"Oh, crap, Mel. Of course you lose your calculator on your first day of algebra at a new school. Of course." I dig through my pencil bag, looking for the telltale shape of my scientific calculator.
"Excuse me, but I heard you lost your calculator? I have an extra one, if you'd like to use it." The guy who sits next to me hands me a calculator.
"Thanks a lot." I say, smiling.
"You must be new to Mission Creek. I'm Chase Davenport."
"Davenport? As in-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. As in the tech mogul giant. He's my...dad."
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Chase Davenport. I'm Mellie Hancock."
The teacher hands out the tests. 23 minutes later, I stand up and hand in my paper to Mrs. Gravers. That Chase kid turns his in at the exact same time. As we turn them in, our hands brush. I yank mine back as I feel a little spark. He gives me a small smile and his face turns a little red. I take out my worn copy of The Hobbit, that I've read millions of times. The bell rings and I get up. It's finally lunch time. I dump my books in the locker, and I grab my brown bag lunch. I am about to sit down at an empty table when someone grabs my sleeve. Chase drags me to sit with a girl and two other boys.
"Someone as smart as you shouldn't sit by herself. You're practically as smart as me."
"Practically? Maybe I'm smarter."
"You aren't. Trust me." I roll my eyes and sit down. The girl smiles at me.
"Hey, I'm Bree. I see you've met my brother Chase. This is my other brother, Adam, and our stepbrother, Leo."
"I'm Mellie Hancock. I just moved here from Phoenix." Adam gives me a weird look, then bursts out laughing.
"Silly! Don't you know Phoenix is just a legend? Like unicorns, leprechauns and underground Subways. They don't put restaurants underground."
"No, I'm from the city, in Arizona."
"Don't bother, Mel. Doofus here won't get it." Chase says. Adam gives him a look, then punches him.
"Oops, I glitched." Bree, Leo and Chase share a nervous look.
"Adam..." Bree hisses.
"What do you mean, glitched?"
"Hahaha, it's Adam. His brain glitches all the time.....hahaha." Chase laughs nervously.
"I have a 4.0 grade point average. All the time. You aren't fooling me." I say, taking a bite out of my apple.
"Sure, I may not be a smart as my super brained brother here," Adam pokes Chase. "But, I was not glitching in the brain. I wasn't glitching at all, actually. I was pretending because Mr. Davenport said if we don't get in our capsules we might glitch...." He trails off, as if realizing what he's saying. "Ohhhhh no. I messed up, didn't I?" He looks at his siblings.