Join the Club (Chapter 5)

For less than a week, the girls were official members of the math club. Skye had trouble deciding whether she should be mad or glad within those few days. She, of course, appreciates that her friends wanted to spend more time with her but ever since they joined, the uniqueness she liked in the club was crumbling. One afternoon, Denny passed out worksheets for the members to do. Andrea and Lizzie hated doing work like that but they couldn't complain since they chose to be apart of the activities.
"Alright, you all have twenty minutes to complete the worksheets. Whoever can complete this on time will get a fresh doughnut from Dunkin' Donuts. Time starts--"
"Done!" Madeline raised her filled out worksheet. "All finished and checked over."
Denny chuckled. "Nobody likes a show-off, Madeline."
"It doesn't really matter because everyone likes me."
"It's true, Den," said one of the members.
"Okay, then," said Denny. "You can go grab a doughnut." He pointed at the rectangular box of glazed doughnuts on the desk.
"Oh, I'm on a diet where I can't eat fried foods for a month," said Madeline.
"Okay, then."
"Come on, Madeline," said her neighbor. "It's free doughnuts; loosen up a bit."
"Loosen up a bit?" inquired Madeline. "We're in math club."
"You say it like it's a bad thing."
"I mean my skin will surely loosen up when I lose some weight. Then I'll tighten it up with some avocado."
"Mix the avocado with egg," advised Andrea. "It speeds up the process."
"Got it."
"Hey, Madeline, if you don't want your doughnut, can I have it?" asked Lizzie.
"Sure, my sister."
"No, no, you can't do that," said Denny.
Madeline giggled awkwardly. "Why not?"
"It's against the rules of free math food."
"Against the rules? Okay, you didn't follow the rules of 'dance dating' when you sucked on Josie's face."
"Ooh..." murmured almost all of the members in the room.
"Are you really bringing that up?" asked Denny.
"Yes, I am," responded Madeline, "because you don't come to a dance with a date and leave that date for an equally pretty girl."
"You knew I liked Josie."
"That didn't mean you had to ditch me."
"So what? You like me?"
"Uh, no! I'm just saying that you came with me and didn't leave with me."
"You said you were cool with it."
"Ever heard of a lie?"
"I didn't do anything wrong."
Madeline stood up. "Oh, now you're Mister Innocent? Josie didn't even know you existed yet at the end of the day, you had a hot date. Why leave a hot date?"
"Maybe Josie was hotter."
"Oh. Well, I'm sorry I don't look like Lucy Liu."
"Oh, please. I know you doubted me. And it's all because I don't look like Ryan Gosling, you fake Meghan Martin."
"Ain't nobody really want you, Napoleon Dynamite."
"So am I getting the doughnut or not?" Lizzie politely asked.
"You're not," Denny said to her.
"You are," Madeline leaned to look at her friend.
"She can't get a doughnut until she finishes her worksheet."
"But the problems on here are hard," Lizzie whined.
"Then too bad."
"Hey, don't talk to my friend like that," commanded Andrea.
"Stay out of this," murmured Randall, eyeing his paper.
"Don't tell me what to do."
"Then know what to do," Randall glared at her.
"I will snap your neck."
"Good luck trying. I'm experienced with exactly seven years of jujitsu."
"Well, I'm experienced with eight years of WWE. So tell me when you want to go."
Debra stood up and walked towards the two. "Guys, guys, please don't fight," she begged. "This is a club and clubs are about unity and unity is harmony."
"Yeah, listen to Harriet Tubman," said Randall.
Debra scowled. "Oh, because I'm black? Does it look like I'm leading my Negroes to the Underground Railroad? I think not, Gingerbread Man."
"Ladies, please, no conflict of any kind," Denny pleaded to them.
"Then let Lizzie have a doughnut," Madeline put her hands on her hips.
Denny faced her. "Don't start with me."
"Let her have a doughnut."
"She's done nothing."
"Well, you have to listen to me when I say this: it's my doughnut and I'll give it to whom ever I please."
"I don't care whom you please."
"But you do, sucking face with Josie like a lollipop."
"Excuse me but she likes getting her face sucked like a lollipop."
"Oh, my God!"
"I think I'm done," Skye muttered to herself. "I think I'm done," she said loudly. She stood up and walked over to Madeline's side.
"Oh, are you finished with the worksheet, my fellow assistant?" asked Denny.
"No, I'm done with this. This whole thing."
"What?"
"Denny, I appreciate you treating me well. And I want to thank you all for letting me in like family but my job is done. It's time for me to go."
"Skye, you don't have to do this."
"I know but I want to. I want to do this." Skye wrapped her arm around Madeline's shoulders. "Thank you, Den and everybody, but I'm going to go my separate way. So ladies, let's go somewhere, shall we?"
Lizzie and Andrea got up from their seats. Along with Debra, they walked over to Skye and Madeline. They turned and walked out of the classroom together. Skye used her free arm to wrap it around Debra's shoulders.
"Why are you quitting?" asked Madeline.
"That club wasn't right for me," answered Skye. "I mean it was fun and easy and all but I served my purpose."
"But your mom wants you to join a club so you can get a job and stuff," reminded Debra.
"I know. I'm going to join the music club: a club that I was meant to be in. I bet it'll be fun but not as fun as the time I have with you guys."
"Aw, Skye," cooed Lizzie, "you said something cheesy."
"Yeah and I'm not proud of it."

Join the Club (Chapter 4)

A couple of days later, Skye continued to attend math club and engage in the activities that she found fun along with the other members. They were glad that she was a member but since she was the only girl in the club, they thought of her as distracting. But they tried to learn to deal with it since they saw her every day in the club. This day, they were all completing a worksheet as part of a study session. After twenty minutes, Denny, the leader shouted:
"Time's up!"
Everybody stopped but they all seemed finished with the worksheet. Denny walked over to a white board with a stand and a blanket over it. He shed the board of the blanket, revealing a series of numbers and equations on it written in purple marker.
"These are the right answers," he declared. "If you missed one, please discuss as always."
Skye glanced at the board a few times and looked back at her paper to see if her answers were replicated. "Wow, got them all right," she said to herself.
"You're so smart, Skye," said the boy next to her.
"I have a question: why don't any girls attend this club?"
"Uh, a girl is attending the club and it's you."
"I know but why weren't there any girls here before?"
"You know how girls are obsessed with other things except for math like hair and magazines and Enrique Iglesias."
"I know what you mean. I'm friends with those people."
Almost instantly, Skye's girlfriends entered the classroom together. She saw them come in in the corner of her eye so she couldn't identify them until she looked up.
Her face dropped. "What the--"
Denny walked up to the girls. "Hello, Madeline. And others."
Madeline smiled. "Hi, Denny. How's Josie?"
"Kissable."
"Uh."
"Not to be rude but what are you all doing here?"
"We're here to join math club," answered Lizzie with pep.
"Cool!" said one of the members. "More girls!"
"Let me get the applications you need to fill out," said Denny.
"We'd rather join right now," admitted Andrea.
"I can't just let you join right off the bat. I need to see your mathematical abilities."
"We can show you right now," said Madeline.
"Oh, really? How?"
"I can memorize at least a thousand digits of pi."
"Let me see."
"3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937--"
"Alright, I believe you!" he snapped. He walked off to the desk in the corner and crouched down to pick up a pile of maroon colored shirts. He picked up the one on the top and handed it to Madeline. "You're in the club."
Madeline grinned and leaped before coming all the way into the classroom. She stood behind Skye, who gave her a quick smile. Skye sat stiff.
"What about you?" Denny asked Debra.
Debra showed him the front of a small set of packets that was in her hands. "I got 100 percent on my algebra test from last week." She put the packet behind the set to show the second one. "Here's another 100 percent on this test from the week before. I basically 100 percents on all my algebra tests and quizzes from last month to this month."
Denny handed her a shirt. "Okay, you're in."
Debra walked in, coming close to Madeline and Skye.
"Why do you believe that you should be in this club?" Denny asked Andrea.
"Because if I don't get in, I'll hurt you," she answered.
Denny handed her a shirt. "You're in," he accepted quickly.
Andrea gave him a grin then smiled at the girls while approaching them.
"Now why do you think that you should be here?" Denny asked Lizzie.
"Uh, let's see," said Lizzie. "Three times three is nine. Three times four is twelve. Three times five is fifteen. Three times six is eighteen. Three times--"
"Alright, you're in!" Denny shouted, handing her a shirt.
"Yay," she smiled before sprinting up to her friends.
Denny closed the door and turned around. "Alright, since you girls are new, I have to be clear that you might not be able to sit with who you want and I  would like for you all to find a seat, preferably the ones closest to the room, so we can cooperate rationally."
The girls separated and roamed around the room to find any open seats that were closer to the chalkboard. None of them shared a table and almost every boy at their tables would ogle at them. Andrea scowled when she got stuck sitting with a familiar classmate.
"Can she please sit at another table?" asked the classmate loudly.
"Shut up, Randall!" Andrea glared at him.
"I just want to feel comfortable."
"Well, maybe if your butt wasn't so flat, you wouldn't feel so uncomfortable."
"Please settle down," ordered Denny.
"Yeah, Randall."
"You, too, Miss... Um..."
"Gonzalez."
"You should be 'Gone-zalez'," Randall muttered.
"Oh, real rich, which is ironic because you're not that all."

Join the Club (Chapter 3)

More than a week after, during school, lunchtime had started and the girls went to the cafeteria to eat together as usual. Skye was yet to tell her friends that she decided to join math club because she felt embarrassed about her club choice. But it was better to tell them sooner or later so she planned to speak of it during luncheon.
"Do you think my nails are too long?" asked Lizzie, eyeing her long, naked fingernails.
"I didn't even know you could grow them that long," commented Andrea.
"Oh, it's a rational length," stated Madeline.
"Okay, is there something you don't know, smarty-pants?"
"I don't know why girls like to apply green lipstick. Green is totally not a natural lip shade."
"It's a natural lip shade for aliens," joked Skye. "Maybe that's the new trend going around."
"Ooh, do you think people will start wearing those Princess Leia buns?" asked Lizzie, hovering her hands around her head.
"I hope not," Madeline responded. "Every girl will look like they glued cinnamon buns to their hair."
Andrea giggled. "Lizzie, if you want your nails to be shorter, you should go to the salon. In fact, we should all go."
"Would Saturday do?" asked Madeline.
"For me, of course."
"Yeah, I can get a mani on Saturday," said Lizzie.
"I know I'm free," Debra remarked.
"What about you, Skye?" questioned Madeline.
"Uh, I won't be able to make it," answered Skye. "I'm attending a gathering with the guys."
"What guys?" asked Andrea.
"The guys from my club."
"Oh, the music appreciation club?" Debra inquired.
"Oh, no, I forgot to tell you all. I'm in math club."
"Math club?" Madeline asked.
"Yes, I am."
"With nerds?"
"I believe the correct term is 'geek American'."
"Since when were you good at math?" Andrea asked.
"When I stopped using cheat sheets."
"But why math club?" asked Lizzie.
"Why all the questions? I don't know why I chose math club. It's just easy and fun."
"Honey, I may be passing math but that don't mean I think it's fun," Madeline commented.
"Like what are you going to do at the gathering?" questioned Andrea. "Play strip chess?"
"If that's all what's there," replied Skye.
Andrea relaxed her face towards Skye's quip.
"Okay, so Skye won't come with us to the salon," said Madeline. "But we still have movie night."
"Oh, I won't be able to make it," said Skye. "I have to use Friday night to work on the playlist."
"Playlist?" Andrea's eyebrow went up.
"Yeah, the boys asked me to make a playlist for their club full of 'empowering anthems'. I think Fall Out Boy got some good songs."
"That's okay," said Madeline. "At least we have shopping on Wednesday."
"Actually, I have stay at the club until six so I won't have time to go shopping."
"So you have a math club schedule?"
"Yeah, actually, I do. It's basically a calendar for the next six months."
"Six months?" inquired Lizzie.
"How long were you planning to attend this club?" asked Madeline.
"For as long as I wanted," answered Skye.
"Did you really have to have chosen math club?" asked Andrea.
"You know, this table has been filling up with nothing but question marks. Listen, my mom wanted me to join a club and I did. Plus, you guys encouraged me to do this."
"Yeah but we didn't want you to join a club where they didn't let you do anything," said Madeline.
"They let me do things and they happen to be fun things. Sorry I'm having fun."
The girls sat silent.
"Apology accepted?" Lizzie tried to break the silence.

Join the Club (Chapter 2)

The next day, after school ended, Skye went down to the first floor to visit the music appreciation club to ask some questions in order to join. Her friend and band-mate, David, told her what room to go to so she roamed through the halls looking for it. There was a moment where she passed a classroom filled with arguing boys. The commotion caught her attention and she backed up to peek into the room. She saw a group of boys with the same red collared shirt on sitting at desks, shouting at each other and at the tan-haired boy with glasses standing in the front of the classroom.
"Gentleman, calm down," said the boy. "I know you're angry but be happy that you tried."
"We can't be happy, Denny," said one of the sitting boys, "because you're wrong."
"I laugh at that because I am not wrong nor ever wrong so how do you explain that?"
"We know you're wrong," said a different boy. "We just can't figure out what you did."
"That's because I'm correct."
"I don't believe that you actually think that you're correct."
"No, I know. I just did it. I am correct."
"Swear to God?"
"Jim, don't bring God into this."
More boys began to shout, overlapping their loud comments.
"Come on, guys, why can't you see it?" Den began to read the written equation on the chalkboard. "It's X to the power of six minus seven-X to the power of five times Y plus fifteen-X to the power of four times Y squared minus twenty-X cubed times Y cubed plus fifteen-X squared times Y to the power of four minus seven-X times Y to the power of five plus Y to the power of six."
"There is no way," said another boy.
"There is yes way."
"You're wrong," said Skye, entering the room.
Denny looked at Skye up and down. "Excuse me?"
"The seven is supposed to be a six."
"Ooh, she called you out," smiled Jim.
"How do you know?" asked Denny.
"Because of the pyramid," responded Skye.
"Oh, I remember the pyramid," said a boy.
"Yes, on the outside of the pyramid, it's all ones. And besides the ones, from top to bottom, are the numbers in order from one. And between those numbers are numbers added from ones from their above rows. Therefore, the seven is a six."
"She's like Albert Einstein with punk rock hair," said another boy.
"I thought his hair was punk rock," said Denny. "It kinda reminds me of Robert Smith from the Cure."
"Shut up," Skye's eyes widened. "You listen to the Cure?"
"Uh, they're the greatest band of all time I've been told. Hey, how are you so good at math?"
"Well, I used to cheat on my math tests. When I learned that some notes weren't made for specific tests I had, I decided to see a tutor. Now I pretty much can't fail math."
"Would you like to join our math club?"
"Me?"
"I'm looking right at you."
"Sure. Of course, man."
"Alright. What's your name?"
"Skye."
"Is that short for something?"
"Yes but I prefer Skye."
"Everyone, please welcome our newest member of the math club, Skye!" Denny declared.
"Wow, our first girl," said Jim. He fixed his hair then exhaled in the palm of his hand before sniffing it.
Skye squinted her eyes at him. "I'm not interested."
"Are they all?" Jim slouched in his chair and looked away.
       

Join the Club (Chapter 1)

The girls stared at Skye whose head was down on the lunch table and whose hand was holding an opened but not eaten granola bar.
Andrea decided to break the awkwardness. "Are you going to eat your bar?" she asked.
"It's full of nutrition," added Lizzie.
Skye exposed her face, flipping her blonde and pink hair back. She rested her round chin on the table while sporting a tired look on her face.
"What's the matter, Skye?" asked Madeline.
"I'm really confused," Skye responded.
"You don't know the difference between Mick Jagger and Steven Tyler, too?" inquired Lizzie.
"No, I know."
"Okay."
"I'm confused because I don't know what club I'm going to sign up for."
"You want to sign up for a club?" questioned Madeline.
"Yeah."
"Since when?"
"Since my mom told me, too."
"Why is your mom making you join a club?" asked Debra.
"So I can apply for colleges easily."
"What does a club have to do with going to college?" Lizzie asked.
"Depending on what club I join, colleges might find me useful for that. Plus, joining a club might help me get a job."
"Just work at McDonald's," suggested Madeline.
"Uh, I don't want to work at McDonald's. Plus, I don't think they hire people who look and act like me."
"What's wrong with the way you look?" asked Lizzie.
"I look like that if my middle name was anything, it would be 'Vandalism'."
"Okay, but nothing's wrong with the way you act," said Andrea.
"Yeah, I guess I'm an original people person. Hey, do you want to know a fact that I thought was interesting?"
"What?"
"The average human ingests at least eight spiders in their lifetime. I guess it happens when you're asleep since spiders like to weave webs in bedrooms. But anything can actually happen while you're asleep like getting murdered."
Andrea stared at chill Skye. "Sabes que, maybe there is something wrong with the way you act."
Skye's forehead crinkled.
"How about this?" started Madeline. "You can join me in debate club."
"I don't think I fully comprehend debate club," said Skye.
"Oh, it's easy and lots of fun. We discuss our opinions on social issues like the way the government runs things."
"I don't like the government."
"Maybe you can talk about why at debate club."
"And people will listen?"
"Yeah, but of course, there are going to be some people to express their opinions which will be the opposite of yours."
"Why would I want to listen to someone talk about how much they love government?"
"That's how some people feel."
"But nobody's going to convince me to like it."
"You may never know."
"I know nobody's going to convince me."
"You know what, Skye? If you don't like what you hear, just don't come."
"Don't worry; I wasn't even thinking about coming."
Madeline dropped her shoulders down.
"So what club that you think sparks your interests?" asked Debra.
"Hmm..." Skye began to think. "I don't know if there are any music clubs."
"There are a few. Like glee club--"
"No."
"Okay, I know there's a new club for music appreciation and instrumentation."
"Oh, my friend, David, mentioned that club. He joined it not too long ago ."
"Oh, then that's good," said Andrea, "because you'll already have a friend."
"But you could have a friend if you join debate club," Madeline added.
"Maddie, I'm not joining your government-loving club," Skye declined.
"We talk about other things, too!"
"Do you guys talk about Bono?"
"Uh..."
"I thought so."