That Math Girl (Chapter 9)
*Disclaimer*: This is a work of fiction. Some events may be based on real life, but some events are made up.
I didn’t know what to do, so I just started fidgeting with my clothes. That was my signal to Isabella to do something. (I usually just fidget with my hands.) Isabella grunted and glared at me. I smiled back as if to say, “He He!”. Unfortunately, Mingmei spoke about why she had done what she had done. She then shot an icy glare at Great Uncle Harry and asked him, “Why did you do that? It was really mean, why did you want to lure her down? Well, to get Isabella to do the interview, obviously, but why?” I was standing next to her and she whispered, “I hope he answers my questions.” I nodded.
Uncle Harry stood there, like Hayden looked like when he got caught doing some mischief and whimpered (like Hayden), “I’m sorry, but an interview is just the thing I need to be able to pay my taxes!” Why did he need to pay taxes? Wasn’t he a REALLY rich person? You know, with all of those bathrooms and showers. I mean, if you can afford that many bathrooms and showers, you most likely can afford your taxes.
I could tell that Isabella was NOT calm at all, so I decided to give her an orange snack to calm her down (oranges like, did magic on her), but Isabella wasn’t there. I turned around, just to see Isabella sprinting away. I suddenly became angry at her. How could she abandon all of us, just at this hard time?
I sprinted after her and quickly caught her. Isabella tried to get loose, but I expected this and pinned her to the ground as fast as I could. I yelled at her about her abandoning us and stayed firm on her, determined to stay put. Isabella suddenly kicked me twenty times and I finally let go. I screamed in pain and Isabella ran away. It all happened so quickly, I barely got a chance to breathe! I decided not to chase her again. I knew from experience that when Isabella got this mad, I couldn’t stop her no matter how good I was at running. (Isabella would probably just kick me again, anyways.)
I ran back to the others and texted Ava, “Isabella abandoned us.” Then I sent her a sad emoji. When I got there, I filled Ava and Mingmei on the details. By now, I was 100% sure that I could trust Mingmei.
We all walked to the snack room to get some potato chips and then to Mingmei’s room. We were pretty sure that Mingmei’s room would be the safest. Mingmei told us that Nabal, the guy that had lied to us, was going to come at 4 today, because he wanted to see us and Uncle Harry. He lives in Japan too, because uncle Harry, who turns out to be his best friend, moved to Japan.
I checked my watch. It was 3:21. We had 39 minutes to prepare. “We have 39 minutes to try to do something. What should we do?”I said. Then, after a moment of thought I said, “I know! Why don’t we pretend that we don’t know that he is a bad guy and then we just catch him in a trap. I don’t mean a physical trap, well, I mean I guess we could, but I think it would be better to try to catch flaws in his words. What do you think or do you have any other ideas that might be better?”
“Hmm. Maybe.” Mingmei said and then her eyes lit up, “Why don’t we all try to do something. I mean the three of us because I think Isabella might be too mad to even if she actually wants to in her soul. Anyways, as I was saying, we should each help by doing something that we’re good at. I’m not sure who should do what, but I think this might work. Hey, Clara, I think one of us could ask questions and then trap him. You know, him against his own words! I can’t wait for the look on his face when we catch him.” We all giggled at the thought of Nabal’s face and we were soon all on the floor laughing our heads off. I just couldn’t stop. The image I had imagined was just too funny to stop laughing. Good thing the floor had carpet!
“Okay, I think that’s a good idea. After we finish getting our plan all set, I’m going to research this Nabal guy some more. I want to see if he’s had any other crimes or something. Do any of you know his last name? He did visit Ye Ye and Nai Nai a lot but I never bothered to listen. That would help a lot,” Ava said, seeming to want to start right away on her laptop. What was Nabal’s last name? What in the world was it? I used to listen behind the wall in the fireplace. It’s my own secret room. Nobody knows about it. Not even Isabella. I usually like to sit there and think and think.
I mean, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but, when you're just behind the fireplace (The fireplace is in the living room.) and the people in the living room are talking really loudly, you probably can’t help hearing. I remember hearing his last name a lot, but I don’t remember it. Was it Farfield? I remember it started with F. No, it wasn’t. That was the person who let people have lots of samples at Crader Meyers , the only grocery store around the block . I saw her name tag once and it read Mrs. David Farfield. Nope, not her.
After a couple of minutes, it hit me. Farthing! That was it. "It's Farthing. I’m sure of it. Otherwise he wouldn’t fart so much. I mean, you know, it sounds kind of like farting and anyways, just see what happens when you type it in. Just take out the h. Look for a mustache because I KNOW he has a mustache,” I said. Ava was staring at her computer and then finally swung her chair around. She gave me a queer look and asked, “What are you talking about?” How did she not know what we were talking about!?
“Uh, weren’t you asking what Nabal’s last name is?” I asked, with a frown on my face. I couldn’t help it. How had Ava forgotten?
“Oh, right. Sorry, I was just getting too carried away with all the news. I was listening to my airpods and I heard that there were rumors that Japan was going to have a war with England again! Isn’t that horrible? If that happens, we’re probably going to be stuck in the middle of it! Last time America joined and even though we are from a Chinese family, we’re still American citizens. Anyways, so what’s the rest of the plan?”, She said, obviously still thinking about the rumor of a new war.
“Anyways, how about Mingmei and I make some kind of snack to deliver to the person who will ask the questions and Nabal. If we do that, I think he will more likely answer the questions without him even knowing! Also, he’ll probably be in a better mood. You should have heard him when he was practically screaming at Ye Ye to fill some contract in a different language that Ye Ye didn’t know. I saw it on the table. I think it was in Korean. I took a class on that one summer but it was really BORING. I mean REALLY BORING. If you want to learn a language, don’t choose Korean. Anyways, who’s going to do the questioning?” I asked.
“Um, I don’t know? Maybe Mingmei? Don’t ask me to do it though because I am HORRIBLE at being like a reporter and asking questions. Just don’t ask me to do it. If Isabella wasn’t mad, she might do it, but she is, and she can’t talk, so either you or Mingmei. I don’t care who, but don’t make me do it. I promise you, you’ll regret it. I probably won’t be there anyways because I’d just burst out laughing and our whole plan will explode, just like that!” Ava said, snapping her fingers and laughing at the same time at the thought of her being the one to ask the questions. “Besides, I’m already researching Nabal Farthing.”, Ava said between laughter.
“Not me. I’m good at essays, but I'm just as bad at asking questions as Ava. Either you do it or get Isabella to do it. I’m warning you though, she’ll probably get really mad. Unless, somehow, she had a change of heart.” I said, pointing to myself as if it was crazy that I should be the one to ask all of the questions. “How about you do that but I can process what Ava finds into a script, except only a guideline of what you should say. I could never get the right tone and whatever other stuff you’re supposed to have.” I said to Mingmei after a moment’s thought.
“No.” Mingmei said firmly, “Not me. I’m just as bad as you guys are. I will not do it either.” Who’s going to do it then? “Why don’t we draw straws. Who ever has the shortest straw has to go ask Isabella to help us in our plan.” Ava said. She pulled out three straws and we closed our eyes. We each picked a straw and we opened our eyes again. In my hand was the longest straw. Phew! Phew! I looked around and I saw Mingmei with the shortest straw. Uh oh! Mingmei didn’t look too happy.
Despite her face, Mingmei was composed. (unlike me, no offense to myself) She put her hands in a surrendering position and said, “All right. All right. You guys win. I’ll go tell Isabella, AFTER she comes back, BUT you, Ava, have to tell me when she’s done sleeping, you’ll probably know, I can hear her snoring right now, since you got the middle straw! He he, Ava!” Mingmei said. We both nodded. Me smiling and Ava frowning. He! He! Ha! Ha! I got the longest straw!
“And you.” Mingmei said, pointing at me. My smile suddenly turned into a frown and Mingmei continued, “Have to help me because you’re Isabella’s best, I mean BEST friend. Even if she’s angry at you, she’ll still believe you more than me.” Oh no! That means I have to face her when she’s mad. WAH, Wah, wah. That’s so sad.
“Fine!” I said. “But you don’t forget that you have to do the most talking, okay?” Mingmei and Ava nodded their heads and that nod of their heads sealed the deal. We hugged each other and shook hands with each other to seal the deal even more. Ava went to check on Isabella in the tree she was in, since it was Ava’s job to check on Isabella, even though Mingmei was better at climbing then Ava. Mingmei and I stared at each other. Both of us were thinking about our mission ahead. (So many missions, driving me crazy!)
“She’s been sleeping for a while and I accidentally woke her up. Sorry. I hope that that doesn’t make the plan harder. It was an accident. She was snoring so loudly and I kept laughing. Ava yelled 19 minutes later. Mingmei and I both glared at Ava and silently walked out. As for Ava, she put her hands up in surrender. I was scared of Isabella. When she was mad, she could be dangerous. She wouldn’t talk but she would scream. I counted. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10…….. 100…….., 200…….., 300……..., 400……..., 500…….., 600…….., 700…….., 800.
When we arrived at the abandoned tree house, I was at 1000. We quickly climbed up. Isabella was sitting there. She wasn’t frowning! Why wasn't she even screaming! “We want you to help us with our mission.”, Mingmei muttered.
“What mission?” Isabella said loudly but only a little bit angrily. I was so surprised. Isabella wasn’t yelling, or screaming, or going into hysterics, and she was talking, even though she wasn’t that angry and she was talking! How could that have happened? This was a miracle! “What in the world….” I said, too surprised to say anything else. I was speechless. Mingmei quickly told Isabella everything. I noticed that Isabella wasn’t that angry anymore. It was such a relief to me. This surely was a miracle!
After we had explained everything to her, Isabella agreed to help and I asked her, “How did you suddenly have a change of heart, so suddenly?” Isabella frowned and typed into her phone, “I had a dream. In this dream, I was a girl named May. Some monkeys, that happened to be named Isabella 1, Isabella 2, Clara 1, and Clara 2 , helped us and brought us to a woman named Coconut. There was an evil King that cut off the heads of many people. He was the false King. The real king was his nephew. He became good later. At the end, both Isabella’s said, “Don’t be angry. Be slow to anger and quick to forgive. Don’t keep your anger in your heart, May.” Then both Clara’s said, “When you are mad, it may all be a mistake. You could have interpreted other people’s words wrong. Make things right with other people, May. That will help you.” I think the dream was met to make me see how unreasonable I was being, but hey, if I’m going to be the one to ask Nabal, let me make up the plan!”
Wow! Isabella had a very interesting dream! Although I was a bit disappointed that she hadn’t physically told us the dream, I was relieved to see that she wasn’t too mad. I forwarded the message to Ava and then we all headed back. Ava had gotten all of the information for me to process. It turned out that Nabal had been named because he had hit his mother a lot in her womb. His parents had both died when he was 3 months old and many other things. I soon realised that Nabal just wanted friends and for some reason he wanted to be with us. The Lee family. I quickly wrote a weird script kind of thing and gave it to Isabella. “You can change it if you want, and if you have another strategy, then feel free to use it,” I said and then rushed off with Mingmei to make the refreshments. Isabella called for us behind me, but I quickly said I would hurry back later, my stomach was growling loudly.
“Hi Ling Ling! What refreshments do you think Clara and I should make? We want them for Mr. Farthing,” Mingmei said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. She winked at me and I winked back. We totally liked Mr. Farthing. Yeah, totally. How could we like someone who kept lying at us and separating our family on purpose? I mean, he basically killed my dad and uncle. That was definitely not justice.
Ling, Ling smiled, winked, and said, “Nabal is an extra-special family friend, so I’m planning to make a surprise for him. I’ll give you girls the recipe to the daisy cupckes though. If you want to see how splendid they taste, you can head right over to the special snack room. I was also thinking of giving you guys the recipe for the rainbow lemonade. By the way, where's Isabella? I heard she ran off.”
I smiled, happy that we could bake so many things. “Isabella came back,” I said.
“Well, I’m glad for that. I bought her a special gift. Can I see her?” Ling Ling sounded impatient, so I quickly agreed to get her. I hurried down the corridor, to Isabella’s room. I swung open the door, and found Isabella sitting on a four-poster bed, with a silk canopy draped over it. I was surprised, and a little horrified. “When did this bed come in?”
Isabella groaned, and texted me. “I don’t know, when I hurried back to revise the questions and the plan, I found this bed here, with Uncle Harry standing in front of me. He said he was sorry, and had brought this bed for me. He also said that one for you would come in an hour or two. Hey, I just want to say that I need you for the plan, and maybe Mingmei too. When is Nabal coming?”
I gulped, out of dread for checking my watch, and having to meet Nabal. Finally, I spit the words out of my mouth. “In two minutes,” I said quietly, but hurriedly. “Why do you need me? Also, if you see him, can you tell him that I would prefer a much more simple bed? Another thing, maybe we should have bunk beds and then position them a certain way so that nobody can see us while we have private meetings."
"Great idea. Maybe we could even have Mingmei at the very bottom. Then I could be in the middle and you can be on the top. I agree. This silk canopy is driving me crazy by tickling me somehow, and I can’t even jump on the bed! Anyways, I need you to help me, to distract Nabal by showing him how yummy the treats are-” (Isabella loves to jump on beds)
I started talking before Isabella could finish her text. ( Ava upgraded my Hangouts chat, so that I could see what someone was typing, before they actually sent it. The nice thing is that Ava didn’t upgrade Isabella’s Hangouts chat.) “- Do I really have to!?” I asked. “Can’t you do it by yourself? I thought that you would do that. Afterall, I’m already making daisy cupcakes and rainbow lemonade with Mingmei. Please?”
“Well, I could,” Isabella replied, in a surprised voice. “But I think it would work better if you helped me, so Nabal would have a source of distraction. Besides, I’m already asking all of the questions. Is that enough for you? Anyways, as I was saying, you can distract Nabal and Mingmei can help you. Wait, I remember that she is a good actor. She can pretend to really like Nabal. He will more likely answer the questions I’m going to ask.” I glared at her, laughed for no reason (I do that all the time), and then nodded my head.
We quickly both went to the kitchen. We were kind of worried about the time, but the adults needed a formal greeting (about 51 minutes long). I know that’s a long time, but that’s just a custom my great great great great great (21 more greats) grandpa made up. Ye Ye always sticks to that tradition. He’s very picky about sticking to traditions and we can’t object because he’s Ye Ye. Afterall, not all of the traditions are that bad and this one is giving us extra time.
Isabella came with Mingmei and I because Mingmei was going to help Isabella prepare, since Isabella was going to ask the questions through text. Since Mingmei was so good at acting, she pretended to be Nabal. I still didn’t see why Mingmei would be bad at asking questions, though, I did know that Isabella would be very good. Maybe even better. Mingmei did this while I made the batter. She and Isabella would put the decorations on top and pretend to eat them. That was because they would actually eat them later. The batter consisted of a lot of flour. That meant I had to sift it! That was wonderful because, unlike Isabella, I loved sifting.
I then started making the rainbow lemonade, while Isabella and Mingmei started decorating the cupcakes. (You might already know this, but I’m terrible at decorating, and I hate it.) The rainbow lemonade had strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, lemon zest, fresh lemon juice, and apples. Ling Ling had told me that apples were very common in Japan. There wasn’t any sugar because the apples were so sweet that they were used instead. “I’m done,” I called.
I then helped them finish decorating, and although I wasn’t very good at it, I wanted to be part of the activity. First, I pipped a big swirl of icing on the cupcake that was very lopsided. Next, I cut marshmallows in half, well, they weren’t very even, and put them around the cupcake to make them look like daisy petals, although they looked like very lopsided daisy petals. Afterall, they were called daisy cupcakes, so I had to add some petals, no matter how good or bad they looked. The icing was the glue and it was white too. It was the good kind. You know, the kind that uses cream cheese and doesn’t have that much sugar. Finally, I put a small, yellow m&m in the middle. That was the only part that was normal-looking,, except that I accidentally stuffed it in the cupcake itself, so there was a big hole. This was going horrible! I finally just ate that one because it looked so bad. (Although it tasted very good.) Good thing, I online decorated one cupcake.
Just as Mingmei finished the last cupcake decoration, Ava came in. “Hi guys! Ready? Make sure to tell me everything afterwards. They’ve just finished doing the whole formal greeting thing. You probably didn’t think of this, but how come Ye Ye didn’t just come out and say that Nabal was a liar?” Ava asked. I smiled at her with a twinkle in my eye and Ava continued, “Whatever that means. Anyways, they're ready for you.” We all smiled.
We put the daisy cupcakes on a pretty platter and we poured the rainbow lemonade in three pitchers. Then, we followed Ava out of the kitchen, through the hallway, and into the living room. I suddenly grew very scared. I had to do math. I had to. 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90……
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