by Annie Bryant
“It looks a little…,” Isabel started, not sure how to say what she was thinking.
“Gross?” Avery suggested. Isabel nodded. “Yeah, I wanted my poster to be all natural—no glue, you know? So I just had Scott chew all the gum till it was soft and then I stuck it to the foam core. But it didn’t turn out quite as scientific-looking as I pictured it in my head.”
The girls giggled. “That must be the Tru Blu, right?” Charlotte asked, pointing to a huge wad of electric blue gum stuck in the middle of all of Avery’s earth-toned samples.
“I call it Blue Sludge!” Avery announced. “Can you imagine actually putting that garbage in your body?”
Charlotte trembled. “Scaaary. Only Avery’s natural gum for me from now on!” she declared.
“And me,” added a voice behind them.
The girls turned to see Katani grab one of Avery’s free samples from the bowl she had put out on a table. “I got to admit,” started Avery, “even though we aren’t fighting about the gum factory anymore, I still didn’t exactly expect you to support my cause.”
Katani shrugged. “I checked out the links you sent me to those rain forest and nutrition sites. You’re right—all the preservatives and artificial stuff in that Tru Blu gum are gross.”
“Whoa, wait a sec, Kgirl. Did you just say I’m right?” Avery asked.
Katani looked serious. “Well, we’re both right. Cutting down on packaging would be better for the enviro, and using chicle in gum is better for my bod and the rain forest economy—but I still think the gum factory will be good for the economy here in Boston.”
“And, um, actually…you’re right about another thing,” Avery admitted. “I should have done better research. When Mr. Moore asked me to look into the factory’s carbon emissions, I found out that they already have a really solid plan for reducing their carbon footprint. The factory’s going to be really energy efficient.”
“So…?” Katani prompted her. “You’re not trying to shut down the factory anymore?”
“Nope. But I am trying to get them to relocate so they’re closer to the T and change how they package their gum. Mr. Moore really likes my report, and he said he’s going to get in touch with some people he knows on the city council. Maybe the Green Machine can really make a difference!”
“That’s so great, Avery!” Charlotte congratulated her.
“Thanks! So if the factory ends up making those changes, then I guess I can live with Tru Blu, as long as they keep their carbon emissions low. But Avery Madden’s natural Green Tea Lime Fusion is still the only thing I’m chewing.”
“I’ll agree with that!” Katani said with a grin, high-fiving Avery.
Suddenly a familiar voice echoed over the loudspeaker in the gym. “Attention, students,” Mrs. Field’s calm but firm voice commanded them. “May I have just a moment of your time for an announcement from one of our janitors, Mr. Clauson.” There was a pause, and the BSG exchanged looks. What was this about?
“This announcement is in regard to the ‘gum wars’ some of you have been waging in the halls of our fine school,” Mr. Clauson intoned after a pause. Avery gulped. “I am asking you to stop this silliness immediately. No more gum on the stairs. No more gum on the floor. And especially no more gum on the chairs! I don’t care if it’s green or blue or purple paisley polka-dotted—if I see one more sticky, icky, chewed-up and spit-out piece, there will be consequences.” The loudspeaker clicked off.
“I hope that’s the end of that!” Katani declared.
“It is from my end, you got my word,” Avery agreed. “This gum war is officially over!”
“So what did you end up doing your project on, Katani?” Charlotte asked.
“Check it out!” Katani motioned for the girls to follow her over to the table she had set up on the other side of the gym. “I call it…mood lighting.”
The girls all oohed at once. Katani had made several little dioramas that looked like tiny rooms and had placed different-colored lights in each. They were tiny colorful bulbs—like Christmas tree lights. “You know how Kelley is very sensitive to lights?” Katani asked.
“Yeah. I once saw this thing on the Discovery Channel that said that people with autism have superpower senses,” Isabel recalled.
“Well, we end up using up a lot of power in my house because of Kelley’s special light requests. The lights in my project run completely on energy generated by water power. See?” Katani opened a water valve and a little fountain of water began running and turned on a pink light in a little model bedroom.
“That is so cool, Katani!” Charlotte gasped.
“You know,” Maeve agreed, “pink lighting makes people feel better.”
The girls laughed. “I mean, it’s cool that you did a project that is not only good for the environment, but good for all families with someone who has autism,” Charlotte said with a smile.
“I also calculated the amount of money and energy you can save by changing all the light bulbs in your house to CFBs—compact florescent bulbs,” Katani went on. “They’re pretty incredible. They use seventy-five percent less energy and last for up to ten times as long! Changing light bulbs is something every family can do.”
“That really is truly fabulous, Kgirl,” Maeve complimented her. Isabel and Charlotte just shook their heads in amazement. Katani always put everything she had into projects; this might be her best one yet.
Isabel jokingly poked Charlotte. “So when do we get to see this incredible secret project that you, Nick, and Chelsea are doing?”
Charlotte zipped her lips mysteriously. “We are setting up in a top secret location.”
“Top secret, eh?” Avery craftily rubbed her hands together. “Bet it won’t be so top secret when I find it myself. Come on, girls!” she teased, egging on the rest of the BSG to follow her on a mission. Maeve and Isabel giggled and skipped after Avery.
A look of panic struck Charlotte’s face. “Wait! Stop!” she cried, half laughing, as she ran out behind them.
Katani didn’t have time for an undercover science detective mission right now. She still had a lot of work to do on her display to make it just perfect. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Reggie, a few booths down, putting the final touches on his very dramatic project—a model go-cart track that used only hybrid carts, powered both by fuel and batteries. Katani had to admit, she’d felt slightly jealous at the number of kids who had gushed over Reggie’s display. It was pretty flashy, complete with rock music and colorful, blinking lights. Katani’s project looked modest in comparison, but she had worked very hard and had gotten every detail just right.
She mustered up all of her acting skills—if only she could morph into a different person like Maeve—and pretended to be totally cool and nonchalant as she sauntered over to Reggie’s booth. Up close, Reggie’s project was even more impressive. The go-cart track was so perfect, Katani thought, it was a shame that there wasn’t a population of two-inch tall people to enjoy all his hard work. He had decorated the track with tiny flags and painted everything perfectly—it almost looked like a mini-carnival! Katani stared at the track. This boy genius is too amazing! she fumed to herself. Reggie was so busy fiddling around with batteries and wires on the floor that he didn’t even notice her subtle inspection.
Just then, she caught sight of Reggie’s calculations for how much battery power the cars would require. Katani might not have been very good at acting, but she was exceptional at math. And it didn’t take her long to figure out that one of Reggie’s calculations was off. She did a little quick math on the pad of paper she was carrying and realized that if Reggie applied his work, those go-carts weren’t going to get very far. Suddenly Katani felt bad for the little two-inch people she had imagined, because if they actually existed, they wouldn’t have a very fun time at Reggie DeWitt’s go-cart track when their carts ran out of battery power!
She felt a surge of smugness and superiority to that know-it-all science geek who had oh-so-rudely borrow
ed her very own father. This’ll show him that he’s not as smart as he thinks! Katani gloated to herself.
“Cool project, man,” Dillon exclaimed as he passed by Reggie’s booth.
“Yeah!” Henry Yurt added. “For once I wish I was shorter so I could, like, ride on this stuff!” He gave Reggie an enthusiastic high-five.
Katani folded her arms and prepared for her moment of sweet revenge. She was going to point out Reggie’s flaming error in front of two of his fans. He would be so humiliated! She smiled and began, “I was reading your calculations, Reggie—”
“Oh, yeah!” Reggie jumped up from the floor with a huge smile on his face. Katani’s heart thumped. He looked so happy…and kind of cute. “Um, uh, I was reading your calculations too, actually.” Katani tilted her head. Was it just her imagination, or was Reggie actually nervous?
“Your work with water power is so fascinating…I mean, uh…really sick, man,” Reggie corrected himself quickly.
Katani frowned. “Sick?” Was he for real? When would Reggie quit with this whole ridiculous rap star persona?
“Yeah, you know. Sick—like awesome. Off the hook! Sick is better than sweet. Your project rocks the house, Katani.”
Whoa. The way he said it was total goofball (really, as if Kgirl didn’t know what “sick” meant!), but his compliment was actually…nice. She felt so rattled all of a sudden that she didn’t know quite what to say except a soft, “Thank you.”
“I wish your booth was farther away, actually,” Reggie went on. “It kind of makes me look bad. You have this like, important idea that could actually help people, and I just have a model toy set.”
At that moment Katani didn’t want to humiliate Reggie at all. “Yours is sick too, Reggie. You did, uh…a great job,” she told him, feeling the white lie stick a little in her throat. Now Katani didn’t know what to do. Should she tell him about the mistake in his calculations? Maybe it would be better just to let it go. Most people would never even notice the error when they looked at his project…
“I hope so,” he confided. “Ms. R wants me to do a live demonstration at the Science Fair tomorrow night.”
“That’s gonna rock, dude!” Dillon said enthusiastically, high-fiving Reggie.
Katani gulped as she realized what was going to happen. When he demonstrated his project in front of the entire school, he was going to be humiliated for sure! Everyone would watch his perfect little go-carts run out of battery power and stop right in the middle of the demonstration. Katani opened her mouth to say something, but when she looked at Dillon and Yurt’s excited faces, she closed it again. Warning Reggie now, in front of his admirers, was just as bad. She swallowed, feeling absolutely terrible for Math Boy, and said in a voice she hoped sounded optimistic, “Good luck!” And to herself she added, he’s gonna need it.
CHAPTER 20
Symbiotic Relationships
Eeeeeleeeenaaaaa,” Isabel yelled, “I’m running mega late for the science fair!” She pushed her way into their bedroom and gaped in horror. “And so are you!” She pointed at Elena Maria, who was wrapped up in her fuzzy purple terry cloth bathrobe. “Will you get dressed? You can’t go to the science fair in your PJs.”
Elena Maria crawled back under her comforter. “I’m not going to the science fair, okay?”
Isabel threw back her head. She and Avery had been plotting this forever—the final step in their matchmaking plot. “Are you kidding me? You’re going to ruin everything!”
Elena Maria sat up with a start. “I’m going to ruin everything? What are you talking about? This is your science fair, Iz.”
“I, um, I know that,” stammered Isabel. “I just mean that if you don’t go you will ruin the family support vibe. And that vibe is, um, very, very important to me. I mean Mom is going to a play this evening, I don’t want her to have to cancel her plans.”
“Oh, for pete’s sake,” groaned Elena Maria. “As much as I want to help your…whadya call it…family vibe, going to anything tonight is seriously the last thing I want to do.”
Isabel sat down on the edge of her sister’s bed. “How come? Tell your dear sister all about it.”
“Don’t tease me tonight—I’m not in the mood.” Elena Maria blinked and Isabel noticed that her sister’s eyes were pink and swollen. “At lunch today Jimmy asked a girl to the spring dance…right before my very eyes!”
Isabel puckered her lower lip in sympathy. “Oh, Elena. That’s horrible. I’m so sorry.”
“It gets worse.” Elena Maria sniffled. “The girl he asked out was Cammy Dooley, my supposed best friend!” She blew her nose into a tissue.
“Cammy Dooley!” Isabel squeaked. “You’ve got to be kidding!”
“Now my ex-best friend,” Elena Maria huffed. “Well, you know what? She can have dweebish Jimmy, and his dweebish friends, and I hope she has a lot of dweebish fun making dweebish food for the dweebish indoor lacrosse team!” She got out of bed and began furiously brushing her long, silky hair. “I might as well just get used to the fact that I’m going to end up an old maid living with a million cats.”
Isabel rolled her eyes. “You hate cats, Elena…and you don’t even like Jimmy anymore, anyway. You said so.”
“That’s totally not the point. The point is…” Elena Maria looked tragically at her reflection in the mirror. “The point is I am a failure at romance. I’m going to be alone forever. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must go downstairs. If you need me I’ll be in the kitchen, baking away my pain.”
“Okay.” Isabel shrugged. “Hey, speaking of baking…Avery said Scott baked a huge cake designed to look like a gumball.”
Elena Maria froze at her door. “He did?”
Isabel smiled. “Yup. He’s bringing it to the fair tonight.”
Elena Maria turned her head slowly. “He is?”
“Yup. He mentioned that he hoped you’d be there—he wants another cook’s professional opinion.”
A smug smile popped on Elena Maria’s face. “He does? That’s so sweet. Well, I’d hate to let him down. You know, as one professional to another.” Elena Maria untied her robe to reveal an adorable khaki pleated skirt and a crisp, white blouse. “Yikes, would you look at the time! Isabel, clap clap, let’s go!”
Isabel was so stunned by her sister’s caterpillar to butterfly transformation that she was utterly speechless. If time heals all wounds, then my sister should be in The Guinness Book of World Records! she thought. “Okay, let’s go!”
Matchmaker, Matchmaker
“Step right up, ladies and gentle-dudes,” Avery cried. “Step right up! See the amazing gum-chewing super boy. The one and only, the great…Scottdini!”
“Ave—this will require major compensation later, of the chore-doing kind,” Scott whispered in his sister’s ear as he squeezed her elbow. He was totally mortified by Avery’s carnival-style presentation.
“I’ll tell you why he rules the kingdom of gum,” Avery continued to shout. “Because…he’s Scottdini. Emperor of stickiness. Sultan of spearmint. King of the environment.”
Scott stepped off the footstool. “That’s it, I’m leaving.”
Avery sighed. She’d tried every trick in the book to find Elena Maria. She’d sent Scott over to Isabel’s booth to ask for tape, but he said that Isabel wasn’t there. Then there was her last idea—making Scott into a circus sideshow in hopes that Elena Maria would see him. Twenty minutes later, the only people who had found Scott were two giggly sixth graders who wanted their pictures taken with “the great Scottdini.”
“Aw, c’mon, bro. Don’t leave…,” Avery begged.
Scott glared at Avery. “How do I put this? Okay, remember when I hurt my leg skiing last winter? And I had to spend the entire ski weekend in a hospital with that crazy nurse who practiced opera singing in my room?”
Avery nodded nervously.
“Tonight is making me miss that nurse.” Scott glumly took a seat on the stool. “Are you sure Elena Maria said she wanted my chocolate dipped
granola banana recipe? I feel like she’s not even coming.”
Avery shrugged. “That’s what Isabel told me. I mean, uh…you know how Elena likes her bananas.” Bananas. Avery shuddered. I’m the one who’s bananas. She felt a little guilty about making that last part up, but Avery was tired of seeing her brother mope around the house like a love-sick puppy. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and the desperate one in this situation was Avery!
She cleared her throat and gave one last hearty, “Come and see the great Scottdini!”
“Since when is your brother a magician?” asked Charlotte with a coy smile. She was sort of an amateur magician herself and had become quite good at performing tricks in public.
“They’re not called magicians, they’re illusionists,” corrected Isabel, who also seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
“He’s not a magician, he’s a gum artist,” Avery clarified. “And, ahem, where in the name of Scottdini have you been, Isabel?” She lowered her voice and added, “I thought you were bringing company.”
“I did, but it wasn’t easy,” Isabel whispered back. “She went into the bathroom fifteen minutes ago to check on her lip gloss and I haven’t seen her s—”
“Yo, Elena Maria! Over here!” Avery interrupted. She started jumping up and down and waving her hands furiously in the air. Elena Maria, standing at the far end of the gym, looked positively terrified as she crept over to Avery’s booth.
“That was slick, Sis,” Scott growled. His face was pinker than Maeve’s bedroom.
“Hi,” Elena Maria greeted them softly, as she reached the booth. She looked around at Avery’s display. “So…where’s the cake?”
Scott, Avery, and Charlotte looked bewildered. “What cake?” Avery asked. “You want some gum or something?”
Elena Maria blinked. “Scott’s cake. That’s why you wanted me here, right?”
