Escape Velocity

Chapter Fifteen

I rummaged around for a pen and opened my notebook. I headed the page "PARALLAX." I drew a line down the middle and labeled the right column "PRO" and the left "CON." I began writing under "CON" because I always started Steve's Sure-Fire Semi-Secret Stratagem with the negatives. This wasn't the time to go all crazy and change my pattern.

1. Ben was cute.

No, that was a positive. I scratched it out and wrote it under "PRO."

1. I was interested in two different boys.

Wait. Was that good or bad? I scratched it out. Wait, I realized there was something that made it a Con. I put it back on the list.

1. I was interested in two boys. Kate was interested in them, too, even though she already had a boyfriend.

2. Kate had an advantage when she picked her teammate after the first challenge.

That was definitely a negative. It really bugged me.

3. I wasn't friends with anyone at Parallax.

Maybe that wasn't true. I crossed it out.

3. Kate was smart and pretty and thin.

4. Parallax was harder than I expected.

5. There was teamwork.

6. The next time Gramp forgot who I was, he might never remember me again.

Technically, that wasn't a Parallax issue, except being stuck at Parallax meant I couldn't see him.

I already had an item under "PRO," but I changed it to add Duncan. Better odds if there were two guys to consider.

1. Ben and Duncan were both cute but in different ways.

2. Two boys seemed interested in me.

This might not be a testable hypothesis. If they were intentionally misleading, this should be under "CON."

3. Melisse and Christina might be friends. With me.

If I was wrong, this belonged under "CON," but I decided to keep it under "PRO."

4. I was on the winning team for some of the class challenges and one of the projects.

5. I still stood a chance of being selected.

6. Gramp would never forget me if I found his sister.

I had some doubts about that, but I preferred balanced lists. Six and six.

Steve's Sure-Fire Semi-Secret Stratagem wasn't as magical this time. It did slow down my churning, looping worries about Parallax, but it didn't change the most important thing: Gramp hadn't recognized me on the phone call. He thought I was my mom. Without me around, he had forgotten who I was. Just like I predicted.

Nothing could change that. Nothing.

~~~

Ms. Tyson pointed to two bags, one on a table at the left wall and one on a table to the right. There were three names on each. My name was on the one that included Kate and Christina. That was good and bad. Kate was smart but bossy. Christina worked hard but didn't usually take the lead. I could be resourceful, so it could work out.

Right.

"Go to the bag with your name. I'll let you know what to do next." Ms. Tyson tugged the front of her green tartan vest and adjusted a teal grosgrain hair ribbon that had come undone.

"Let's get this party started. Your task is to find a way, without using any tools, to insert a paper straw through a potato, leaving the potato whole. As soon as each team accomplishes the task, please take your seats. Open the bags now."