Solving for Ex

Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

if one scheme of happiness fails

The Mathletes practiced in the auditorium so that we could set up the boards—the most badassed part of Mathletes, and the one I was best at. I loved the intensity of standing at a huge whiteboard opposite some other kid and ripping through an equation for everyone to see. Since we’d gradually weeded out the less impressive contestants, only having eight official members on the team made the pressure that much more intense.

“So, uh…” Brendan strode across the echoing auditorium stage, trying to raise his voice enough to silence the three underclassmen, two sophomores and one junior, who were playing some video game on one of their laptops, and the two girls Britt and Hannah, who were upperclassmen. I knew for a fact that Britt was only here for extra credit in her Calculus class—not that she wasn’t good at it, but she didn’t care about the Mathletes. And Hannah just wanted something to beef up her college applications. Locker-room gossip was that she needed to live up to her mom’s expectations and attend Pitt and belong to the same sorority. That sort of shit drove me crazy.

Not getting their attention, he readjusted the position of the two huge rolling whiteboards we used for practice, pulled out all his dry-erase markers, and tested the ink on the board. He started scribbling an equation up there—a job the captain typically left for underclassmen. He seemed to realize this in the middle of writing it, because he turned around, opened his mouth, clampedit shut, cleared his throat with his fist to his lips, opened it, said, “Uh, guys…” then shut it again. Then he turned back to write more equations.

The cloud of flowery perfume floated up around my head to meet me as I took a seat. I hadn’t even seen Sofia sitting back there, but now she unstretched every fabulous inch of her body from her seat and strode up to the stage like she was running the show.

And, it appeared, she thought she was.

“Hey, losers!” Her tone was full of contempt, but when everyone looked up at her, she grinned that stunning grin that apparently made everyone forget what a bitch she was.

Sure enough, Britt and Hannah snapped to attention and looked at her like they were ready and willing to be her freaking slaves. And the boy geeks just started concentrating extra hard on not drooling.

“Brendan is our captain. And I am so excited to be a Mansfield Mathlete. I want to offer myself,” she raised her eyebrows and strode across the stage to touch Brendan’s forearm, “as his right-hand Mathlete. To do anything he wants.” She was always touching his damn arm. Presumptuous, and possessive. Did I see his eyebrow raise? Or was it just at the “anything he wants” line?

“So,” Sofia continued. “What do you guys do first here?”

“Um.” Brendan cleared his throat and moved his arm from underneath Sofia’s. I couldn’t tell whether he was dropping it or moving it away on purpose. “Let’s start with some drills at the boards.”

“Okay,” Sofia bubbled. “I’ll write the problems up there, and…”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Really, it’s fine. I’m still getting used to things, and then they can concentrate on getting them right. I’ll just watch today. You keep the practice problems…?”

“In my bag,” Brandon said, giving Sofia a slight smile. I rolled my eyes. Maybe she thought she was doing him a favor, or maybe she wanted to be in control of something. But she bounced over there like he said he had a dozen cupcakes and a bottle of champagne in the damn thing. She pulled out a whole thick stack of papers and plunked it down on the black stage.