I am trapezium.

Nobody likes me.

Today we had a beauty contest

at school.

Square got 20 votes and became the most beautiful one in the class.

No one voted for me. They told me “you are trapezium, how can you be beautiful!” I agree with them. Yes! I was very ugly. I was demorilezed. I felt very bad. 

I didn't leave my room

till the evening.

My mother asked me why ı was so sad and I told her everything happened today.She listened to me carefully and went out the room and told everything to my dad.

I overheard their conversation.I was shocked.They were talking about taking me to psychologist.

While going back to my room silently, I dropped the vase and they understood that I was there.

I began crying.

I shouted '' I don't want to see a psychologist. Nooo. ''

However, my mum shouted more!

My mom: You have to go to

psychologist!!!

I ran towards my room cried a lot and fell asleep there.

The next day my mom forced me to go to the hospital and we were at Miss Circle’s office.

Miss Circle: Oh my dear,

you must be trapezium, right?

Trapezium: Yes, unfortunately it is me! 

Miss Circle: Now tell me your problem. 

And I told her everything happened at school

and everything I felt.

Miss Circle: It is very interesting that you consider yourself very ugly. You are the leader of all polygons. If you didn’t exist, they wouldn’t exist!!! You are so special, in fact.

I was really shocked when I heard those words. 

Trapezium: Really? Am I really special?

Miss Circle: Ofcourse you are. You are both

beautiful and special. 

I felt very happy and surprised.

Oh my God!

I didn’t know that I was so special. 

The other day, I went to school with full of self confidence. Everything was more different, more beautiful for me now. 

And I was surprised with the latest news on the school bulletin board. 

It said: “ The Beauty Contest will take place

again!!!

First of all, I told to myself: I don’t care, the contest can be organized, and anyway, I don’t care. I need to protect myself from a new disappointment. I felt that it is not so important to be beautiful, but to be content with what you are or you have got.

Thinking like this, I was just walking away, determined to stay away from the contest idea.

But mmm... do you think it was easy? Noooo!!!

I tried. But as I saw the other geometric figures preparing themselves, I started to feel sad. I was feeling like the ugly duckling.

And those words “you are trapezium, how can you be beautiful!” were in my ears, in my mind, in my soul all the time.  

The day before the contest, when all my colleagues were excited about it, I went to the library. I took a Math book and started reading. I didn’t realize when I opened it at the lesson about Geometry. I started to read about the polygons, about quadrilaterals, till I got to the trapeziums. I read about ME, about my relatives, the regular, the rectangular and isosceles trapezium. 

And suddenly I felt so happy, so blessed! I said to myself: “Look, how proud you should be, you have two parallel and two non-parallel sides, you can be different types, you are not so easy to approach, you are so interesting. If somebody wants to learn about you, he should be aware that you are not just an ordinary quadrilateral.”

This was the great moment.

In some minutes, I was at the registration office, which, by the way, was about to close, as it was the final of the program, and registered myself as a participant to the beauty contest. Nobody noticed me, so, nobody knew that I was on the list of participants.

The next day, the great day came.

Having all the knowledge about trapezium in my mind, having all the answers to the possible questions, I stepped in the contest stage. When the rest of the participants saw me, they were extremely surprised. And they started gossiping. 

The circle: Look at the trapezium, He is so strange, so ugly, he is not regular, two of it sides are non-parallel. He shouldn’t be here.

The square: Why is the trapezium here? I am the most popular here. I have all my sides equal, my perimeter is 4 times my side, my surface is so easy to memorize, the side multiplied the side. If I want, I can become a rhomb.

The rectangle: The trapezium shouldn’t be here. My sides parallel, two by two. His are not. Only two are parallel. 

The participants were invited in front of the commission. All of them were invited to present themselves and their most important characteristics.

As by the beginning of the contest the circle, the square and the rectangle seemed to be good friends, and ready to offend me, now, each of them started to emphasize their own qualities, denigrating all the others, as if each of them was the best of the best in the world. The only one who waited by the end of the presentations was... ME.

Being the last who registered, I felt I should wait, with modesty to the end of the others.

When it was the turn to present myself, I came one step ahead and started:

Dear commission, dear partners, I decided to register to this contest in the last minute. That’s because I considered myself not as important as my colleagues. They are very proud with their qualities: parallel sides, equal diagonals, equal sides and so on. They are right, I am not perfect. 

So, maybe I am not so beauty, so important, but I am sure that if we are all together, we can help pupils learn us easily. 

The commission appreciated very much my words.

And they decided I should get the first prize.

As all the others were quite envy with me, I took the prize, ask them all to come in front of the commission and told them:

This prize is OURS. It belong to all of us. Because we are all important in Math, and, yes, all together can make the pupils’ understanding even easier.

The all appreciated my words and agreed with me.

From that day, all of us, the geometric figures became very good friends.

And we are very happy.