The Mathematics of Love ✔

Chapter 16

“So much for that road trip, Amelia.”

At the other end of the phone, I heard a groan. “Are you serious? You really can’t come with me?”

“It’s not my fault that the recognition ceremony for the Junior Mathematics Tournament got moved up a month early.”

“You’d think these people would be better organized,” Amelia griped. There was a pause. “Are you going to be gone the whole four days?”

“Pretty much. I was looking at an itinerary and they’ve got a lot of stuff planned.”

“Sure you can’t get out of it? C’mon, you can’t honestly tell me you’d rather be at some uptight ceremony than partying it up with me. That thing’s probably going to be a drag.”

I groaned. Didn’t she know I already realized that? “Nope, there’s no chance. My parents think it’s like my Grammy or something. If I rebelled, they’d kill me and string up my corpse to receive the award or something.”

Amelia sighed in defeat. She had Chinese parents too, after all, and must have realized there was no way I was spending Thanksgiving break anywhere else but at the Junior Mathematics Conference in Indianapolis. Or my grave.

“Okay, okay. Guess I’ll be taking a one-girl vacation then,” she said dejectedly. “Since everybody is abandoning me.”

“Geez, now you’re just being dramatic,” I chided, admitting my nails, which I had painted for the first time in forever. I loved school breaks. “Why don’t you call up Louisa or something?” I tried to keep the bitterness out of my voice, but I’d never been a particularly good actress.

“Hmm. You know what? I will. And I’ll call up her boyfriend while I’m at it, too.”

The mention of the word ‘boyfriend’ caused the blissful smile on my face to evaporate. “Yeah, wouldn’t want to separate the Dream Team,” I said sourly.

“Don’t worry. I’ll supervise them if they come along to make sure they don’t do anything you wouldn’t approve of.”

“Why would I disapprove of anything those two do?” I sniffed. “It’s not my business. They can come back with babies for all I care.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“I do,” I insisted, gripping the phone so hard to my ear that I was surprised it didn’t snap in half. “In fact, I want their babies to have babies. They should come back with frickin’ grandkids if they like. What do I care?”

Amelia let out a long, crackly sigh. “I thought I already told you—you don’t have to put on an act in front of me.”

“I’m not acting. This is called being a good citizen.”

“You’re hopeless.”

“Maybe so, but remember that I’m the one getting national recognition this weekend.”

“Wow, smart and humble. You’re my role model.”

I was about to retort, but then my mom’s voice seeped through the floor. “Nancy, have you packed all your things yet?”

“Almost done!” I hollered back, holding my hand over the speaker. “Gotta go now,” I said to Amelia. “Your humble role model is off to the great city of Indianapolis. I’ll allow you to keep a piece of my hair as a memorial if I don’t come back.” It was a genuine concern. My parents were not exactly quality drivers.

“Nancy…you are literally going, like, two hours away.”

“Don’t be a hater.”

“Nancy, NOW!” Dad bellowed.