2

“I can’t believe we have to share a bus with them,” Sonja, the tallest — and feistiest — kid in S.M.A.R.T.S. burst out as the bus came to a stop in front of Edison Middle School.

The Edison science club, the Mad Scientists, was one of the other teams taking part in the Mars simulation. Since both clubs were from schools in the same town, their sponsors had decided it made sense for them to share a bus.

“They turned out to be pretty nice,” Jaden argued. “They all congratulated us after we won that unsolved mystery competition between our clubs, remember?”

“Don’t you remember that they cheated?” Sonja demanded. In the competition, both teams had been required to come up with a solution to an unsolved mystery. For S.M.A.R.T.S., part of solving the mystery had been figuring out that the Mad Scientists had tried to trick them.

“And not all of them were nice,” Caleb added as the driver got out to help the Mads load their gear into the bus’s storage compartment. “Not Barrett Snyder.”

“Barrett’s different,” Zoe said. She looked out the window at him. Barrett was eating a giant bag of Cheez Crunchies and had orange crumbs all down the front of his shirt. “He’s still mad that he didn’t get to be in S.M.A.R.T.S.”

Barrett was a former Hubble Middle School student who’d really wanted to join the S.M.A.R.T.S., but his grades hadn’t been good enough. When he’d transferred to Edison earlier in the year, he’d joined the Mad Scientists right away. It seemed like his goal was proving the Mads were superior.

“Let’s think of this as a fresh start,” Mrs. Ram suggested, overhearing their conversation.

A few moments later, Mr. Olsen, the Mad Scientists’ sponsor, led his club onto the bus. Barrett plopped down in a seat near the Things. He stuffed another handful of Crunchies into his mouth, then cracked his knuckles.

“Don’t crack your knuckles. We —” Benjamin began.

This time Samuel jumped right in, “— hate that sound!”

Barrett grinned. “What, you mean this sound?” He cracked his knuckles again, and the Things let out a howl.

“Barrett, enough,” Mr. Olsen said firmly.

“Yeah, Barrett,” Amanda, one of the Mads, said. “That’s so annoying.”

Finn, another Mads, cleared his throat. “Uh, we all wanted to say again that we’re sorry about the last competition.”

Sonja frowned, but Jaden smiled. “Thanks,” he said. Most of the other S.M.A.R.T.S. nodded.

During the ride, the Mads seemed like they were trying to be extra nice. One of the girls, Caroline, traded bad jokes with Jaden. Finn passed around a bag of homemade cookies while the two clubs talked about the Mars colony simulation. Amanda started up the license plate game, and almost everybody from both groups played.

Jaden noticed that Samuel and Benjamin didn’t join in. They kept their heads close together, talking only to each other. Barrett didn’t play, either.

“Look!” Mrs. Ram exclaimed after they’d been on the road a couple hours. “You can see the habs.”

Zoe’s heart started beating faster as the structures came into view. Each hab looked like a row of four giant marshmallows linked together by short elevated tunnels. She wished the bus could drive straight across the desert and right over to them. She wanted to explore!

“Do you think people could really live in those tiny habs for the rest of their lives?” Jaden asked.

“You sound scared,” Barrett said with a sneer. “I bet you’d be crying to get out before the simulation ended, and it’s only four days.”

“Four days would be no problem,” Jaden answered, his eyes on the habs. “But we’re talking decades for the colonists.”

“How about a bet?” Barrett asked the other Mad Scientists. “I say we’ll handle the simulation a hundred times better than S.M.A.R.T.S. The sponsors can be the judges and pick which team does the best.”

“It’s not a competition, Barrett,” Amanda reminded him. “It’s a chance to experience what it would be like to live on another planet.”

“You don’t want to go up against us, anyway,” Caleb added. “We crushed you in our last competition.”

“Oooh, them’s fightin’ words,” Caroline joked. “Now we have to do it.” Finn and some of the other Mads nodded in agreement.

Amanda shrugged. “If everyone wants to … sure.”

“We are so in!” Sonja called.

“If it’s a competition, what’s the prize?” Zoe asked. She was much more excited about living like a Mars colonist than competing, but a contest could be fun.

“We’re all makers. I say losers make the winners a trophy,” Caroline suggested.

“Then S.M.A.R.T.S. will have to make a trophy case for when we win,” Jaden joked. He turned toward Mrs. Ram, Mr. Leavey, and Mr. Olsen. “Could you be our judges? Pretty please?”

The adults looked at each other. “You’ll have to accept our decision with no arguments,” Mr. Leavey said finally.

Both teams agreed. “But the Mad Scientists better not cheat again,” Sonja added loudly.