We’ll Never Be Alone

“10 seconds left!”

“Five, Four, Three, Two, One. Time’s up!”

I was still working on the 27th problem! I peeked at the other three teammates around the table. Oh, they’re still working on their problems, except for Ben who had already completed all the 30 problems and was playing with his pencil. I kept working.

“Come on girls! Time’s up! It’s just a mock test, but you’re still supposed to stop now.” Nicole’s mom, the “judge”, chuckled.

Sophie and Flora, our little sisters who were playing around, were also laughing at us.

It was two years ago. Me and my three Mathlete friends in our 4-person middle school Mathcounts team were practicing at my house to prepare for the upcoming Chapter round of the Mathcounts competition. Other than myself, we had Ben and two Nicoles, so 3/4 of the 4-person team was girls. Us 5 girls, including Sophie and Flora, are all from three families, with Ben being the only boy amongst us.

Half of our 10-person school team consisted of girls, so I felt quite comfortable all the way from the beginning of the school round competition, until I walked into the contest site of the Chapter round.

It was a huge gymnasium in a middle school. Almost 50 tables were arranged in 6 or 7 rows, and each table had 4 seats. Our 4-person team sat together at a table in the middle of the gymnasium.

I looked at the table to the left, four boys. I looked at the table to the right, another four boys. I looked past the table to the left, four boys, again? I looked past the table to the right, ok, three boys and one girl. All around the room, I saw that 3/4 of the Mathletes were boys!

It was … a little bit strange to only be a small part of the group.

The contest started quite quickly, there was no time to think about other things. 30 Sprint problems, 8 Target problems, 10 Team problems. Despite our practice sessions, we still struggled with the time limit, but when we got to the Team problems, our practice together paid off. When we finished, we sat together anxiously waiting for the results.

“First place goes to …”, the announcer called out, “C Middle School!”

Four boys cheered loudly.

“Second place goes to S Middle School!”

Another four boys cheered.

“Third place goes to …”, the announcer paused a little, “M Middle School!”

Yayyyyyy!!! It’s us!!! We were promoted to the State round!

We were so excited to compete again but, unfortunately, we couldn’t actually attend the State round due to the pandemic. The next year, all Mathcounts contests were online, so I only attended one in-person Mathcounts competition. A single triangular trophy sits quietly on the shelf.

Two years have passed. Us 5 girls are still working hard in math. All of us took, or will take, Precalculus or AP Calculus in 9th grade, and some of us have qualified for the American Invitational Mathematics Examination and even the Math Prize for Girls competition.

We may be in the minority.

We may not be the winners of competitions.

We may be interrupted by unexpected circumstances.

But we’ll never be alone.