“I did,” Josh answered. “And I sent it to Darjeeling. The rest is up to you.”
“Piece of cake,” said Firecracker. “I’ll see you later.”
The day dragged on. At lunch Josh tried to perk himself up by downing an energy drink, but all it did was make him feel sick. By the time planetary geography class rolled around in the afternoon, he was both wired and sleepy. It was a horrible combination, and all he wanted to do was sit at his desk and zone out.
Unfortunately, he had to listen to the other presentations. There was going to be a test on the information, so he forced his eyes open and tried to concentrate on what was being said. Beside him, Firecracker’s leg bounced up and down anxiously as he waited his turn to go before the class.
Josh listened as Veda Churling told them about the formation of the Martian Sea, then as Peter Prieboy gave a rambling account of the meteor strike that had created the Vargas Canyon. None of it was very interesting, and Josh found his thoughts wandering. He hoped the recorder built into his NoteTaker had caught everything, but he doubted it. It had been acting up lately, and he hadn’t had time to fix it.
Finally it was Firecracker’s turn. He went to the front of the room and started talking. As promised, he had made holographic maps to illustrate the changes taking place in Antarctica and how the resulting rise in water levels was affecting the rest of the earth. This was followed by an animation showing the Antarctic Conflict waged by the seven countries claiming territorial rights to the area, and the ultimate creation of a protected world park there.
When Firecracker was done, the class applauded. Firecracker took a deep bow, waving to his audience and hamming it up. Josh couldn’t help but laugh. They were going to get a great grade, he just knew it.
With the presentations over, Ms. Darjeeling resumed control of the class. “I have to say, I’m very impressed with your work on these projects,” she told them. “I’m sending your grades to your NoteTakers. If you have any questions about them, please see me after class.”
She punched a sequence of numbers into the control panel on her desk, and all around the room NoteTakers made the chiming sound that indicated the arrival of a transmission. Josh clicked on his message box and looked for his grade.
When he saw it, his heart skipped a beat. He’d expected a B-plus or at worst a B. He’d gotten a D.
“I got an A,” Firecracker said. “Score one for me. What did you get?”
“Not an A,” Josh said.
Firecracker looked at Josh’s screen. “A D?” he said loudly enough for several people to look over at them. “Our final grade is based on both our scores. That means we’re getting a…”
“C-plus,” said Josh as Firecracker tried to figure out the answer in his head.
“A C-plus,” Firecracker agreed.
“A C-plus isn’t that bad,” said Josh, trying to reassure his friend.
“It’s not an A,” Firecracker shot back.
“I’m sorry,” said Josh. “I don’t know what happened. I thought I did an okay job.”
“Yeah, well, apparently you didn’t,” Firecracker said, slumping in his seat. “Thanks a lot, partner.”
“I’m sorry,” Josh said again. But Firecracker wouldn’t even look at him.
9
“What’s the matter, cowboy?”
Josh looked up. Charlie was standing in front of him on the train. “What are you doing here?” he asked her, looking around.
“Relax,” Charlie said. “Your friend isn’t here.”
“Did you follow me?” Josh said.
Charlie smiled. “Why would I do that?” she replied. She took the seat next to Josh. “Okay, maybe I did. But I’m not stalking you or anything. I just wanted to see if you could come over tonight.”
“Come over?” Josh repeated.
“To my house,” Charlie clarified. “I thought we could go over the maps for tomorrow.”
Josh shook his head. “I can’t,” he said. “Tonight is family night.”
Charlie raised an eyebrow. “Family night,” she said. “Sounds fun.”
“Yeah. Well.” Josh shrugged. He didn’t want to tell Charlie he was actually looking forward to mini golf. Or at least he had been, until he’d gotten the grade on his report. Now he didn’t really feel like doing anything.
“This is a big game for you,” Charlie reminded him. “And Location Four isn’t the easiest field to play. Are you sure you’re ready?”
Josh started to assure her that he was, but found himself saying, “Actually, no. I’m not sure at all. I tried to memorize the maps last night, but I had to do this report for school, and it got late and—”
“You’re coming over,” Charlie interrupted him. “Just tell your parents you have to do something else tonight.”
“Like what?” said Josh.
Charlie thought for a moment, biting her lip and frowning. “Tell them you’re volunteering for something,” she said. “Tonight is orientation, and tomorrow is your first day. That gives you an out for both days. And whenever we have a game, you can say you have to volunteer.”
“I don’t know,” Josh hedged. “I don’t think they’d buy it.”
“Tell them it’s for school credit,” said Charlie.
Josh thought about it. “That might work,” he agreed. “But I need to think of a realistic group to volunteer for.”
“The homeless,” said Charlie. “You’re helping the homeless. That’s perfect. You can tell them the group works all over the city; that way they won’t ever expect you to be in any one place.”
Josh knew Charlie was right that he was going to need a good excuse for spending time away from home. He took a deep breath, then dialed his mother’s number at work and told her what he was supposedly doing.
“That went well,” Charlie remarked when Josh ended the call.
“I lucked out,” said Josh. “She was distracted. One of the gryphons bit someone.”
“Gryphons?” Charlie said.
“She’s a biologist,” Josh explained. “A cloner. She makes imaginary animals. I mean she makes imaginary animals real.”
“I get it,” said Charlie. “Cool. What does your dad do?”
“He’s a doctor too,” said Josh. “The normal kind. You know, shots and checkups and stuff.”
“Wow,” Charlie said. “Two brainiacs for parents. Did you inherit their superbrains?”
Josh laughed. “Not so much,” he said. “My sister Emily is the smart one. She’s actually scary smart. I’m pretty good at a lot of things, but not super good at any of them.”
“Except torching,” Charlie reminded him.
“Except that,” Josh agreed. “So what do your parents—”
“This is our stop,” said Charlie, interrupting. She stood up as the doors opened, and she and Josh hopped off. Charlie pointed to a train on the other side of the platform. “Come on,” she said. “That’s the one we want.”
The second train took them diagonally across the city, going underground for most of the way and then emerging into daylight and climbing up onto the elevated tracks. Below them Josh saw the squat, brown brick houses of Old Town. The steel supports of the elevated train stuck up like the legs of giant birds from the tangle of homes.
Old Town occupied the northeast corner of the city. Most of the houses were the original ones built hundreds of years before by the settlers who discovered the land. They were all built with bricks made from local clay, which gave them their brown color. Josh had been there a few times, mainly to visit the Museum of City History on school trips. But he didn’t know anyone who lived there.
“Here we are,” Charlie said as the train came to a stop. They exited onto a platform high above the street and headed for the stairs.