Mary had heard herself mentioned to Miss Bingley as the most accomplished girl in the neighbourhood.
— Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Volume I, Chapter Three
“Mary and Josh? Could I see you both in my classroom after school, please?”
The Monday before Thanksgiving, Mr. Gilbertson frowned as he stopped by our lunch table. Josh and I glanced at each other before silently nodding at Mr. Gilbertson.
He kept walking through the cafeteria, not stopping to harass anyone else, so he wasn’t just in a cranky mood.
But it didn’t make sense. “Do you think he’s pissed that we didn’t sign up for Honors Physics next term?”
Josh popped a French fry in his mouth. “Maybe, but he did tell us we aced the roller coaster.”
“Ha.” I reached over and grabbed a few of his fries. My own lunches had improved greatly in the last month, thanks to both Kowalski’s and the fact that Mom had gone off Atkins again, but today’s salad couldn’t compete with Josh’s fries. “Even though Mr. Gilbertson kept acting like he thought my sister Liz built it.”
I’d even gotten Liz to stop by after school one day to see Mr. Gilbertson and deny it herself.
“Yeah, well, it might be good news.”
As Josh took a bite of his hamburger, I watched his hands. Nice hands, and all mine. Penelope had moved on to Kyle, weirdly enough, and was sitting across the cafeteria right now, holding hands with him. And wearing a copycat of the outfit I’d worn yesterday.
Right after the last bell rang, we went together to the drinking fountain, because I was so nervous about why we had to see Mr. Gilbertson that my throat had gone dry. Finally, and as slowly as I could get away with, we returned to Mr. Gilbertson's classroom. The instant we stepped inside, my jaw dropped. Mr. Gilbertson was there, waiting for us. But so were Mom and Dad, Josh’s mom, Ms. Kieran, Mr. Paymar, a woman I didn’t know, and even Liz and Jane. But no Cat.
“Wh-what—”
Suddenly nervous, I started to push my glasses up higher on my nose, totally forgetting that I wore contacts now. I poked myself in the eye. Josh grabbed my hand and held on, in front of everyone. Dad winked at me, Liz started whistling, and Mr. Gilbertson smiled, shocking me. Tears were flowing down Mom’s face.
Leave it to Mom to have a totally different reaction from everyone else in the room.
Mr. Gilbertson stepped toward us, accompanied by the woman I didn’t know. She was tall and rail thin, but when she looked at us over the tops of her cat-eye reading glasses, her bright smile took the pinched look off her face.
“Mary and Josh, this is Dr. Stein. From the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.”
MIT?
I suddenly felt as tongue-tied as I had around Josh at the beginning of the school year. If I said anything, I might start stammering.
Dr. Stein held out her hand to shake first mine, then Josh’s. “I think you both know that Mr. Gilbertson entered your roller coaster project in our annual science contest for high school students?”
I nodded dumbly and had no idea what Josh was doing, because if I looked at him, I might either crumble or burst out laughing hysterically. Seriously, it could go either way.
Dr. Stein smiled. “Congratulations. You won. The panel that judged the final-round entries said it was the best design they’d ever seen from high school students.”
Mr. Gilbertson was glowing as if he’d built the roller coaster. “So good, in fact, that I had to assure the panel that you hadn’t received help from your father or sister, Mary.” His cheeks went slightly pink. “Sorry, but with so many engineers in your family . . .”
The words flooded past me as my jaw dropped. “We won?”
Liz walked up and threw an arm around me. “Yeah. Even though you never even asked for help, you little ingrate.”
Dad shook his head. “She certainly didn’t ask me. She thinks all I know these days is yoga.” He drew his hands together in Namaste position, and everyone laughed.
Dr. Stein looked at Josh and me in turn. “We haven’t given you the best news. Along with the award, you get—”
“—a trip to visit MIT?” I blurted it out before she could finish, too excited to think of anything except what Liz had told me all those weeks ago.
Dr. Stein smiled. “Not exactly.”
Josh glanced at me, then back at Dr. Stein, but his hand kept squeezing mine. “Worse?”
“I understand you’ve both applied to MIT through our scholarship program. On the strength of your winning design and your other academics, you’ve both been admitted to MIT and awarded a full scholarship.”
My head whipped toward Josh. “I thought you wanted to skateboard. In California!”
Dr. Stein laughed. “He’ll just have to build a skateboard park at MIT. Based on your roller coaster design, a mere skateboard park should be a snap.” She snapped her fingers, emphasizing her words.
I just kept staring at Josh.
Okay, I admit it. My eyes kept flickering to his lips.
He pulled me into his arms, prompting a loud groan from Liz’s direction. “I didn’t want to tell you until we both heard. I didn’t want to jinx it.”
He dropped a light kiss on my lips, even though he undoubtedly knew I’d punish him later for doing that in front of Mr. Gilbertson. Like, by kissing Josh senseless.
But we were going to MIT next year.
On a full scholarship.
Together.
I couldn’t wait for next fall, but right this moment was looking pretty good, too. I threw my arms around Josh’s neck and kissed him. Wildly. In front of Mom and Dad and Jane Austen and everyone.