The Report Card

During lunch, Nora sits at her regular table with a group of girls, next to Stephen and his friends’ table. Nora overhears Merton Lake, a boy she doesn’t particularly like, ridiculing Stephen for suggesting that scientists might travel to the sun one day. Being one of the class’s smartest kids, Merton participates in the school’s gifted program and comes from a family of Harvard graduates. Stephen defends his position, reasoning that maybe humanity can visit the sun when it burns out. Merton insists the sun will never go out, and when he keeps calling Stephen names, Nora snaps: “The sun will go out! The sun is using up its supply of hydrogen because the hydrogen atoms are being converted into helium atoms. […] So Stephen is right. And more important than that, you are WRONG!” (93). The cafeteria gapes at Nora, and then the girls’ table erupts in cheers. Nora feels terrible about losing her temper, and then she notices someone listening by the door: Dr. Trindler.

When Nora visits Dr. Trindler that day, he wastes no time. He intended to give Nora another IQ test—he wasn’t convinced of the first test’s accuracy—but he changed his mind after seeing Nora’s outburst in the cafeteria. Dr. Trindler asks Nora to confirm whether she thinks the previous day’s test accurately reflects her intelligence. Ready to stop pretending, Nora answers no: She missed every question that she got wrong intentionally. Recalculating her score boggles Dr. Trindler, so he simply asks why Nora didn’t do her best. However, Nora doesn’t trust Dr. Trindler with this conversation: “I knew enough about psychology to know that Dr. Trindler would never get it right. […] Not wanting to be pushed to ‘achieve’ all the time was not some psychological problem I was having. It was an intelligent choice” (97). Dr. Trindler keeps fishing for more information, but Nora politely remains quiet.

By dinner, Nora’s family knows about her IQ test. Her parents excitedly discuss Nora’s new prospects: the gifted program, elite private schools, and even Ivy League universities. Contrarily, Nora stays quiet and doesn’t express her own opinions. Mostly, she regrets that her plan failed. After dinner, Stephen calls, angry that Nora defended (and, in his eyes, embarrassed) him in front of everyone. He calms down when Nora says that he would have done the same for her; he admits that her outburst was brave, and Merton deserved everything she said. Nora realizes that this is the best opportunity to tell Stephen the whole truth about herself before he hears the rumors. Stephen doesn’t know how to respond, and he suddenly feels like Nora is a different person, saying it is “[like she’s] been this genius secret agent, spying on all the regular kids” (104). Nora insists that she did everything on purpose to prove that grades aren’t so important; nonetheless, that plan failed. Stephen starts formulating new plan, one where she can play by her own rules rather than falling into everyone else’s expectations. Nora exclaims, “Stephen! That’s a fantastic idea! You’re … you’re a genius!” (107). They spend the rest of their conversation plotting the details of this new plan, and Nora feels relieved that they are working together again.