MANDY POV I was dozing in an armchair in the private room of General Premium Hospital when I heard my mom screaming at someone in the corridor. “How could this happen?” “It was a sad accident.” “Sad? I will show you sad…” I noticed a hysterical pitch in her voice. I was expecting some nurse to put her in her place, but the voice I heard made me shiver. “Calm down, lady.” “Calm down? I´ll calm down if you tell me exactly what happened to my daughter…” “I don´t know...” “You don´t know? What irresponsible piece of...” “Mooom.” I interrupted her just in time. She was about to swear in the face of my boss. “Oh darling, you are awake... What a relief.” “Your screams must have awakened her.” Mr. Boss (yes, it´s his name, Arthur Boss) gave his opinion and her attention was back to him. “I will sue you.” “I can suggest a great lawyer.” “Ah, we have a cynical type here.” “I

6 months earlier MANDY POV Well, I was never like the mathematician Pascal, that solved Euclides´ 32 propositions at the age of twelve. Far from that. But I always loved math, and my teacher, Mr. Jackson encouraged me very much. Since I was ten I also took part in math competitions and was used to win. So, it was natural for him to recommend me to be an intern at ‘Billions Investing Group.’ I was amazed to be introduced to the CEO himself, Mr. Boss. “Welcome aboard, Mandy. We expect a lot from you.” “Well, sir, since I´m only 15 and work as an intern, I hope you don´t keep your hopes too high.” He gave a little laugh. He seemed to be enjoying my answers so far. “We invest in geniuses. My personal friend Prof. Jackson talked highly of you.” “What exactly did he say?” I was kind of in shock now. “He said that you can solve almost any math problem that we present you.” I cou

MANDY POV   So, maybe I´m the teacher´s pet. But it´s not like I intended to be. I sit at the back of the classroom and I hang with the cool kids. But my grades are very good and it pleases the teachers a lot. I´ve always had a way with the exact sciences. And of course, math is my passion. I can do homework for two hours and not even feel the time passing when it comes to math. Mr. Jackson, the math teacher has always counted on me to win some of the most important competitions in our city and even in the state. I never went to national competitions, because my mother wouldn´t allow it. I´m her only child and she treats me like her personal little Nemo (yes, just like the dad, in the animation ‘Finding Nemo’). She keeps her eye on me. Everything is too dangerous or too difficult if I have to be away from her. Even at summer camp, she would often join me. How? I´ll tell you. She would volunteer to b

MANDYMark kept staring at her in the middle of the cafeteria. She was unsure of what to say or do, when he asked, “You are very good at math, right?”“Is that what Charlie told you?”“Yes. And also, everybody kind of knows, with you winning competitions and all.”Wow. He had noticed her. If she didn´t already love math, she would start this moment, just for that reason.“Let´s say that math is my thing,” she decided to clarify that.“Good. So, I was thinking if you could help me for the next test. I really need to improve my grades. The swimming coach kind of implied that.”“Are you failing the class?”“We can say I´m average. See, math is not my thing,” He informed her with a big smile that moved her. Coming to think of it, he was always so serious. Now that she saw his smile, she loved it.“I´ll help you s

MANDYSince Mr. Jackson told Mandy´s mom, Carol Hill, that she shouldn´t just ignore the girl´s gift for math, she agreed with her participation in a special program for super abled kids. Mainly because it was local.According to special capacities, these youngsters were sent to the real world to interact and find out a way to leave an impression on the world.Kids that painted, for example, were sent to museums, where they could learn from recognized masters and even expose their works at small events specially organized and sponsored by the program.In Mandy´s case, she went to obtain experience in an environment where numbers were essencial. The finance world.Other career options would be to teach, following academic life. But she had to try one possibility at a time. So, Mr. Jackson, her teacher, had arranged for her to be an intern at his friend´s company.And here she was for her first day at ‘Billi

MANDY POVSo, it´s Sunday morning and here I am, running in the park with my ninja mom. And it´s more than just a figure of speech. My mom is black belt in many categories of martial arts. Her two favorites are karate and jiu-jitsu.She works as a personal trainer with emphasis in these fights. Anybody would think that the weekends were days of rest for her. No way. They were days of exercise.We had come to terms that I would join her for running on weekends and that was it. Mainly I was kept in good health, but she didn´t force me to like the same things she did.I think nobody works out that hard with such happiness. She jokes and smiles and encourages you naturally.And it´s not an obligation of her job. I mean, when we visit grandpa in his farm on vacation, this woman chops wood. “For the fun of it,” she says.I´m so proud of her. Due to good genes and so much practice of sports she looks amazin

MANDY POVA ninja (Japanese word) was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included espionage, deception, and surprise attacks. Yes, the dictionary. It describes my mother´s attitude perfectly. Imagine, to attack Mark out of the blue and have him restrained on the floor like a lowlife or something.Auch, it pains me how much I´m embarrassed.It was all going so well before the interference. He arrived punctually at 5pm, after his swim practice. We were at the dinner table working on some algebra problems when he asked for water.From the kitchen I heard the turmoil. Not only Mark was thown to the floor with my mother on top of him, but also some table ornaments flew everywhere and smashed noisily, making me rush to the room.“Mom, stop that!” I screamed.She came to her senses immediately and let go of h

MANDY POVSo, another experiment happens at my internship. I´ve been going there for a couple of weeks now. The schedule arranged is that I go on Fridays full period and on Saturdays, only mornings. It was decided so, because I won´t miss many classes this way. On Fridays we have two classes of math at school and the rest are arts and reading, which I can do at home. On Saturdays the school is closed, so I don´t have classes to worry about catching up.My work at Billions Investment Group is very exciting for me.I´m in charge of calculating and estimating gains and losses of companies the group is thinking about acquiring.Mr. Boss also gave me a special project that is the apple of his eyes. It involves investments in the Stock Market and I have to discern among choices, and of course estimate, in short, do the math. George said that it shows that Mr. Boss has confidence in me.And now, here I am at the shopping center, wi

MANDY POV“Mandy, you can´t back out on our plans,” Steph was complaining with me during lunch. “We said that we were going to watch the swim practices and we never went. Enough excuses, please.”“I know Steph. I really intended to go, but Mark and I are kind of avoinding each other since the fiasco at my house. It´s just too embarrassing.”“Nonsense. You can´t just freeze your life because of that. Or mine. Please.”When she was right, she was. I would have to overcome my fears of seeing Mark. Because the truth is that I miss the proximity that had started to happen between us.“I´ll tell Charlie that we are going and so he will give us a ride home afterwards.”I sent a text to my mom, updating her on the new plans. Because I was going to arrive home later than usual she answered me that she would take the time to do some grocery shopping. I ordered some foo

MARKMark parked the car in a calm street beside the municipal park and they had a talk.“I was avoiding you, Mandy, because I was ashamed. To be restrained by a woman and unable to escape… I imagined that you thought I was weak.”“Oh, Mark, sorry. You couldn´t have known… It didn´t even pass through my mind that you were weak…”“How come?”“You see, my mother is a martial arts master. She is black belt in many categories, and I mean, many…”“Really! I´m impressed now.”“You are allowed to be. See, a bull couldn´t have escaped her…”He gave a small laugh now, starting to be at ease.“Mark, I´m sorry that I didn´t explain all that to you sooner.”“It´s just that she is a normal size woman. I mean, I´m taller than your mom, and she paralyzed me.&