“Hi, Junie! Hi, Josh!” I wave big. “Hi, Nick.”
“You’re okay now, with your friends?” Mom asks. “Be cause I want to find out the results of the semifinals.”
“I’m good.” I wave her on.
She retrieves our stone, then zings it at a cactus.
Bull’s-eye.
Just like how we’re going to nail this mystery.
The scent of coffee fades as Junie, Josh and Nerdy Nick start running toward me. I’d run too, but my feet are sore. Too much walking on uneven ground in inappropriate but cute footwear.
Josh sweeps me up in a big hug. Not the kind of hug you give your girlfriend if you’re thinking about a certain overglittered eighth grader. Polly really might know what she’s talking about. I inhale nice and deep. Nothing beats the essence of chlorine.
“Hey, you didn’t go to Janus,” I say from the depths of his chest.
“Nah, but I wish we’d gone together. Then this wouldn’t have happened to you.” Josh releases me and holds me out at arm’s length. “Look at you. You’re scraped up.” He frowns, all mad. “I just wanna get those guys!”
“Yeah, well, except for the long walk part, the Donner kids weren’t all that bad,” I say. “Just easily panicked.”
“What about this?” He traces the bruise on my arm.
“It’s from my brother. An accident.”
“What about all these scratches?”
“I tripped. A bunch. Plus, a tumbleweed blew into me.” I can’t mention the ghost-stalker. Academy rules. I’ll fill Junie in later.
Josh frowns. Junie gives me a quick hug.
“Sherry’s pretty uncoordinated,” she says. “She was born that way.”
Sorta kinda thank you, BFF. My hand reaches for Josh’s and squeezes on. Then we start strolling back to civilization. “How’d you guys find me?”
“At the end of the competition,” Junie says, “one of the Donner Dynamos, Sarah, hunted me down to tell me where they ditched you.”
“Nick recognized the road from her description”—Junie smiles at him—“and figured out how to get here by bus.”
“Wow, Nick, that was pretty nice of you. Thanks.” I like his change of attitude.
“I’m excellent with directions and public transportation,” he says.
Improved attitude, but not too humble.
“Lucky for us.” Junie’s eyes twinkle at him. Then she skips to catch up to me and says quietly, “Are you really okay, Sherry? You look different somehow.”
You’d look different too if you’d just been pushed around the desert by a ghost, then made your mind up to go head to spooky head with him. I’m probably maturing at a faster than average rate. “I’m good.” Then I whisper, “We have to talk.”
“Junie told me all about how you infiltrated the Donner team just to help our school win.” Josh swings my arm big. “Way to go.”
Good cover, Junie.
At the bus stop, the four of us hang together. I notice Junie’s wearing pink lip liner and matching lipstick. The liner is definitely making her lips look thicker. Very chic. I pinch my bottom lip a few times, which is the best I can do at the moment.
The conversation swings to the practice competition.
“I really don’t get it,” Junie says. “Our robot is seriously superior to Donner’s, but they outperformed us.”
Nerdy Nick rubs his forehead, frowning. “A large part of Donner’s troubles last year stemmed from their lack of leadership. This year, Claire Greene has stepped up to the plate and is successfully captaining the team.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Junie says. “Donner cost us points because their robot kept flipping our rings off the pegs.”
“That’s fair game,” Nerdy Nick says.
Junie’s forehead creases. “I know, but from where I was standing, I don’t see how their robot was consistently successful. A couple of times, its arm looked like it was about an inch away from the ring.”
“Optical illusion,” Nerdy Nick says.
Honestly, the guy’s got an answer for everything.
Her tongue pointing out between her teeth, Junie’s pondering. “I guess that’s it. I mean, what else could be the explanation?”
Optical illusion? Or ghost-stalker? That’s where my mind’s leaping.
Junie and Nerdy Nick launch into a whole boring discussion about engineering and robot parts and other überstrange topics. No surprise why these two aren’t dating anyone yet.
Josh and I meander away from the bus stop to the far side of a palm tree. We scooch in close and wrap our arms around each other. The sun is setting, going down behind a three-story building across the street. First, it sorta sits on top of the roof. Then it sinks down, like it’s scratching itself on the gutter. We’re both quiet. With Josh’s arm around me and my head leaning against his chest, we’re soaking up the romance of the moment. Just chilling on the same wavelength of love.
He tilts my head back and moves in for one of his signature Josh Morton kisses. I can’t describe them; they’re so magical. A mixture of orange Starburst candies + your stomach in the air when you speed down a steep hill on your bike + something fried. For a brief moment, my mind empties of mysteries and stalkers and ghosts and silver boxes.
We break apart and my mind instantly fills back up with mystery worries. Too bad Josh’s kisses didn’t have a more long-term effect. Like a suntan.
“Sherry,” Junie calls. “Josh. The bus is coming.”
We dash to the bus stop in time to hop up when the door wheezes open. The four of us trudge to the empty back where Josh and I squish into a seat together. Junie and Nerdy Nick sit behind us.
Josh flips open his phone and scans a text. “Candy and her friend really liked Janus.”
So that’s what he did with the tickets.
He reads more and groans. “I don’t think I need English tutoring again tomorrow.” Without texting back, he shoves the phone in his pocket. “Dude, that girl is way intense.”
I puff up with superiorness. No one has ever accused me of being intense over English.
Josh wrinkles his cute little freckled nose. “I’m starting The Ruler’s after-school math tutorial sometime this week.”
Like the way a dog perks up when he hears the word “bone” or “real-chicken treat,” Nerdy Nick’s all attention. “I have a math tutoring appointment with Kyle Rogers tomorrow morning before first period. Would you like to join us?”
“Cool.” Josh is digging that. Anything to get out of spending extra time in a classroom. But has he thought about the equation of Nick + Kyle + Josh?
And what’s up with Nerdy Nick? Is he tired of his loner-with-high-grades status? Or hoping to score extra cash? I shoot raised eyebrows at Junie, but she doesn’t see me.
The Ruler phones to find out when I’m coming home. I tell her I’m on the way. I don’t mention the whole ditched-in-the-desert thing. But her voice reminds me that I have questions about her past. “Do you guys know where The Ruler taught before Saguaro?”
“Beats me,” Josh says. “She was already there when I started seventh.”
I turn around in my seat.
Junie’s gazing at Nerdy Nick, like he’s got the answers to all the questions in the universe. Which is bizarro because Junie’s mostly the one with the answers.
Sure enough, Nerdy Nick says in his deep, rumbly, full-of-authority voice, “The Ruler came from another Phoenix middle school. Buren Middle School. She had big problems there. Including a dead principal.”