ON HOLD; It's No Fun Being This Smart | ONC2021

Negative Numbers

As Li pulled Isla across the hall, through the road, and to the field, Isla remembered something she did as a kindergartener. She remembered how she would give her mood a number from 0 to 9, worst to best.

Being forced away from her puzzle made her feel 3, but then they arrived at quadrilateral field. There, nine of their classmates were gathered by the fence that separated the grassy field from the concrete road. They were talking to each other, but Isla could feel them watching, making her mood drop to a 1.

"Hi, Li," said Fro.

Isla remembered Fro as the girl who could draw like a sixth grader. They were groupmates in Social Science the month before.

Li, still holding Isla's hand, started taking. Li said, "Isla and I will join after the water break."

"Okay," said Fro. Isla's mood rose to a 4.

"I don't know, Li," said Dot closing her water bottle.

Isla's mood dropped to a 0. She definitely remembered Dot. One time, in first grade, Isla and her groupmates were almost done making a dance routine. That is, before Dot came back from the bathroom and said she had her own routine. Isla told Dot that they had to work together to make the routine, just like the teacher had said, but for some reason the rest of the group listened to Dot.

Dot put her bottle under the tree, saying "She can't play with us. She's not part of our club! Only the ten of us are part of the club. That's why it's called the Ten Club."

Isla, ready to go back to the classroom, tried to pull away from Li, but Li held on tighter and said "Come on. Give her a chance. Miss Garcia said we should let everyone join."

"Okay," said Dot, putting her hands on her hips. "Let's do maiba taya."

The group gathered around Dot, forming a circle. They stacked their hands in the middle of the circle. Isla went last, not because she didn't know the rules, but because she didn't want a lot of hands touching hers. She did remember maiba taya from the times she play it with her cousins. She knew that they would say "maiba taya" while throwing their hands into the air. Then, they'd bring their hands back either palm up or palm down. Whoever chose the different option would be it. Isla knew that flipping your hand takes extra effort, so doing palm up makes you more likely to be the odd one out. Isla didn't want to be odd one out.

Everyone pushed their hands down, saying "Maibaaaaaaa." The air felt happy. Isla's mood rose to a 10. Then, throwing their hands up, went "taya."

Everyone had their palms down, except for one.

"Li's it!" yelled Dot.

Their classmates erupted into high pitch screams running around that one corner of the field.

Isla wanted to play smart, so she ran far away from the group.

From a few feet away, she watched Li tag Fro. They squeeled some more. Then, Fro tagged a girl with a shiny ponytail. The squeeling turned to laughter. Mel, who was known to be a good singer, was it next.

"Water break," yelled Dot.

"Water break," echoed Li.

The group gathered around the tree.

Isla ran to them, smiling. Maybe all she needed was someone to help her join in.

Isla stood to the side of the tree, since she had left her water in the classroom.

"Did you know you can only drink like 800 or 1000 milliliters of water per hour," said the girl with the shiny ponytail.

"I bet I could drink more," said a girl with a face towel tucked into her uniform.

"You can, but you shouldn't," said the girl with the shiny ponytail. "If you do, your cells will swell up. I saw that in a video."

Isla walked over to Li, tapped on Li's shoulder, and said "Whisper."

Li leaned over. Isla said "What's her name? The one with the shiny ponytail?"

Li whispered back, "Sal."

"And her with the face towel under her blouse?" whispered Isla.

Li whispered back "Quartz."

Isla turned to the group. "Well, Sal, I guess technically she can. Maybe."

The group became very, very quiet.

Isla smiled, not knowing what to say. She could tell they were looking at her and/or exchanging looks about her. She figured they hadn't realized that she was done talking. She didn't want them to feel silly, so she decided to keep talking.

They seemed to like facts, so she said "Did you know that zero isn't the smallest number. You can write negative numbers by putting a minus sign on their positive counterparts, except you don't read it as 'minus', you read it as 'negative'. Zero minus one is negative one, which is written as minus sign one."

Most of the group stayed quiet. Kays giggled, then Sal did, too.

Li smiled and said "Really? I thought zero minus one is 'cannot be'."

Isla turned to Li and said "It's not. It's negative one."

"Water break's done!" yelled Dot, running away from the tree. "Mel's still it."

The group squeeled, running.

Isla ran, too, but stopped when she realized everyone else was running in the same direction.

Isla turned around.

Mel tagged Isla from behind.

The squeeling got louder.

The group ran from Isla.

Isla's vision blurred (she couldn't help it, it just did) as her mood dropped to a 1. She reminded herself that it was all, part of the game, which she had been enjoying. Her mood rose to a 4, then a 5.

She looked around for the nearest playmate.

"Can't catch me," taunted Fro from under the tree.

Isla ran to her.

Fro stood still, hands on waist, smiling.

Isla ran closer.

Just three more steps, Isla said in her head.

Flo stuck her tongue out and ran away.

Kays ran directly in front of Isla.

"Try and catch me," said Kays.

Isla jump forward,but Kays ran away.

"Come catch me," called Li from the very corner.

Isla ran straight to Li.

Li ran sideways, so Isla changed course.

Li kept running.

Isla kept chasing and chasing. She sped up. She hit the ground. She had tripped on a stone. Her mood dropped to a 2.

The group gathered around. Their voices overlapped like a Venn diagram with many, many circles. The diagram got louder as more members of the group gathered round.

Isla looked up to find Li looking down on her.

Their voices overlapped.

"What happened?"

"Is she okay?"

"Watch where you're going."

Isla pushed herself up and ran across the road.

She wondered why she bothered trying to play with threes. Her mood dropped to a -2.