That Math Girl: Chapter 10
*Disclaimer*: This is a work of fiction. Some events may be based on real life, but some events are made up.
...100. Phew, I felt a little better. I was still very scared. Anyways, enough about me being scared, "Hello!" Mingmei said because I was too scared to say anything yet. Maybe later. Don't worry. I won't become just like Isabella. I mean, I hope not anyways. Mingmei was saying, “Clara and I made refreshments. We made Daisy Cupcakes and Rainbow Lemonade. They taste wonderful. Clara ate one. By the way, Isabella was going to ask you a few questions. Would you mind if she asked them through text while we eat and drink the refreshments, Mr. Farthing?” Mingmei asked, since she was the actor. I was grateful Mingmei was doing my job for me, because I was kind of too freaked out to even eat. Actually, I was very freaked out.
“I would be pleased to answer a few questions. Daisy Cupcakes are my favorite. What are your questions?” he asked. He sounded a little like what the Antichrist was supposed to be like. If we didn’t know better, we might have been fooled by him. Ye Ye nodded his head approvingly and winked at Isabella. She winked back.
“Well,” Isabella texted. She had linked me into the hangouts chat and Mingmei and I were huddled around my phone. Malachi, Austin, and Hayden were all snickering at us. Apparently they thought that we were all fooled by Nabal. I glared at them and then looked back at my phone. Isabella had written some more, “I would like to ask a few questions, like Mingmei said. Here is question one, can I talk to you instead?”
I was so taken aback. Isabella wanted to talk to Nabal? How come she wanted to talk to other people, but didn’t say anything to us? The only times were when she was really mad and yelled at us. My mouth dropped open wide, and I literally fell on the ground. “T-talk…,” I whispered in a ghostly voice. “T-talk…”
I guess it made a little sense that she wanted to talk, cause Nabal was a horrible man, but he still didn’t deserve to die. Not that Isabella would want to kill Nabal, but still! If she could talk to Nabal, why not talk to Ava, Mingmei, Ling Ling, and I!? This was driving me crazy.
Wait a second, if she talked to Nabal, wouldn’t he think it was better than ever because he would think it was an honor? I quickly texted Ye Ye to act really surprised, I mean, he was already really surprised but yeah. Then to spread the word to the moms and Nai Nai, I texted them too. Since Ye Ye didn’t know what Isabella had written for the questions, I quickly forwarded the message and then sent a surprised emoji. I really liked emojis. Ye Ye’s mouth dropped open and he typed to Nabal, “Wow. I’m a pretty good actor myself. I’ll forward your message.” “Oh, boy, I haven’t heard Isabella say a word since she was nine. Can you believe it? Maybe she’s opening up,” I said, as a result of Ye Ye’s text.
“Maybe she is. I mean Harry told me that Isabella talked to him earlier, but then, he also said that she was mad at her. Has she been only talking when she gets really mad or did she never talk? I mean I’d really like to know, but you don’t have to if you think it’s too personal.”, Nabal said. The funny thing is, Nabal, pretending to be really nice, seems to kind of prove that he is a bad guy. It’s weird, but it’s true. I read a series that was called Left Behind. It’s about what they think the end time will be like. Anyways, the believers thought the same thing of the Antichrist as I did Nabal.
“Actually, Isabella didn’t start talking when she was mad until she came on this trip. It’s really weird. I guess it’s because we never really argued that much. Well, I suppose Hayden was very naughty, I mean a little naughty, but yeah,” Ye Ye said, pausing to breathe and to think what to say next. I was so surprised! I didn’t know Ye Ye was such a good actor. While Ye Ye was thinking, Hayden, who had just walked into the room, glared at Ye Ye. Ye Ye, seemingly not to notice, continued talking, “Oh, aren’t you going to answer a few questions from Isabella? She was “curious as a bug” in Ava’s words. Would you guys like to start? Hey, you guys can also eat the refreshments. I know that ething that would spoil the plan. I smiled at everyone and quickly came up with an excuse for my desperate actions. I knew that Ava was Clara and Mingmei would be very happy if you would.” Nabal nodded.
“First question, Why did your mother name you Nabal? If you didn’t know, Nabal means fool,” Isabella drafted. I guess she was still gaining her confidence. Isabella continued writing, “Did you hear that? Why would your mother call you that? You’re just a fool anyways.” I was about to text Isabella about her word choice when Isabella remembered the plan and erased it. Instead, she wrote, “Of course I don’t think you're a fool, just asking, and don’t take it personal.” She finally sent it after forwarding it to Ava and Ava approved it. Ava was in her room eating potato chips and laughing away because she could hear the conversation and see it, since Ava and I were having a secret Hangouts video call except we were both muted and Ava’s video was off. We didn’t talk to each other just texted, and I knew she was laughing when she sent a laugh-to-tears emoji. Oh boy, I was so thankful that Ava wasn’t here because she would have definitely spoiled the plan.
Nabal turned red and said, “Um, my mom was new in America and thought that Nabal meant brilliant.” Then he repeated what he had just said. “Yes… that's a good excuse, I mean my mom was new to America so she thought Nabal meant brilliant…” he trailed off, obviously thinking of how brilliant he was at making up excuses. I could tell Isabella was almost about to yell something, but I couldn’t do anything. After all, we all knew that Nabal’s mom was half Japanese half American and Nabal’s dad was German. I had already texted her in the hangouts chat, but Isabella either ignored me, or didn’t bother to check.
I got up, took a daisy cupcake and shoved it in Isabella’s mouth, just as Isabella was about to scream something hilarious to me, but some definitely laughing her head AND butt off. I envied her, but also was kind of mad at her for not being here, but then “Oh, sorry. I could tell that Isabella was really hungry, so I had to give her some food. Otherwise, Isabella would go over and get some herself. That would be very impolite.” I then turned to Uncle Harry and said, “Sorry, I guess we weren’t very polite here, b see. What should I do? What should I do? I was desperate and finally came up with an idea. But we kind of have to adjust to our surroundings before we start being polite. It’s kind of weird but, yeah.
Nabal looked at me like I was a lunatic, but Mingmei hurriedly interjected between bites of the daisy cupcake. “It would be very impolite to you if Isabella took her focus elsewhere, am I right?” Nabal, who looked embarrassed just nodded along. He seemed to know that we knew that he was lying about his name.
“Okay,” Isabella said, much more composed. “Question two, why did you try to get Ye Ye to sign a contract and why was it in a language that Ye Ye didn’t know, and what was the contract about?”
Nabal looked a little surprised and his face had turned dark red. Ye Ye looked confused for a few seconds and then got relaxed as quickly as he had looked confused. “How did you know?”
“Oh, sorry, I told them,” Ye Ye said. “They were begging me to respond, but don’t worry, I didn’t tell them the details but I can tell them about the contract, as you don’t look too happy about it.
Nabal's cheeks had flushed, and his forehead had burned a fiery orange. He widened his eyes, and his mouth turned to a “O” shape. “It’s okay, Damien. I can tell them all about it. But first, what is your name, young lady?” Nabal asked, pointing at Mingmei. Uh oh. What would Mingmei do?
Mingmei turned away, and I quickly said, “Um, she’s a family friend. Her name is… Miya Ming. She lives in Japan, but she used to live in Oregon. Unfortunately, her family wanted to move to a much bigger place and they decided on Japan because her dad came from Japan.”
“Ah, I see,” said Nabal, raising his eyebrows. “That's odd, she looks familiar, like a girl I’ve seen before, but...but maybe not. You can continue asking questions, Isabella. She nodded.
Suddenly, Mingmei stood up. “I have to go to the bathroom,” she said quietly. Then she hurried away, before I could protest.
How could she go now? This was just like when Isabella Abandoned us! Well, not exactly. I suppose it made sense.I grabbed a Rainbow Lemonade cup, and began to sip frantically. Natural refreshments always had a soothing effect on me. I remembered my original job, and quickly said, “Mmm… so refreshing. It would also help if you weren’t feeling well. Like a yummy medicine.” I laughed. And I was telling the truth, it was very cool, but I wasn’t very into it. Would Mingmei ever come back? I sighed, and waited. I waited and waited and waited. A very boring practice indeed.
Finally Mingmei came around. Well, I thought she was Mingmei, but would Mingmei really do something as unreasonable as glue pieces of twirled straw in her hair? I snickered and smirked, and was about to tell her how funny she looked when she twirled around, giving me the stink eye. I nodded and although I didn’t understand why she looked so crazy, I texted, “You seriously think it's a good idea to put twirled straw in your hair?” Then I realized she was disguising herself with blonde hair, so I I texted again, typing, “Is this a good costume? I mean, I have better ones then that. I’ll make an excuse to get you to get to come with me, okay?” She sent a thumbs up.
“Hey, Nabal? I want to question this blond haired girl. I’ve never seen her before. You can continue with Isabella. I’ll come back soon. Don’t worry, I’ll come back soon. If this American girl is innocent I’ll let her go, if she isn’t, then I’ll, hmm, I’ll lock her in my room and ask Ye Ye what to do with her. I’m a harsh judge, right Hayden?” Even though Hayden wasn’t part of the plan, he did know I was a harsh judge.
“Yeah, whatever. You certainly are, otherwise you would have taken me from Isabella three years ago instead of tormenting me some more, but nextime, you aren’t going to get away with it because I am the Super Prankster. The best one in the whole of Oregan. A super Prankster never comes unprepared!” Hayden said, glaring at me. I smiled back. Nabal nodded slowly. It was obvious he thought something was going on, but it would be impolite to accuse us.
I roughly took Mingmei by the hand and dragged her out. She shouted for someone to rescue her! “Help me! Help me! Please. Help me! Help me!” Mingmei screamed. Afterall, Mingmei was a good actor. This wasn’t part of the original plan, but it sure was fun! Austin and Malachi thought it was really amusing. They laughed their heads off the whole time. They hadn’t met Mingmei before, so they definitely didn’t recognize her. Ye Ye was chuckling to himself and apparently texting someone. Maybe Ava.
“Stop it, American girl. No one’s going to rescue you, so you better save your energy for answering my questions. You hear me girl? You’d better stay on my good side or your punishment will be worse. You hear me!?” I kicked her. Mingmei stopped yelling for help and started whimpering. “That’s better. The quieter, the smaller punishment.” This was ridiculous. I almost started laughing but then I thought of the plan.
We finally reached my room. “Get in,” I ordered. She meekly went in and sat on the bottom bed. “Isabella will be mad if you go to the bed, so I change my mind. Go in the closet instead.” I read that important people didn’t like random people sitting on their bed, and that important people like to change their minds a lot. I did this so she could change in the closet. She obeyed me and walked in the closet. I came in after her.
Once we were comfortable in the closet, which was actually as big as Isabella and my room in our house back in Organ, I started talking normally. “I didn’t know you were such a good actor,” she said. I smiled.
“I changed my mind. Why don’t you go outside? I have a door that leads outside. I can go out first. Then I’ll say that I’ll take you to your real room , muttering that I can’t be bothered with you with people like you and that I’m taking you to a servant girl and then I’ll just take you to your own room. You can take off those ridiculous straw thing-a-majigs and change back into that neat servant apron. Then, I’ll go back. Sounds good?
Mingmei nodded, but then said, “ I don’t remember what it said because I burned the wrapper, so there wouldn’t be any proof. How am I supposed to get this blue dye stuff off? As much as I like the color blue, I hate blue eyes and I like natural eyes. That would be very much appreciated.”
“Okay. It was a good idea to burn the wrapper though, we don’t want proof. I have some stuff for that. Nai Nai made it once because Isabella had been wanting to do mischief one day and came upon a changer eye bottle. Oh boy. She had looked so funny! Anyways, I’ll get one. There’s one in my backpack, just sec. Get back into actor mode!” I quickly pretended to push a pretending to whimper Mingmei and said, “If you’re going to keep whimpering, I’m going to just have to take you to a servant to be interrogated. Fine. I’ll bring you to a servant girl. Com'n. I want to get back to the rest of them.” Mingmei and I quickly came out and went outside. I think I’m a good actor, but I do actually want to get back to everybody else.
We finally came to Mingmei’s door and walked in. I closed the door and made sure there were no servants. Then, I produced the bottle and handed it to Mingmei. “Here.” I said. “Just apply this around your eyes and then lay down or have your face down, like when you are sleeping for 5 minutes. Quickly wash your face and the blue stuff should be gone. I think, anyways, first, you should get those ridiculous straw thing-a-majigs off. Bye.” Mingmei nodded.
When I came in, they had one more question left. “Okay, last question.” Isabella said, calmly, holding a sketchbook, and tapping a ballpoint to her chin, “Which countries did your parents come from?” I recognised the sketchbook as the one that Ling Ling had handed me to give to Isabella. I know because I, um, well, actually I’m not going to tell you. Wait, actually I am. I secretly opened the gift box and peeked in. Don’t worry, nobody noticed, in case you were wondering. I mean, I think so at least because nobody mentioned it to me.
Ling Ling took the gift box back when I was with Mingmei. I was on my way back, and then Ling Ling suddenly poked her head out to take the package back, for no certain reason. I guess she wanted to hand it to Isabella herself. The sketchbook in Isabella’s hands proved that it had arrived.
“Oh, um, my mom was fully Japanese and my dad was half American and half Japanese. That’s why we went to America,” Nabal answered. Then, Nabal quietly talked to himself, though we could all hear him, “Good. This will definitely cover up my first answer. Good. Good.” Nabal certainly was a horrible liar. It was so good that we were recording this whole thing.
In case you were wondering, I had been using my other phone to record, so I could text everybody on the phone I usually use. I had handed my other phone to Ye Ye, so I could listen later and we would have proof. My other phone, the one we used for recording and so Ava could listen, could only have video calls. That’s why I use the phone that I’m using now.
Isabella suddenly started screaming at Nabal and nobody could stop her, “You fool! You’re just like your name. You’ve literally been telling everybody that you’ve been lying when you were supposed to give a truthful answer to my 10 questions!!! I..I.. I despise you for it! You took away my cousin!!! And a very kind one too! Why should I ever like you!? Why did you choose my family to torment and lie to!? It isn’t fair!!!” And then Isabella stormed away, and I opened a hangout chat to tell her what would happen.
Nabal was all red faced and said to Ye Ye, “Your granddaughter sure is an imaginative person. Not for the world, would I lie to my very best friends.”
“She sure is imaginative,” Mingmei agreed, coming into the room without any disguises. “I’ve been best friends with her since forever, and she’s always suddenly turned to me and accused me or laughed at me or hugged me. One minute, she thinks I’m a villain, the next minute she thinks I’m a normal stranger, and the next minute she’s my best friend, the last minute, she thinks I’m her hero.” Would Mingmei’s acting skills make her seem like someone else?
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