That Math Girl (Chapter 13)

 

*Disclaimer*: This is a work of fiction. Some events may be based on real life, but some events are made up.

Isabella, Mingmei and I were taking showers. Besides the 20 showers, there was also an individual shower in the bathroom that was in each bedroom. Well actually, there were three showers because you put two shower curtains in between the big and spacious shower and make it into three normal showers. That was where Isabella, Mingmei, and I were taking our showers. 

After a few minutes, Mingmei stepped out of the shower. “How are you already done? We all literally just go in. I literally only just finished rinsing the shampoo out of my hair. I still have to put the conditioner on. You guys know how it takes forever for me to get all those annoying knots out of my hair.” I said  Mingmei. Mingmei smiled, rolled her eyes, and laughed.

“First of all,” she said, “I have really short hair, and second of all, you were so busy smelling the blueberry shampoo. And third of all, if you actually brushed your hair and got all of those snacks out of your hair, it would be so much easier, and fourth of all, we’ve been in the shower for 20 minutes already. I usually only take 5 minutes, but I've been so excited to go visit A Zou, our great grandma. That's what my mom, your aunt, told me she's called in Chinese."

             “Humph!” I said. I quickly finished up and we all started packing. I used my old Owl backpack. I used to be obsessed with Owls, so Nai Nai and my mom made it for my birthday when I was nine. I also have an owl pillow. My mom made all of us children owls. Malachi used his so much, that he had to add more stuffing!!!

            Suddenly, my mouth watered. Then I started forming an idea. "Isabella!!! Isabella!!! Literally, Isabella, stop daydreaming and help me make snacks for the plane ride." After a minute, I repeated what I had said, but this time louder. (Don't tell anyone, but I'm actually a pretty impatient person.) 

            Isabella was so surprised that she literally jumped off her chair, did a backflip, had her head bounced on the soft carpet, bounced out the door, and then slid down the stair railing. I walked outside just in time to see Isabella go spinning in cart wheels.  Ava was just opening the front door and Isabella went spinning out. Ava fainted, while I chased Isabella out the door. She started wiggling around and dancing all crazy. 

Then she said, “Ti-ti-” and then her cheeks got as red as cherries. Her cheeks puffed up so much that she lifted off the ground and into the sky. She flew up into the clouds and disappeared. After a minute, she suddenly reappeared and went KABOOM down onto the roof. “E-ow!” Isabella screamed as she slid down the roof, onto the perfectly manicured grass lawn. Ava, who had recovered from her fainting, came looking around and started to go into hysterics.

“Oh, oh, where is Isabella!? Has, she, gone, gone, gone, into the sky!?” Then she let out a piercing screech that could be heard all the way from the airport in Tokyo. I know because an airport lady called Ye Ye, “Ring! Ring!”, and told him that……” Well, I don’t know because Ava let out another equaling piercing screech and then collapsed on the green grass (Which looked almost artificial…, hmm, maybe it was?).

“Ye Ye, Nai Nai, Mom, Aunt, Ling Ling, Uncle Harry, Uncle Derek, Hayden, Malachi, Austin, Ava and Isabella are over here!” I said, annoyed, but also a little concerned. I called anyone I knew. I was a little angry at Ava for getting us embarrassed with the airport attendant, but I was also worried Ava  would go into full-fledged hysterics, with crying, wailing, rocking, yelling, petrifying screams, and even worse things that would get us into even more trouble. 

Our family would be called “The Lee Screechers”, with a horrible reputation. What if I didn’t get my college degree because of this?! Or worse, I might not be able to even get into a college at all?! What would I do? Be a farmer like Ye Ye and start up “The Lee Family Screechers Farm”?!!!! And it would be all Austin’s fault, for putting itch powder onto Isabella’s pants. 

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!", went the rattling instrument things that Ye Ye had got from his mother when he was 14. The sides of the instrument are made out of snake skin. 

            I know because when I was in third  grade, Isabella and I had to make a poster on your grandpa (Ye Ye). Besides math, my second favorite hobby is making posters with Isabella. I do all of the lettering and writing, while Isabella draws the pictures. I don't have to ask her what color she wants the color of the letters to be because I knew that Isabella would just say (Or, way back when her father had just died she would draw), "Blue and Black". 

In case you didn’t know or you forgot, those are Isabella’s favorite colors. Besides the fact that she’s a really good drawer, that’s one of the reasons Isabella likes drawing portraits so much. She loves drawing black hair and normally she draws us with blue clothes too.

Anyways, about the banging instrument, that means that he has important things to say. Everyone hushed as Ye Ye said, “Wo men jin tian hai hui qu zhong guo, hao ba?” For those who don’t know Chinese, this is what Ye Ye said, “We will still go to China today, alright?” I have two things to say about this.

First of all, Ye Ye has never ever talked in Chinese since, my Uncle (the first one (Isabella’s dad)), in Ava’s words “passed away”. I like to be clear and say that he died, but ever since Ava turned 14 or 15, she started liking to act like an adult. After a few minutes, I asked Ye Ye about this and he said that if Isabella could face her fears that she had had for three whole years, he could too. Then, amazingly, Nai Nai stood up and also faced her fears.

Anyways, you’re probably dying to know what the other thing is, but unlike Hayden, I won’t keep you in the darkness. That’s another thing Ava says when she means that she will tell us whatever she knows that we don’t. Anyways, as I was saying, the second and last thing is that I just realized that we forgot to wake up in time to go to the airport.

Wait, Ava is jabbing me with her elbow. I wonder what she wants. Oh, I know, I love to write things down (I keep a pencil in the hidden pocket in my puffy, blue jacket that I wear all the time) and I wrote down my two opinions. 

"Clara, I'm pretty sure Ye Ye said that we were going to go tomorrow. When you were in the shower, Ye Ye told me that, since his mother's heart was weakening, we would go a day earlier. I guess he was going to originally go there the same time as originally planned, but then everybody forgot. So," Ava concluded, "You are wrong, Clara. I guess we're going today but at night time. I better set my alarm. Ava Airpods, turn my alarm clock to eight pm. " Ignore that. It's just one of Ava's long speeches. You know, kind of like the time we were looking for the big bird in our room, except a little shorter, thankfully. 

Anyways, as I said, ignore that and I’ll move on. Maybe I shouldn’t write down whatever pops in my head. I walked back into the house with Isabella and Mingmei, who had come outside when Ye Ye bang the snake instrument thingamajig. Isabella went to shower to get out the tickle powder and Mingmei and I went to the kitchen because we smelled something yummy coming from there.

“Hi, girls!”, Ling Ling said, when she saw us. “Would you like to eat some “feng li shu?”. There in the oven baking, but they’re worth the wait.” I agreed. Fresh feng li shu, pineapple cakes, straight from the oven were delicious. Yummy! Yummy! Yummy! They’re so yummy! Yummy! Yummy! Yummy!

Then we both sat down. I was content. The delicious feng li shu, Isabella’s funny performance, the criminal Bad Nabal Person, meeting Mingmei and Uncle Derek, Great Uncle Harry’s bird, and going to Japan in the first place! I was definitely content!!!!