Zoe was being super nice, but I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to be part of the competition.
And then Zoe’s nose scrunched up as she tipped Dr Tenderfoot’s hat. Some of the slips of paper fell out.
She scooped them up and dropped them back into the hat. I grabbed a few slips too and shuffled them around on the step next to me.
Zoe looked away, waving to a friend across the room.
I dropped the paper back into Tenderfoot’s top hat but noticed something odd. Pushing one of the slips open with my fingers, I saw that it was blank … I opened several other slips and they were blank too.
All the slips of paper in Dr Tenderfoot’s hat were blank.
The slip of paper that should’ve had my name on it was blank too.
‘What the heck?’ I finally said.
‘What’s up?’ Zoe said, looking back at me.
It was one of those moments that lasted an eternity. I almost showed Zoe the blank slips of paper, but Tenderfoot was her hero. She’d be heartbroken if he was rigging the competition. But maybe he wasn’t rigging it, and there was a good explanation?
‘Nothing,’ I said, pushing the slips of paper into Tenderfoot’s top hat. And then I pushed just out of reach. ‘I should find Dr Tenderfoot and tell him I’m out of the competition.’
‘Ugh,’ Zoe said as someone approached us.
‘Ahoy, mateys,’ said a familiar voice in a terrible pirate accent. ‘And where d’ye think yer goin’ now?’
It was Carlyle, and he was standing at the bottom of the staircase, blocking our path.
Carlyle was the leader of his own little group of kids who called themselves pirates. They weren’t real pirates, obvs, but that didn’t stop them from dressing and talking like plunderers of the sea.
Carlyle’s pirate crew used to be huge, but lately, their club had lost most of its members. I’m pretty it was just Carlyle and a handful of other kids now.
‘Carlyle,’ I said.
‘Cooper,’ Carlyle replied, and then looked at Zoe. ‘Ahoy, lassie. Good t’see you, as always.’
‘Hi,’ Zoe said, rolling her eyes.
‘What do you want?’ I asked.
‘I’m here t’size up my competition,’ Carlyle said. ‘Ya best not try’n hornswoggle the game, mate, or ye’ll find yerself in a mess o’trouble ye can’t clean.’
I stared. ‘What are you talking about?’
Carlyle smiled. He pointed his finger at me. ‘Ye might as well drop out now, Chase! Don’t even bother tryin’ to build a robot ’cause it’ll probably end up bein’ super lame!’
Something snapped inside me. I felt the sudden need to win this robotics competition.
‘Whatever, dude!’ I said, stepping down the staircase to get right in his face. ‘You know what? I was going to drop out of the competition, but now I’m competing just to wipe that smug pirate grin off your face when I win!’
I heard Zoe squeal behind me, excited.
Carlyle narrowed his eyes at me, but said nothing. He clicked his heels together, turned, and marched away.
At the end of the day, my friends and I met in one of the science labs on the second floor. Zoe was there first, setting up the room so the three teams could have their own place to work.
I never found Dr Tenderfoot to ask him about the blank slips of paper. I’d have to remind myself to ask him the next time he showed up. I wasn’t too worried though. The fire in my belly was driving me to win – not to understand why a man would fill his top hat with blank pieces of paper.
Carlyle was in one corner of the room with the rest of his team – two kids dressed like pirates, singing shanties and swaying back and forth. It was as weird as it sounded.
It was also a much smaller team than I was expecting. The pirate threat was definitely on the way out.
Dante was in another corner of the room, all by himself. Zoe said he never bothered asking anyone to join his team.
My friends and I were all seated in our corner – Gidget, Slug, Brayden, Faith, Zoe and Naomi. It was a huge team, but there wasn’t a limit on how many members I could have. I figured the more we had, the better our chances were at building a robot that actually worked.
The room was divided up by three huge sheets hanging on lines like they were air-drying. Each team had their own corner of the science lab to work in. We could still hear everything going on in the room, but we couldn’t see each other.
Naomi was in the middle of a conversation with Slug. ‘Y’see? You’ll do it every time.’ ‘Do what?’ I asked, taking a seat.
Naomi looked at me with a blank expression. And then she made an ugly face.
I wasn’t sure what was happening, so … I made an ugly face back at her.
Slug threw his arms up. ‘Dude, you just proved her right!’
‘What?’ I said, confused.
‘Ugly faces are contagious,’ Naomi said smugly. ‘I can make an ugly face at anyone in the school, and they’ll throw one right back to me. Sometimes I just sit in the cafeteria making ugly faces. Every single time, someone else makes one when they see me, whether they know it or not.’
‘They’re not contagious,’ I said. ‘I only did that because I knew what you were doing.’
‘Riiiight,’ Naomi said.
Gidget sat on one of the tall stools, staring at her phone. Without looking up, she said, ‘So she’s really on our team?’
‘You mean me?’ Naomi asked.
Gidget never took her eyes away from the phone. ‘Bingo. No Scavengers allowed.’
‘I’m not a Scavenger anymore,’ Naomi said.
‘What’s a Scavenger?’ Zoe asked.
‘Nothing,’ I said. Zoe still didn’t know who the Scavengers were, and at that point, I didn’t think it was important to tell her. The less she knew about them, the better off she was. ‘Yes, Naomi’s part of the team. She’s smart, and she’s cool, and she’s gonna help out a ton.’
Gidget finally stopped thumb-jabbing her phone and glanced up. After a sigh, she finally said, ‘Whatever.’
Naomi put her hands on her hips and cleared her throat. ‘Can we move on? I’ve said sorry to Chase and you guys. Can we please just build a robot?’
Everyone nodded, but like they didn’t have a choice.
Team Cooper was off to a good start.
That was sarcasm … just so you know.
If everyone was this unhappy about Naomi being on the team, I dreaded telling them she was back in the ninja clan.
Zoe took the lead. ‘Remember that we don’t have to build a super awesome robot – just a robot that can do something, like blink or move.’
‘Seems a little hard for sixth graders, doesn’t it?’ Slug asked.
‘That’s exactly the kind of thinking a losing team would have,’ Gidget said. ‘Don’t even get it in your brain that we can’t do it. All we need to focus on is how we’ll do it.’
The fire in my belly grew stronger as I listened to my friends talk about how we weren’t going to give up. It was one of the rare times we were able to work together as a group, and I knew that as long as we kept our heads up, almost nothing could stop us.
Except maybe the red and green ninjas.
I got to school early the next morning. I used to struggle with waking up before school even started, but I was getting better at it. Plus, I wanted to get there before the rest of my team – y’know, lead by example and all that stuff. Tenderfoot Industries had provided parts for each team to use to build their robot. There were enough parts that none of the robots would be exactly the same.
After we studied the pieces, my team and I came up with our robot. It wasn’t super complicated or anything, but we were proud of it – and I thought Dr Tenderfoot might even be a little impressed.
I spent most of the night drawing blueprints and sketches for the robot. With my background as a professional comic book reader, I thought I had come up with a sweet design.
The blueprints and sketches were rolled up into tubes that I stuck bet
ween my book bag and my back, making it look like I was carrying ninja swords.
The school was quiet when I walked into the lobby. Principal Davis was standing inside the entrance wearing his Tuesday suit. His hands were in his pockets, and he was staring at the parking lot outside.
When he noticed me, he snapped out of his trance. ‘Cooper,’ he said with a nod.
‘Hey, Principal Davis,’ I said.
‘Better get upstairs,’ he said. ‘The rest of your team’s already up there waiting for you.’
‘They are?’ I said, surprised. So much for being the first one there.
I shuffled past the principal and headed for the lift next to the cafeteria entrance.
The lift doors opened the instant I pushed the button. I stepped through the doors, and then pushed the button for the second floor.
‘Oh, and Chase?’ Principal Davis said from the lobby.
The doors to the lift hadn’t shut yet. ‘Hmm?’ I said, lifting my chin.
‘I’m impressed with your choice in teammates,’ he said. ‘It takes real maturity to forgive someone like that.’
Principal Davis must’ve been talking about Naomi. I wasn’t sure how he knew what had gone down with me and Naomi.
‘Thanks,’ I said with a smile as the lift doors shut.
I pushed open the door to the science lab. Inside the room was a flurry of activity and excitement.
I couldn’t see Carlyle’s team because of the sheets, but I could hear them Yaaaar-ing away as they banged metal against metal. If I didn’t know it was them, I would’ve thought for sure that it was a buncha monkeys back there.
Dante’s corner of the room was pretty quiet, but I could see the top of his head over the sheet. He was pacing back and forth, probably brainstorming.
And then there was my team, Team Cooper. Principal Davis was right – everyone was already there.
Zoe, Faith, Brayden, Gidget, Slug and Naomi sat in a circle talking about how we were going to build the robot for the competition.
Someone must’ve brought pancakes because everyone had a plate on their laps with a short stack of pancakes.
‘Mmmm,’ I said, taking the seat next to Naomi. ‘Gimme some pancakes! Who brought ’em?’
‘I did,’ said a voice from behind me.
I recognised the voice immediately, and my stomach dropped.
It was Wyatt, and he was holding a plate of pancakes meant for me. On top of his head was a chef’s hat. It was weird, but I wasn’t surprised that he was wearing it.
‘Eat up,’ Wyatt said.
I took the pancakes from him because I didn’t know what else to do. I smiled tightly as I set the plate on my lap.
‘Thaaaaaanks,’ I whispered.
‘No prob, Bob,’ Wyatt said, wiping his hands his apron. ‘Oh! I almost forgot the whipped cream and syrup!’
And then Principal Davis’s comment about forgiveness and my team made sense. He thought Wyatt was on my team.
Wyatt walked back to the counter. It looked like he’d hijacked that spot and turned it into his own kitchen. There were cartons of buttermilk, bowls of pancake batter, cracked eggs, butter, whipped cream, syrup, and an electric griddle. Almost everything was covered in a thin layer of flour.
I leaned into the centre of my circle of friends. ‘What the heck?’ I whispered. ‘Why’s he here?’
Zoe covered her mouth with her hand and spoke through a mouthful of food. ‘Dude, his pancakes are amazing. Like, seriously, they’re cooked happiness!’
‘For real,’ Faith said.
Everyone else nodded.
‘I mean, why’s he even in here?’ I asked, shoving a forkful of pancake into my mouth.
I gotta be honest. Wyatt whipped up a batch of killer pancakes. I tilted my head back and sunk in my seat.
‘See?’ Zoe whispered. ‘I told you they were awesome!’
‘Fine,’ I said. ‘They’re good, but you haven’t answered my question yet!’
Zoe sat up straight to make sure Wyatt was still out of earshot. ‘We let him hang out because of pancakes, but we also didn’t make him leave because you’re the team leader, so it’s your job to get rid of him!’
I groaned and took another bite of pancake. I wasn’t as polite as Zoe. I spoke with a mouthful of food. ‘Whatever, I’ll ask him to leave when he gets back with—’
‘Ask who to leave?’ Wyatt said, standing next to me with a can of whipped cream and a bottle of syrup.
‘Ummmm,’ I said, shovelling another bite of pancake into my mouth. Wyatt’s body slumped as he lowered the whipped cream and syrup.
‘You’re talking about me, aren’t you?’ he said quietly. ‘You wanna ask me to leave?’
The group stared at me, waiting for my answer.
But before I could say anything, Wyatt spoke. ‘C’mon, dude, please let me be on your team. I’ll do anything to help. Whatever you need! I’ll be the coffee guy! Or the pancake guy! I know we’ve butted heads before, but I’m tellin’ ya that I want to change! It’s just that … I don’t … I don’t really have any friends anymore.’
No one else knew Wyatt had lost his ninja clan. I knew better than my friends what Wyatt was feeling, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.
Wyatt grew impatient and pointed at Naomi. ‘I mean, c’mon! You let her on the team! She tried to ruin your life! All I did was … well, never mind what I did. If Naomi’s on the team, why can’t I be?’
Naomi looked away, her cheeks red.
‘Bro!’ Wyatt said. ‘You gotta be like water!’
I looked Wyatt dead in the eye. ‘What’d you say?’
‘Be like water,’ he repeated.
A chill ran down my spine. Real Wyatt had said the same thing as Dream Wyatt.
But … Wyatt wasn’t wrong. I couldn’t shun him after welcoming Naomi back with open arms, could I?
Shutting my eyes, I took the last bite of my pancakes. ‘Fine,’ I whispered.
‘I’m sorry,’ Gidget said, leaning closer to me. ‘What was that?’
‘Open your earballs, ya old lady,’ Wyatt said to Gidget.
Gidget rested her phone on her lap and spoke calmly while she looked at Wyatt. ‘I have a soul-crushing comeback for that, but I’m gonna stop myself from saying it ’cause it’ll wreck you so bad that your children will feel the burn. They’ll cry themselves to sleep, and when you see their tears … you’ll remember me.’
‘Jeez …’ Wyatt whispered.
‘She’s tellin’ the truth, man,’ Slug warned Wyatt.
My eyes were still shut. ‘Wyatt’s on the team.’
The rest of the team started talking at the same time, shocked and unhappy at my decision.
‘Guys, it’s fine,’ Wyatt said sadly. ‘I get it. I know when I’m not wanted. I’ll just … get some breakfast or something … by myself.’
As he shuffled towards the science lab door, I could tell how hurt he was.
And the war that was going on in my head was driving me crazy!
Wyatt has been the bad guy since the first day of school. He’s been against me at every twist and turn! He’s done so many bad things and I should’ve been happy about him walking away, but I wasn’t …
Everyone deserved second chances, didn’t they? And third and fourth chances, I guess?
What if that was the point in Wyatt’s life that defined if he was a good guy or a bad guy? If I let him leave, he’d be hurt and probably carry even more of a grudge against me … but if I let him on the team, then maybe, just maybe, he’d stop being such a jerk.
My friends returned their attention to the project for the competition. Wyatt was at the door.
I sighed heavily because I knew what I had to do. ‘Wait!’ I said.
Wyatt glanced over his shoulder. The way he did it was creepy, and not helpful in making him seem like less of a villain, but I ignored it since that’s kinda his whole thing.
‘You can be on the team,’ I said. ‘But you can’t sit around. Yo
u gotta help us build this robot, alright?’
Wyatt turned, standing up straight. He marched back to our circle a little too victoriously.
‘Thanks, bro,’ he said, his voice bright and loud. He pulled up a seat up, flipped it backwards, and sat on it, resting his arms on the back of the chair. ‘So … when do we start?’
As if in answer, the door to the science lab opened. One of the kitchen staff peeked her head in and pointed at Wyatt.
‘You!’ she said accusingly. ‘You left the kitchen before you paid for those ingredients! I said you could take what you wanted as long as you bought them!’
Wyatt leaned back, stretching his arms like he had just woken up. ‘Oh,’ he said with a smirk. ‘Chase’ll be paying. The pancakes were for my … I mean, his team.’
The woman looked at me, waiting for an answer.
I sighed. ‘Sure,’ I said, digging my wallet out of my book bag. ‘I got it.’
Wyatt wasn’t exactly lying.
The pancakes were for the team …
… right?
My friends weren’t happy with my decision to let Wyatt on the team, but they didn’t fuss anymore about it.
It helped that I vouched for Wyatt too. I told them that it was my own mistake to make, but I felt like he really wanted to start a new chapter in his life. I hoped I wasn’t wrong.
Zoe even came up to me afterwards and apologised, telling me that giving Wyatt a shot on the team was the ‘grown-up’ thing to do. Then she slugged me in the arm, like, way too hard, like she always does.
Faith would probably slug my arm in the same spot later in the day. Those two seemed to always punch me in the same spot on the same day, and repeatedly … like they had planned it …
Aaaand I’m just realising now that they probably do plan it. I’m such a noob sometimes.
Once I got my food from the kitchen, I stepped into the cafeteria to find a seat. I was still stuffed from the pancakes that Wyatt made before school, so I opted for the student favourite – French fries with mayonnaise and tomato sauce, along with a bowl of broccoli cheese soup. Blanketing the soup with pepper was optional, but I always did it.
My Worst Frenemy Page 4
