D. MacHale - The Quillan Games

Courtney wasn’t used to admitting fault, or weakness, so the worry about how to explain her absence to the kids at school caused her more anxiety than just about anything else. Eventually she came up with a story that was partially true. She decided to be honest. Sort of. She would boldly say how she was under a lot of stress and was having trouble dealing with it. So rather than forcing it and alienating all her friends, which would have only made things worse, she chose to take a timeout. Courtney wanted to show strength in discussing her weakness. Then, she decided, she would immediately tell people about how she was nearly killed up in Massachusetts. She knew that story would be way more interesting than the one about her being depressed, and hoped the kids would soon forget about why she was gone in the first place. With that plan in place, Courtney felt she was ready to reenter her life.

The day after Thanksgiving, before she returned to school, Courtney got a call from Mark, who seemed all sorts of excited.

“I’ve got to show you something,” he said. “Can I come over?”

“Is it-“

“No,” Mark said quickly. “No new mail. It’s something we’ve been working on.” “We?”

“Yeah,” Mark said. “Is it okay if I bring Andy Mitchell over too?”

Courtney hesitated, then said, “You know I’m still not used to you hanging out with that roach.”

Mark laughed. “I know. But things are different.”

“Fine,” Courtney said. “Just make sure he takes a shower first. And washes his hair. The guy’s disgusting. That hair always looks like the Crisco fairy just paid him a visit.”

“I’m not going to tell him that,” Mark said.

“And there’s no smoking in my house,” Courtney said. “And deodorant is good. So is a toothbrush.”

“Can I bring him over or not?” Mark asked impatiently.

“Yes,” Courtney said. “I’m just giving you a hard time. But make sure he takes his shoes off before he comes in. No, wait, I don’t want to smell his socks. He can leave his shoes on.”

“Good-bye, Courtney,” Mark said with a laugh. “We’ll be there in an hour.”

Right on time, Courtney’s doorbell rang. She opened the door to see Mark and Andy standing there. Her first thought was, He didn’t wash his hair. But she didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to embarrass Mark.

Courtney thought the two guys made an odd pair. Mark was shorter than Andy, with black hair that wasn’t so much long as it was curly and unruly. It always looked like he had been in a windstorm, even after he got a haircut. They were the same age, but Andy looked much older. Or maybe, Courtney thought, Mark still looks like a little kid. Andy had the red blotches from a bad bout with acne, which didn’t do much for his overall appearance. Courtney always thought that if he washed his face and hair a little more often, he might not have had to deal with so many skin problems. His dirty-blond hair always looked stringy and wet. He wasn’t a handsome guy either. Where Mark was cute in a kind of little-boy way, Andy looked like an older kid who had already seen too much of life.

“Hi!” Mark said brightly.

“Hey, Chetwynde, how you feeling?” Andy asked. “Great,” Courtney said. “Steal any good books lately?” “Courtney!” Mark chastised.

Andy shook his head and snorted. Courtney wanted to gag. “You’re hysterical, Chetwynde,” Mitchell said. “Anybody ever tell you that?’

“Sorry,” Courtney said. She meant it too. “Old habits. C’mon in.” She led the boys into the house and to the kitchen. “You guys want some leftover pumpkin pie?” Courtney asked.

“Sure!” Mark chirped.

“Did you make it?” Mitchell asked.

“Are you kidding?” Courtney answered. “No!”

“Then I’ll have some,” Mitchell said.

Courtney glared refrigerator. Mark and Andy sat down at the high counter across from her.

“So what’s going on?” Courtney asked.

Mark could barely contain his excitement. “The project Andy and I are working on got accepted for the eastern regional science exposition! Isn’t that awesome?”

“Uh, yeah,” Courtney said, though it didn’t sound like she meant it.

“Geez, Chetwynde,” Mitchell said. “Try to contain your joy.”

“I’m sorry,” Courtney said. “That was rude. I just don’t know anything about it.”

“It’s leading up to the single biggest high school science competition of the year is all!” Mark explained. “The regionals are next week in Orlando. If we win our class, we go to the nationals in January!”

“Wow,” Courtney said. “That is pretty good.” This time she meant it.

“Pretty good?” Mitchell said. “It’s freaking awesome. You’re looking at a couple of geniuses.”

Courtney stopped and looked at them. Neither looked like a genius, but then again, she didn’t know what geniuses were supposed to look like. She could accept that Mark had the goods, but she still couldn’t get her head around the fact that Andy Mitchell could spell his own name let alone create something that would be honored by a national committee. She decided not to challenge them, for Mark’s sake. She put their pieces of pie down on the counter and said, “So what’s the big project?”

Mark smiled and said, “That’s why we’re here. Nobody outside of the club at school and the judging committee has seen it. We wanted you to be the first civilian to get a look.”

“Mark wanted you to be the first,” Andy corrected.

Courtney let the dig pass. Mark reached into his backpack while Andy picked up the piece of pie with his hands and bit off half. He could barely close his mouth to chew. Courtney stared at him in wonder. She held out a fork. “This works too” she said flatly.

“Nah, I’m good” Andy said through the mouthful of gooey pie.

Mark pulled a small metal box out of his backpack He opened it and reached inside, saying, “This is so revolutionary, Mr. Pike at Sci-Clops thinks we should get it patented.”

“Enough buildup, what is it?” Courtney demanded.

Mark took something out of the metal box and placed it down on the counter. It was a round dull-gray object about the size of a golf ball. It wasn’t perfectly round. It had facets and bumps, as if it were made of clay. To Courtney it looked like…

“Silly Putty,” she said. “This is your big revolutionary invention?”

Mark and Andy exchanged knowing smiles. Mark said, “We call it ‘Forge.’” “Because…?”

“Watch,” Mark said. He leaned in close to the object and said, “Activate.”

The thing didn’t move.

Courtney looked at the two guys curiously and asked, “Did it activate?”

“Yup,” Andy said.

Courtney nodded. “Nice,” she said, unimpressed. “Dull, but nice.”

Mark said, “The mechanics are fairly rudimentary, nothing big there. The skin is something Andy’s been working on for a while now. My contribution is the brain that drives it.”

“Wow,” Courtney said sarcastically. “No wonder you’re going to Orlando! Be sure to say hi to Mickey and Goofy for me. Especially Goofy.”

Andy said, “You just don’t get it, do you?”

“What’s to get?” Courtney said quickly.

Mark leaned down to the object and said in a firm, clear voice: “Cube!”

The object began to writhe. It looked to Courtney like the center was full of worms that had all decided to shift at the same time. She heard a faint metallic clattering sound. Five seconds later the object had changed itself from a ball into a cube. Courtney stared at it, wide eyed. Andy gave Mark a smug look. Mark beamed.

“Still think we should be hanging with Goofy?” Andy asked.

“That’s incredible!” Courtney shouted. All traces of sarcasm were gone. “How did it do that?”