The Perfect Score

In addition to the practice tests, the principal takes away recess for more test prep. Livid, Scott fills in the bubbles on his practice test in a Christmas-tree pattern. He’s called to the principal’s office, where the principal rages at him: “I need you to ace the CSAs. I need everyone to ace them” (202). Scott asks if the class can have recess and read-aloud time back if everyone aces the tests. The principal agrees.

Natalie notices new tension among her teachers, with one even being sent to the hospital for a panic attack. The only bright spot is Mrs. Magenta’s new art program project at the senior center. Since caroling went so well, the children will go back to bring “some company and sunshine with [their] smiles” (204). This time, on the bus ride, Trevor steals Scott’s hat.

When the children get to the senior center, they are all frozen in fear at the idea of talking to people they don’t know, except Scott. He runs for a table of cookies, but after he loads his plate, he trips and goes flying, spilling cookies and juice all over himself. One of the older ladies offers to help get the stains out, so Scott strips down to his underwear and follows her out. Everyone laughs, including Randi, and she realizes that people are always laughing at Scott, not with him. Before, she never really cared, but things are different now because they are friends.

After Scott’s incident, Gavin feels a lot less nervous about talking to the seniors. He sits with a man who goes by “Coach” and who’s drawing up football plays. Gavin enjoys himself until the man shouts that Gavin is a spy for a rival school. Mrs. Magenta apologizes for not telling Gavin up-front that the man is sick. Gavin is scared, but even so, he considers chatting with the man again because he’d “been in football heaven before the old man flipped out” (213).

Natalie introduces herself and Randi to a couple of older women, calling Randi her friend, which “fe[els] natural” (214). The women tease the girls about boys but are otherwise fun to chat with. Gavin’s incident with Coach brings the tension in the room back, but it’s broken again when Scott returns wearing a floral nightgown.

On the bus, Scott is excited to sit with Gavin and in front of Trevor. To get Scott’s hat back, Natalie ties Trevor’s shoelace to his chair, making him fall when he tries to get off the bus. Trevor and Natalie get in each other’s faces, calling one another bullies until Scott yells for everyone to stop: “I don’t like it when my friends fight” (219).

Trevor is enraged about Natalie calling him a bully because she has no idea what he goes through with his brother. A few days later, while Trevor’s brother is in the bathroom, his friends tape Trevor’s arms and legs together. When they finally let him go, Trevor storms to his room and cries until his friend arrives. Trevor asks why his friend comes over every day, knowing that the bullies are there. His friend says that it’s to make sure Trevor’s okay, and though he doesn’t show it, Trevor thinks that it’s “good to know [he] [i]sn’t all alone and that [his friend] ha[s] [his] back” (226).

Natalie struggles with Trevor’s accusation that she’s a bully. For the last few weeks, Mrs. Woods has been wearing a portable microphone hooked to speakers in the classroom because she’s had laryngitis, which means that the kids can hear her anywhere in the building if she forgets to turn it off. During a practice test, they hear her talking to the principal about how ridiculous the CSAs are. The principal snaps that he expects her to do her job, and Mrs. Woods argues that she was doing her job before test prep took over because “being a teacher used to mean much more than producing test-taking robots” (228).

When Mrs. Woods storms back into the classroom to find one of the test proctors fiddling with the speakers, she realizes what happened. The test proctor leaves, and Scott tells Mrs. Woods that mistakes are okay, as long as she learns her lesson to turn off the microphone, especially in the bathroom. The entire class, including Mrs. Woods, dissolves into laughter.

At gymnastics practice, Randi notices that her mom isn’t watching, which makes her both panic and do better without the extra pressure. On the way out, her mom and coach go quiet when Randi approaches, which makes Randi feel like something is wrong and ask herself, “[W]here was Scott to say something and make it all better?” (232). On the way home, Randi’s mom says that Randi needs a break from gymnastics to focus on school and the CSAs. Randi is confused, unsure if that’s true or if it’s just about letting her rest up for the bigger competitions.

Gavin is feeling the test pressure at school. He still reads to his sister at night, and the next book she picks is about a child helping an older person remember what’s important. Gavin decides to give Coach a second chance. The next time Gavin visits, Coach tells Gavin to be confident about football and unafraid to show his art. Coach’s daughter was an artist who gave up on art because of her mother’s worry, and they never had a good relationship after that. Gavin reads a poem that Coach has on the wall, “The Guy in the Glass” by Dale Wimbrow, which is about how a person’s only judge in life is themselves and that if a person doesn’t do their best, none of it will matter “if you’ve cheated the guy in the glass” (239).

When it’s time to go, Gavin asks Mrs. Magenta if the stories about Coach’s wife and daughter are true. Mrs. Magenta looks startled but says that they are.

On the bus to go back to school, Mrs. Magenta informs the kids that the next meeting will be used for CSA test prep. Scott tries to remain upbeat, saying that everything will be back to normal after the tests. However, Trevor’s friend, whose dad is on the school board, says that the test results will be used to determine eligibility for classes and activities next year, meaning that anyone who doesn’t do well won’t be able to participate in their preferred clubs or sports. Scott vows to make sure that this doesn’t happen.

After school, Natalie asks her mom about Gavin. Years ago, Natalie’s mom defended a rich man who sued Gavin’s dad for poor driving. Since Gavin’s dad’s truck was in disrepair, Natalie’s mom won easily, which is why Gavin’s family is stuck paying bills for the man who sued them. Recently, Natalie’s mom learned the truth—that the rich man took advantage of the situation and lied. Natalie runs out of the room, upset because “justice [i]s supposed to prevail in the courtroom, not corruption” (250).

Trevor desperately hopes that Scott can fix things with the CSA tests because “there [is] no way [he] c[an] spend another year going home after school” (251).

Scott will find a way to get everyone the answers to the CSAs without getting caught. He knows that this will help his friends, and for the first time, the CSAs don’t seem dumb and boring but instead “so much more interesting and challenging—and important” (252).

Shortly before the CSAs, Scott reveals the coding system of gestures that he’s developed to tell his classmates the right answers during the test. After he shows them to Randi and Natalie, Randi tries to talk to Natalie about Gavin but gets nowhere. Randi wishes that Scott could magically make it so that Randi could be friends with Gavin and Natalie, but there isn’t “anything [their] genie could do to make that happen” (256).

Natalie knows that cheating on the test is wrong and breaking the rules, but she resolves not to tell anyone. Her friends need this plan, but even so, Natalie wonders whether she is “doing something wrong by allowing this to happen” (258).

Scott shows Trevor and Gavin his system, which Trevor admits is brilliant. When Trevor thanks him, Scott just shrugs and says, “That’s what friends are for” (260).

Gavin knows that he shouldn’t cheat on the CSAs, but he also knows that if he doesn’t pass them, he’ll never get his chance to shine on the football field. Like it or not, he’s all in, “but [he] c[a]n’t tell the guy in the glass” (262).

Trevor is absolutely cheating on the test, but he’s surprised when his friend will, too, even though he’d get in big trouble if his dad found out. Even more, Trevor isn’t sure why Scott is helping him because Trevor has treated Scott so poorly. Though Trevor doesn’t know how, he’ll make it up to Scott.

The night before the tests, Randi dreams about her mom standing over her while she takes the test. Randi glances to Scott to fill in the right answer, and her mom “smile[s] and pat[s] [her] on the back” (265).

The night before the test, Scott’s grandpa’s house burns down. His grandpa is okay and will spend the night at Scott’s house. Scott brings him the memory string and box he made, which makes his grandpa feel like he didn’t lose everything in the fire, and Scott is thrilled that “[he] tried to do something helpful, and [he] got it right” (270). Scott is so tired from the scare that he stays home from school the next day.

When Scott isn’t at school on the day of the test, Natalie panics, wondering, “[D]on’t you know the difference between right and wrong?” (271).

When Scott isn’t at school, Gavin also panics, wondering, “[H]ow was I gonna ace this thing without Scott?” (272). When Natalie starts using Scott’s code to deliver the answers, Gavin doesn’t question it and just fills in his test.

Randi uses Natalie’s gestures to fill in her test, thinking that she’s doing the right thing for her and to keep her mom happy. She figures that she’s done hearing about the tests until the results come over the summer. Everything will be fine, or at least, “that [i]s the way it [i]s supposed to go” (273).

After he finishes his test, Gavin is dismayed to find that he feels worse than he did going in. He tries to console himself with the knowledge that everyone else cheated, too, but he realizes that “that didn’t make it right” (274).

Natalie feels guilty for what she did and decides that “it was Scott’s fault” (276).