The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl

After six days, Cutie Pi hasn’t been adopted. They decide to do more publicity.

In math class, Mr. Stoker hands out a pop quiz. On Lucy’s test is an extremely hard problem about finding overlapping areas in an octagon. Lucy can’t figure it out in her head. After class, she says he gave her a different question than the other students. Mr. Stoker admits it, then tells her the question is from the Putnam Competition, the leading US college math contest. He doesn’t have the answer either.

Confused that Mr. Stoker would ask a question he hasn’t solved, Lucy feels frustration, but something about it excites her interest. In Spanish class, she gets permission to go to the restroom, where she uses pencil and paper and works out the puzzle’s solution. She tears up her notes to hide her efforts, and she won’t tell Mr. Stoker, but now Lucy has the whole thing beautifully worked out in her head.

Windy and Maddie’s moms drive nine girls to the water park. The kids drop off their stuff in a suite that’s adorned with birthday decorations and bigger than Lucy’s apartment. The other girls rush to claim their beds, which are shaped like canoes with TVs attached. Lucy ends up with the rollaway cot.

In their bathing suits, the girls head down to the park. The moms organize them into buddy teams—Maddie and one other have latched onto Windy, while Lucy gets Jennifer, who’d rather buddy with someone else—and the girls must check back in after 30 minutes. Maddie’s mom, Mrs. Thornton, tells her to stand up straight and watch her tummy.

The girls all hurry to the first ride, which begins atop a tall staircase. Lucy’s buddy ditches her for Windy’s group, and Lucy stands aside while other groups go ahead until the attendant tells her to ride or go back downstairs. A nice mom and her daughters board a float, and Lucy joins them. The ride is thrilling.

As she disembarks, Lucy carefully rinses her hands in the chlorinated water. She looks around: All the other birthday-party girls are gone.

Lucy walks back to the check-in area. Mrs. Thornton asks where her buddy is; she says they got separated. Concerned that Jennifer, a poor swimmer, is all alone, Mrs. Thornton heads off to search for her. Everyone arrives back, but it’s clear that Jennifer’s separation is deemed Lucy’s fault.

The kids clean up for dinner. After eating, they return to the suite and watch Windy open presents. Lucy’s is a hand-made booklet based on a question book she and Windy played; Lucy titles it 101 Other Things You Never Knew About Your Best Friend (223). Windy likes it; Maddie says it’s cute, and adds, “We should totally fill it in” (224).

Maddie gives Windy an expensive silver necklace that spells “Windy.” After all the presents are opened, the girls eat snacks and view movies. Mrs. Thornton tells Maddie, “Watch your diet. You have a gymnastics meet next weekend. You need to stay trim” (225).

After two movies, Lucy is done, and she heads off to bed. Later, the other girls shuffle in, chatting and teasing, and Lucy wakes but doesn’t move. Windy asks them to be quiet so Lucy can sleep, but Maddie complains that Lucy is strange and makes fun of her until Windy blurts out that Lucy was struck by lightning and became a math genius.

Maddie still isn’t convinced and says Windy shouldn’t be Lucy’s friend. Windy points out that she and Maddie haven’t spent any time together lately; Maddie says she’s been busy with homework and family and all her other friends. She says Windy should join her team and dump Lucy and Levi.

Lucy sits up. Windy asks if she’s ok; Lucy grabs a pillow and walks out to the living room. Maddie says, “Let her go […] Don’t let her ruin your birthday” (230).

Lucy spends the next day sitting in a beach chair, reading. Late in the afternoon, they all drive home. Lucy texts Levi: Marty the dog has been adopted, and there are a few more sympathy comments for Cutie Pi.

Monday is a holiday. On Tuesday, Lucy announces that she doesn’t want to go to school. Nana says that’s not how it works; Lucy, angry, tosses her cereal bowl in the sink, breaking a glass. She runs upstairs and cries into her pillow, then recites the digits of pi to keep Windy out of her mind. Nana comes in and hugs her tight; the digits of pi fade away.

They spend the day watching the Travel Channel and eating pizza. Windy texts several times, but Lucy ignores her. On TV there’s a dog resort, and Lucy asks to go to The Pet Hut. Nana drives her. She enters the latest adoption papers into the computer while Cutie Pi sits on her lap.

Lucy and Cutie Pi walk out to the play yard, where Levi is working with a bear-shaped puppy. Lucy admits she had a bad time at the party, and that Windy isn’t her friend anymore, mainly because she blabbed about Lucy being a genius. Levi says Maddie and Windy argued at lunch, and Windy ate alone. Lucy asks what the kids are saying about her, and Levi says they now believe she has finished college and can read minds.

He says it’ll blow over. Lucy despairs that she simply scares people. Levi says, “Pi is scarier than you” (238), but she gets upset and stalks off.

Lucy still doesn’t want to go back to school, so she misses the bus. Nana drives her there. In homeroom, Windy is glad to see Lucy, but Lucy just shrugs and ignores her. Maddie also ignores Windy. Levi says he’s glad he didn’t have to go to the party.

In math class, Maddie tells Mr. Stoker she objects to Lucy being there because Lucy already knows all the material. Jennifer seconds that opinion. Maddie says Lucy makes fun of her, but Windy pipes up and says that isn’t true. Mr. Stoker quiets them, but Lucy feels miserable. She ignores the class, doodles awhile, then puts her head down.

Maddie starts complaining about her again. Lucy shouts, “What do you want from me?” (242) She points to the board, recites the answers to all the equations written on it, then jumps up, walks over to Maddie, who cringes, and demands her phone number. Maddie gives it, and Lucy gives its sum, product, and square root. She says she can figure numbers but not Maddie.

She says Maddie is unimportant to her, compared with a sick dog and a friend who betrayed her. She shouts, “You are nothing to me” (224), and storms out. 

In the courtyard, Lucy calms down. The vice principal finds her there and brings her to the office. They call Nana, who drives Lucy home. Lucy won’t talk about it, so Nana leaves to do an errand. Lucy wants never again to go to her school. She feels the apartment walls closing in.

She goes upstairs, sign on to MathWhiz, and promptly scolds one member for making an easy trig problem sound hard and for making calculation mistakes. The member blocks her from the conversation. She opens other chats there, scolds three more members, and gets blocked three more times.

She leaves the apartment and walks toward The Pet Hut through a bad part of town. On the way, she sees a dead cat and stops short. She calls Levi and tells him she’s scared. A car stops; the driver, a lady, asks if she needs a ride; Lucy backs away, says no, and the lady drives off. Levi wants Windy to get her sister to pick Lucy up, but Lucy doesn’t want Windy involved.

Levi figures out where she is and says she has two miles to go. To calm her, he reads off word problems taken from the internet; as she walks, Lucy answers all 29, glad for the distraction. She gets to The Pet Hut and promises not to try to walk back home. She thinks, “Math has saved me again. Or maybe it was Levi.” (253).

Lucy opens the shelter office and Cutie Pi runs to her. He licks her face, “which is disgusting” (254), and keeps nosing up her chin, as if trying to make her less unhappy. She puts on his leash for a walk; in the hall, they meet Noah, who thanks her for coming to say goodbye. Lucy learns that Cutie Pi will be taken away tomorrow by animal control. She wants to run away with Cutie Pi, but her legs won’t move.

She crawls under the desk and curls up. Cutie Pi puts his head on her shoulder. She hugs the dog, counts digits of pi, and fall asleep to his steady breathing. A tap on the shoulder wakes her; it’s Nana. In tears, Lucy begs her to let Cutie Pi come home: “He’s all I have” (258). Nana isn’t sure, but finally she relents, just for the one night.

Nana and Lucy wrap Cutie Pi in a blanket and sneak him into the apartment. Windy is waiting at the front door; Nana lets her in, but Lucy ignores her. Windy tries to apologize; Lucy refuses to forgive her. She says it makes no sense that Windy has been so friendly when Lucy wouldn’t tell her secret to her. Windy says Lucy is a good person, and she doesn’t complain about Windy’s love of musicals and causes, and all she asks is that Windy use hand sanitizer—unlike other girls, who insist on cool clothing.

Lucy hands her a Twizzler. Cutie Pi wants one, too; it’s his last night, so Lucy gives him one. They talk about the dog, and Windy decides they can save him. She gets on her phone; her first call is to Levi, who shows up thirty minutes later. Lucy thanks him for helping her get to the shelter; she also admits that he might be right that the school will get used to her. Levi says pretty soon the kids will call her Lightning Girl instead of Cleaning Lady; Lucy thinks that would be an improvement.

Windy calls everyone on her phone list; Nana contacts coworkers and bowling league members. Lucy calls Paul, but everyone he knows lives in barracks, which are no good for pets. Levi changes Cutie Pi’s web page to read: “THIS DOG IS ON DEATH ROW” (268).

After her friends go home, Lucy logs on to a math homework forum and helps students solve math problems, but it doesn’t help. She needs advice, but “Geniuses don’t ask normal people for help” (270). Lucy realizes this is ridiculous, so she goes to a logic forum she frequents, posts about Cutie Pi’s situation, and begs for help. The moderator tells her she can’t post such requests there, but other members defend her. She gets some responses, but nothing useful. She falls asleep with the dog on the bed.

Nana wakes Lucy; it’s time to take Cutie Pi to animal control. Lucy checks the websites but there’s no help. She dresses, shares a waffle with Cutie Pi, and sneaks the dog into the car. They drive to the animal control office. Sitting in the car, Lucy buries her face in Cutie Pi’s fur and weeps. The door opens and there’s a hand on her shoulder: It’s Windy, with Levi. They all walk to a bench and sit; Cutie Pi jumps up and climbs across Windy to Lucy’s lap. Lucy says, “I don’t know how to say good-bye” (277).

A car pulls up. It’s Mr. Stoker. He says he saw Lucy’s post about Cutie Pi at the math website and wants to adopt him.

On the last day before winter break, Lucy sits outside school with Windy and Levi, sharing a bag of gumdrops. Windy wants Lucy to help her at The Pet Hut tonight, but Lucy and Nana are going to the airport to pick up Paul. Levi points out that they’ve been at the shelter every night—Lucy has figured out that pet adoptions run 11% faster in December—and they’ll all be there again tomorrow. He takes pictures of bare tree branches.

Lucy apologized to Maddie weeks ago, but Maddie got transferred out of Mr. Stoker’s class, and she and Lucy haven’t spoken since. Maddie and her mom walk by, and Windy says hi, but Maddie ignores them all. Maddie’s friends, though, have been nicer. Mr. Stoker gives Lucy extra math problems and projects, and she read aloud a poem in Ms. Fleming’s class. Everyone seems to have moved on about Lucy’s ability.

Nana picks her up. On the car seat is a letter from the NCASME school. Lucy hesitates about opening it. She adds up her school year: 77 days, 23 dogs saved, two non-math books read, and two friends made. Her life now is bigger than just numbers.