The Perpetual Motion Club by Sue Lange Read Free Book Online Page B

developers (as if any high school student didn’t have that already burned into their brains). Each member scheduled a day of tutoring freshmen in dead languages such as Fortran, Cobol, and Visual Basic. They signed a contract stating they would develop a personal computer game by graduation (as if they hadn’t already done that two or three times).
    After listening to the description of the initiation requirements, Elsa wondered about getting involved with the group. She had no desire to spend a weekend in the language lab. She had no desire to program. When Mr. Brown promised to demonstrate in vitro fertilization at the next meeting, she moved in a decidedly negative direction. She hated biology almost as much as she hated coding. And these people seemed so cruel. How could they let Mr. Brown go off on everybody like that? It’s not the kids’ fault if they don’t know what they haven’t been told. And did she really want to spend more time around Mr. Brown than she had to? Despite the action-packed demonstration on Bhaskara, the Science Society was obviously no place for her. She couldn’t imagine the real geniuses of the world, people like Gerry Martin, ever being found within a hundred miles of a science society. Why, then, would Elsa Webb? The tall, new boy wasn’t even there.

CHAPTER SIX
    Outside the school building, the chill night air nipped at gloveless fingertips and exposed noses. The girls scanned the schoolyard for dark blobs of humanity hulking underneath the trees. They saw nothing. The other Science Society wannabes leaving the school along with May and Elsa gave them added comfort. They weren’t alone. Nevertheless, the girls wrapped their outer wear tightly around themselves and ran the ten blocks to Elsa’s house.
    “Enter and be well,” the front door stated when Elsa tapped the code into the lock. “Thanks,” they both answered before going inside.
    The girls tossed their outer garments to the bottom of the closet, slamming its door shut over the closet’s assertion that “Your clothing is not properly stowed.” They proceeded to the fridge for the Jetstream. Mom and Dad were both still out.
    Sodas in hand, they flopped onto the kitchen chairs and began the giggling and gossiping that sophomores are so famous for.
    “Did you see Justin Blaine?” Elsa teased.
    “Yeah, he fell asleep again,” May said.
    “Boy’s narcoleptic or something. Macabre.”
    “Maybe somebody put a spell on him.”
    “Yeah, you should rescue him from it.”
    “Hm.” May looked dreamily into her can of Jetstream, as if the recipe for a love potion lay in the soda’s secret components. She sighed and looked up at Elsa. “So where was your new boy?”
    Elsa shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he got stuck somewhere and couldn’t come.”
    “You know he went to practice.”
    “We looked; he wasn’t there.”
    “Maybe he got sick and couldn’t go.”
    “He has health problems,” they said together in the exaggerated accent of Ms. Singh, the biology teacher. When someone skipped class, Ms. Singh always asked whether Tom or Betsy perhaps had “health problems.” The girls giggled until Jetstream Soda threatened to erupt from below.
    “What about those creepy anti-Rifs?” May said. “That was close.”
    “It wasn’t so bad, you’re just a weenie.”
    “Wasn’t so bad? Are you nuts?”
    “You’re a weenie. They’re just weird.”
    “Oh, yeah. Weird like drug addicts and drop outs.”
    “Don’t be prejudiced.”
    “I’m not but . . . ” Silence as May worked on a good comeback. Finally she gave up and changed the subject.
    “You know who was at the meeting, don’t you?” she said in an obnoxious teasing voice.
    “I’m going to kill you if you say Jimmy Bacomb.”
    May pouted. “He’s so cute.”
    “Well then, put a spell on him for yourself.”
    “Oh no, oh no. He’s hurtin’ for you, dahlin’.”
    “He’s a twerp and he wasn’t there and you know it cuz he’s a