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She narrows her eyes again. “You didn’t inherit Dad’s acting genes.”
I sigh as I stare up at the ceiling. “Mia, please focus. I still have so much to do.”
“Ooh, can WillowBot clean my room while we work?”
“I thought you’re against forced labor on my bot.”
“Well, yeah,” she says. “But if youinsiston using her as a cleaning maid, she might as well clean my room—”
“Mia, if you don’t continue the problem in the next thirty seconds—”
“Why are you bullying me?”
I gape at her. “Bullying you? Seriously? I’m taking the time out of my busy schedule—”
“Oh, yourbusyschedule. I didn’t know I was such a burden to you. You should just let me fail school.”
“Mia, I’m this close to losing my patience.”
“‘This close?’ Ha. That ship sailed half an hour ago.”
“Why can’t you just do the darn problem?!”
“Why are you so serious all the time? App this and coding this and homework this. Sheesh, Willow, do you know how to have any fun?”
“What does that have to do with math?”
“It has everything to do with math! What do I even need it for? It won’t help me memorize my lines.”
“The world is built on math. Without math, there are no buildings or computers or cell phones and—”
“Yada, yada, yada.” She yawns. “Save me the lecture.”
“Mia, I swear if you don’t do that problem right now—”
“Stop threatening me!”
“I’m not threatening you! I just want you to learn the math!”
“What’s going on in here?” Mom’s voice yells.
Our mouths snap shut as we whip around to the entrance of Mia’s room. Mom stands there, her red hair disheveled like it always is after she comes home from a long, hard day at NASA.
“Mom, Willow’s being mean to me,” Mia complains.
“Am not! She won’t focus on what I’m trying to teach her.”
“Girls, girls.” With a sigh, Mom walks into the room until she stands before us. Her green eyes move from me to my sister. “What’s going on?”
We start talking at once. With another sigh, Mom rubs her forehead. “I just came home from work. I’m super tired and all I want to do is curl up on the couch with a book.”
“I’m sorry, Mom,” I say. “I don’t mean to cause you any stress, but Mia’s goofing off instead of focusing on the math lesson. I have so much work to do and don’t have time for it.”
“Mia—”
“Why does Willow have to be so uptight? We can have fun while learning, too.”
“You’re right,” Mom tells her. “You both are. How about you reach a compromise? Willow, you can let loose a little and make math more enjoyable for your sister. And Mia, you need to show your sister more respect. I know it’s hard to focus on your schoolwork when you’d rather have fun, but you need to learn this material. There’s no one more suited to help you than Willow. Okay?”
