03 Mad-i-tude

Mad-i-tude Judy followed Dad down the tree-lined sidewalks of the Colonial College campus, stepping on every crack she could find on purpose. They went past a duck pond with a fountain, a serious library with a clock tower, and a way-cool giant sculpture of bacon and eggs. Finally, they came to a four-story brick building with pointy towers that looked like a castle covered in ivy.

"This is it," said Dad. "Grace Brewster Murray Hopper Hall."

They wound their way upstairs and down long hallways to a door that said MATH LAB. "Here we are!" said Dad. A girl with green eyes and a messy ponytail greeted them. "You must be the Moodys." "I'm Richard Moody, and this is my daughter, Judy," said Dad. "Hi, I'm Chloe. Chloe Canfield. My friends call me C-squared, since my name has two Cs and I go to CC. You know, C to the second power, 'cause I'm into math?" "That's funny," said Dad, shaking her hand.

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"I don't get it," said Judy. "It's algebra," Chloe said. "Algebra? Didn't anybody tell you? I'm only in third grade." Chloe laughed. "It just means when you multiply something by itself, you say it's squared, or to the second power." "Oh, yeah. If I'm in a mood, like a double bad mood, then it's called a bad mood squared, right?" "That's right. Moody to the second power," said Chloe. Dad bit his lip. "Rounding off, squaring stuff, and big powers— yikes!" said Judy. "That's what I'm here for," said Chloe. "Math is everywhere. Math is a fact of life. You'll see. It'll be fun."

"I don't know." Judy saw flash cards on the table. Where there were flash cards, triangle cats and macaroni could not be far behind. "You'll be fine," said Dad, smoothing the top of Judy's hair. But Judy wasn't so sure. "I'll be back in an hour to pick you up." "That's sixty whole minutes!" Judy cried. "Yep. Three thousand six hundred seconds." Chloe led Judy over to an area where a table was piled with sponge blocks, color tiles, and (oh, no!) jars of counting bears and beads. For a split second, Judy had thought college was going to be cool. But this was baby college. She, Judy Moody, was in a mood. Not a good mood. A bad mood squared. Moody to the power of ten million. "This is Investigation Station," said Chloe.