zero point."
Norman propped his chin on his hand too.
"Right. Take a different problem, plug in the Fourier transform and L'Hôpital's rule, and you won't necessarily get the right answer."
Percival's eyes finally sharpened a little as he looked at us.
But the mockery was still there.
"Have you two even studied higher mathematics?"
"A little."
"Then why run your mouths? Isn't college knowledge more useful than all your dead memorization?"
"It's not dead memorization. College formulas have their limits, and high school methods are safer for everyone."
"Come argue with me after you've finished linear algebra and complex analysis!"
Percival strolled back to his seat.
He slouched against the backrest.
He traded a glance with Winston.
But the other students were left completely lost.
"I've heard of linear algebra, but what's this complex thing?"
"Functions can be complex now?"
"So advanced. I'm gonna grow a brain cell."
The math teacher's gaze held a new note of admiration.
"You'd all do well to learn from the methods of our two transfer students, Percival and Winston. They're useful on multiple-choice questions."
When class let out, the same students who used to crowd around Norman and me, begging us to explain problems, swarmed to Percival and Winston's desks instead.
The two of them worked one on each side, walking everyone through multiple-choice questions.
"This one? L'Hôpital's rule, instant kill."
"High school methods make this one a pain. This one gets into signal processing."
"Newton-Leibniz works, but if you want it faster, just memorize this."
The other students couldn't help sucking in a breath.
"Geniuses really are geniuses! If you sent those two bookworms up here, one page of paper wouldn't be enough for them to write it all out."
Leaning by the door, Norman and I looked at each other at the same moment.
"You hear what they're teaching?"
I asked.
Norman watched them. "I heard it."
"Ridiculous or what?"
"A little too ridiculous."
I really couldn't hold back.
"Ease up on the lessons.
"When the function tends to infinity the whole model falls apart, and force your formulas onto it then and the answer's guaranteed wrong."
Percival and Winston turned to look.
They smiled.
"What, the grind champ can't stand to watch?"
I gave a scoff. "Tch!"
"You two are leading them astray. When they get it wrong later, are you going to take responsibility?"
