The classroom pencil sharpener scraped before it sharpened correctly. Nora used it every morning before math.

During morning work, she stood up with her pencil and walked to the sharpener. Marcus was already there. He turned the handle slowly, stopped, checked the pencil, then turned it again. The sharpener made short uneven noises instead of the steady one Nora waited for. Nora stood behind him with her pencil pointed down and her fingers on the unsharpened end.

Marcus turned the handle again. The sharpener scraped. Nora leaned forward once.

“Finish up,” Ms. Alvarez said.

Nora looked at her pencil. It was still dull. Marcus walked back to his seat.

Nora stepped up. She put her pencil into the sharpener and turned the handle slowly. The sharpener scraped again. She pulled the pencil out. The point was flat on one side.

“Math books out,” Ms. Alvarez said.

Nora walked back to her desk. She opened her math book and wrote the date. The line came out thick.

During the first problem, the pencil point broke. Nora looked at the sharpener. No one was there now.

She stood up, walked back to it, and turned the handle again. The sharpener scraped once. Then the steady sound started. She sharpened the pencil.

Back at her desk, she wrote the next number.

The line was right again.

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