Levi did not choose to be Kat Bombard’s work buddy. No one in his right mind would want to work with Kat Bombard.
The decision was made by their homeroom teacher, Ms. Padilla, who, by the third week of school, had tried every trick in the district manual to keep Kat in line: special deals, calling home, taking away free time before lunch, taking away free time after lunch . . .
As a last resort, Ms. Padilla moved Kat’s desk next to the desk of her quietest student.
For their first assignment, each student team had to research an invertebrate species. Levi and Kat were assigned the Portuguese man-of-war, a jellyfish-like ocean creature with a beautiful sail floating above the water and dangerous stinging tentacles below the surface.
Of course, Kat didn’t exactly jump on the assignment . . .
Finally, when Kat broke out her Yoda impression, Levi lost his patience. “You going to help with this?”
“Help you I cannot,” answered Yoda. “Learning too much can dangerous be.”
“How can learning be dangerous?”
“In my case it can be,” said Kat. “The more I know, the more danger I put the world in.”
“Huh?”
“Listen: If the knowledge is in my brain, they’ll be able to access it and use it against us.”
“Who’s they?”
Kat’s voice dropped to a whisper. “They . . . are the extraterrestrial spies that visited my room last summer.”
Levi snorted and turned back to his work.
“It happened on a hot, humid night,” continued Kat. “I was chilling in my bedroom when suddenly I heard this strange humming outside . . .
“So I snuck out to the backyard, and soon every molecule in my body was vibrating. Even the nerves in my teeth were tingling . . .
“And then I looked up . . .”
“A spaceship?” said Levi. “Yeah, right!”
“It’s the undiluted truth!” insisted Kat. “I swear!”
“Sure. How stupid do you think I am?” said Levi.
“So, uh . . . What happened next?”
“Okay, so . . . I tried to run, but they dragged me into their Cross-Dimensional Laboratory of Horror!
“. . . So after they were done sifting through my mental archives, they erased my memory and returned me to my bed.”
“Wait,” said Levi, “but if they erased your memory, how were you able to tell me everything just now?”
Kat furrowed her brow. “Maybe the memory eraser malfunctioned. Or maybe my superior cerebrum resisted the beam.”
Levi looked unconvinced.
“Well, anyway, that’s the reason I can’t help you with this stupid project! The more I know, the more dangerous I am.”
“Doesn’t matter anyway. The work’s all done,” said Levi. He wrote his name at the top of the packet, hesitated, and added Kat’s name before turning it in.