The Math of Love

Chapter 5 - Remembering

Maya

Class came and went, and at the end of the day I was supposed to go straight home and babysit my little cousin, whom I loved with all my heart. He was a tiny little thing, only 2 years of age, whose whole existence was to make me smile and also scream because no matter how small he was, he was a menace.

I decide to take him to the park this time and he decides that his fixation for that day would be a rock that was shaped like a guitar pick. We stayed at the park for over an hour and heading back home I almost fell over a box that was left in the middle of the sidewalk. As I curse whoever it was that left the damn box outside  I decide to give Jace, my baby cousin, a piggy back ride home.

My aunt had already called me 2 times before she called me the third time as I was unlocking the door to my apartment. If you cannot trust someone with your kid, then what is the point of leaving them with them? I thought that to myself since I was getting annoyed by her constant calls. Jace fell asleep on the couch and after my aunt picked him up, and I gave him a goodnight kiss, I decide to grab my laptop and get started on my daily torture: homework.

The week flies by, and I manage to not cross words with Gregory for the entire week. I do not dislike him, but he makes me feel weird and he also does not seem to be super fond of me, though part of me feels like he is just as curious about me as I am about him.

It is now Friday and the last class of the day, which means I have 2 whole days to do my very unproductive and very unhealthy routine: be lazy, stress out about being lazy, and most likely procrastinate about doing homework and eventually doing it while blaming myself for my misfortune. I want to end that cycle because it honestly gives me so much anxiety that I can barely tolerate it anymore. It is hard though. It feels almost impossible to not procrastinate.

As class finished, I start packing my bag, and to add to not doing anything, Clarissa and Jannice give me the perfect excuse to not do homework this Friday night.

Clarissa raises her water bottle and she slams into my desk as if declaring something important:

"We need to go out tonight. I need to get drunk on smoothies and fries," she says while leaning down to face me directly. I was still sitting at my desk, putting all of my stuff away in my backpack.

My other best friend chimes in and she begs me.

"Come on Maya, we do need to do something fun. This week felt so long and so stressful; we need to decompress," says Jannice and I could swear she was making puppy eyes, if that was even possible.

Honestly, some other time I would have said no right away, but this week did feel stressful and I was in a crucial need of a break and so after the third please I give in and accept to go out with my friends that night. I text my mom that I will probably be late tonight and we all finally settle on a bowling place that also has shakes and burgers called "Rolling Fries." It was not super far away from campus.

As soon as we get to the place we buy tickets for the bowling alley. I have to admit, if there is one thing I am good at other than overthinking is bowling. I love the euphoria you feel when you get a strike or when the last annoyingly stubborn bowling pin finally gets knocked out by the ball. I always choose a favorite ball, and it has become my tradition to name the ball I choose for that night and try my best to win with it. Tonight, I chose the name Maria because I was thinking of Math and how I wanted to make a certain someone from my math class fall for me. OMG! What am I even thinking?

After a couple of rounds, and beating my friends in all of them, we decide to take a break and get some food.

After getting my fries and vanilla milkshake, Clarissa asks me how this week was for me and I decide to tell them about my conversion with Gregory, which can hardly be considered a conversation since it was more an exchange of words. They both gasp and ask me for the details on it.

I tell them that not much happened and that, if anything, he makes me feel uneasy. They keep insisting that Gregory and I should be in a chemistry class together because we definitely have a lot and I tell them that it is more fitting for us to be in a math class since we really are 0s to each other. They counter argue with the fact that 0 can make a number be a lot bigger and greater than it initially was. I simply sigh and give up arguing with them. They do a cheers like gesture with their fries which only makes me shake my head and laugh at their randomness.

We get home past 9pm and I decide to go to sleep early that day, only to be woken up at least 5 times by weird nightmares. Sometimes I remember things from my past that I wish I could just forget.

Note from author:

Here it is! Another chapter. I will continue to thank you for taking the time to read my starting novel, and I will forever be grateful for those who are sticking around. Those who are new: Welcome and please stay for the entirety of this ride.

Talk to you later! <3