Augmented Reality

by Victor Appleton

  Noah stopped scrolling and looked up at me, a confused expression on his face. “What are you talking about?”

  I gestured to the nearby camera crew. “I’m talking about the Noah Newton Show and how you’re tearing people down to get to the top.”

  Noah pushed out of his chair and stood to face me. “Tearing people down?”

  “You think I want to have the same name as the school? Do you know how much pressure that is?”

  Noah nodded, eyes wide. “Yeah, you’ve literally told me that a thousand times.”

  “Well, apparently you don’t believe me! You think it’s all an act. You think I really want special treatment, right?”

  Noah spread his arms wide. “Dude! Again… what are you talking about?”

  I tapped my chest. “And I’m not a good inventor? Half of my projects were with you. How does that make any sense?”

  “Who said you weren’t a good inventor?”

  “You did!” I snapped.

  “What? No, I would never!”

  “I saw you say it! I can’t believe you’d deny it to my face.” I threw up my hands. “You’d think the star of the Noah Newton Show would at least have the guts to own up to his words.”

  With that, I turned and stormed out. As I hurried down the hall, I realized that the camera crew had been recording our entire exchange.

  At that moment, I didn’t even care.

  9 The Unwitting Escalation

  “I THINK HE’S JUST JEALOUS,” I said, looking directly into the camera lens. “Do you know how many times he’s told me what he would do if he was in my shoes?”

  “Oh yeah?” Joey asked from his usual spot in the confessional.

  “Yeah,” I replied. “Noah’s told me that he would totally take advantage of having the same name as the school.”

  * * *

  After I got home from school the day before, I couldn’t stop stewing about what my “supposed” best friend had said about me. Sure, I’d told him off—that had helped release some of my anger—but I needed more.

  That’s when I decided to fight fire with fire.

  As soon as I got to school, I found Joey and offered to record another session in the confessional. After my previous reluctance, he was thrilled.

  “I bet Noah would really like the school to be called the Newton Academy. No, he’d want it to be called the Noah Newton Academy, just so no one would think it was named after Sir Isaac Newton.”

  I had thought up that one the night before.

  Joey nodded in approval. “That’s great, Tom. Do you think any of the other students are jealous of you?”

  The question took me by surprise. “Uh, I don’t think so. At least no one has ever mentioned it.”

  “To your face.” Joey chuckled.

  “No,” I agreed. “Have you heard anything?”

  “Oh, I was just asking,” Joey said, waving away the question. He glanced at his watch, then shut off the camera. “I think that’s good for now. I have someone else coming in.”

  “Oh, okay,” I said as I stood.

  I suddenly didn’t feel as fired up as I had when I went looking for Joey. Actually, I felt a little childish venting about Noah. But as soon as I thought about what he’d said again, my lip curled. I hoped Joey showed Noah my video so he could see how it felt.

  When Joey pulled back the curtain, I jumped. Amy was standing there dressed in full hazmat gear.

  “You’re scraping gum in here, too?” I asked.

  “Nope.” Amy closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath and letting out a long sigh. “I’m… doing an interview.”

  My eyes widened. “What? Really? You don’t have to, you know.”

  Amy gave several quick nods. “I know… but I think I’m ready.” A nervous chuckle escaped her tightened lips. “Push past your comfort zone, and all that.”

  I looked her up and down. “In full gear, too?”

  “It helps,” she replied. “Thanks for the idea.”

  “Ah, Amy,” Joey interrupted. “Right on time.”

  She gave me a small wave before taking a seat in front of the camera. I couldn’t believe she had actually agreed to be on camera by herself.

  I left the editing suite to find Sam waiting in the computer lab. She grinned, jutting a thumb back the way I had come. “What do you think?” she asked. “Can you believe Amy’s actually doing an interview?”

  I shook my head, mouth hanging open. “And… the hazmat suit was my idea, somehow?”

  Sam shrugged. “Well, it was.”

  “It was?”

  Sam nodded. “Remember the fencing helmet?”

  “Oh yeah.”

  A while back, when it looked like Amy’s fencing team was going to be interviewed by a local news reporter, Amy had started having a full-blown panic attack at the thought of being the center of attention. I had suggested that she wear her fencing helmet to hide her face, and it had worked. I guess she thought her hazmat suit would do the trick too. If it had shielded her from being the center of attention in the cafeteria earlier, why wouldn’t it work for just one camera?

  I nodded toward the editing suite. “Have you gone in there yet?”

  Sam rolled her eyes. “Yeah, once. Noah talked me into it.”

  “Did you talk about your new invention?”

  “A little,” Sam replied.

  “Care to tell a friend what it is, since you were willing to tell a perfect stranger? From what I saw yesterday, I’m guessing it has something to do with feet.”

  Sam shrugged. “It’s not that big of a deal. I just thought I’d put off the ribbing as long as possible.”

  “Okay, one, now I’m superintrigued. And two, since when do I rib you about your inventions?”

  Sam glared at me over the rims of her glasses. “Seriously, Swift?”

  I held up a hand. “I mean, anything beyond good-natured goofing among friends.”

  “You know what was weird about the interview?” Sam asked, obviously changing the subject. “Joey didn’t seem that interested in any of my inventions. He mainly asked a bunch of questions about other students. If I had any rivalries in school, stuff like that.”

  “Really?” I was too embarrassed to tell her that in my last interview I hadn’t talked about my inventions once. I’d just vented about Noah.

  “And that’s not all,” Sam continued. “Joey asked me a bunch of questions about you.”

  “Me? Like what?”

  Sam shrugged. “I don’t know. Things like how I felt about your dad founding the school. Did you get special treatment? Stuff like that.”

  My lips pressed together and I felt another wave of anger wash over me. “I have a feeling Noah’s the source of that topic.” I told her about what my supposed best friend had said about me in the video clip Joey had shown me.

  “Noah said that?” Sam asked. “I don’t believe it. That doesn’t sound like him at all.”

  “Oh, he denied it, but I saw the recording with my own eyes.”

  Sam shook her head. “Why would he do that?”

  I didn’t have an answer, and I didn’t get a chance to respond anyway as the first-period bell rang. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a hall pass.

  “You have another one of those?” Sam asked. “Amy asked me to stay with her for moral support.”

  I shook my head. “Joey still has tons of them, though. I’m sure he’ll give you one.”

  I left the computer lab and made my way downstairs toward algebra. As I shuffled along, my mind kept going back to my conversation with Sam. Was news of Noah’s and my argument so widespread that Joey was asking everyone about it? Boy, now I felt really stupid for going in there and fanning the flames of our argument. I had originally thought the Swift Academy’s reality show would turn into the Noah Newton Show, but was it really going to be the Tom Swift Show and I was just the last one to find out about it? And had I just helped it along?

  10 The Intention Assessment

  I DON�
�T KNOW IF I was just being paranoid, but ever since Sam had mentioned Joey asking about me, now it really felt like everyone at the school was watching me. Before, it was nothing more than a casual glance, but more recently, some of my classmates were full-on staring before turning to whisper into a nearby friend’s ear. I felt as if everyone was waiting for me to do something.

  I’m sure I was just being oversensitive. Why would anyone care what went on between Noah and me? There seemed to be more and more drama to go around. Everywhere I looked there were different sets of friends bickering or walking away from each other in a huff.

  “I don’t want to hear it,” Anya Latke said as she brushed by me.

  “Anya,” Jenna Davis called out as she hurried to catch up to her friend. “I never said your program was stupid. Honest!”

  I stopped to watch the squabbling students disappear into the flow of traffic. What was the academy turning into? It was as if the pressure of the reality show or the upcoming Inventors’ Olympics was sending everyone over the edge.

  I tried my best to ignore the rising drama level and go about my business like it was any other day. I did spot both camera crews trailing me at different points in the day. As usual, I did my best to be as boring as possible, keeping to myself and going to class. I hardly saw Sam or Amy. And who knew what Noah was up to. Part of me worried that I was going to become as introverted as Amy if I kept this up.

  After the final bell rang, I swung by my locker, and then headed out to the academy’s front lawn. I hadn’t collected any loot on Noah’s app, but I wanted to see if my classmates had found enough to finally satisfy the beast.

  Things looked better already. Although the entire student body wasn’t present, this was by far the biggest turnout yet. Each person held up their phone, waiting for the virtual monster to attack. I dug out my own phone and quickly found Sam and Amy farther down the lawn.

  “Hey. How did your interview go?” I asked Amy.

  She shrugged. “Okay, I guess. The suit helped but I was still sweating buckets during the whole thing.”

  “Yeah, it went great, all right,” Sam added. “And then they fired her!”

  “What?” I asked.

  Amy shook her head. “They didn’t fire me. I still get to help organize clips for Danny.” She let out a long breath. “But Joey doesn’t want me doing any more animations.”

  “But they looked so cool,” I said. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I know, right?” Sam said, throwing her hands into the air.

  “He said they were ‘going in a different direction,’ ” Amy continued. “From what I’ve seen so far, they’re focusing more on the drama going on in the school.”

  “Yeah, what’s up with that?” Sam asked. “Is it just me, or is everyone all worked up lately?”

  Amy shook her head. “It’s not just you. I’ve noticed it too. People are snapping at each other all over the place.”

  Sam crossed her arms. “And I’m sure the camera crews are getting it all on film.”

  Amy nodded. “They are.”

  I was embarrassed to tell my friends that my argument with Noah would be a big part of that school drama. The cameras had sure captured us bickering enough.

  “What are they going to do with all the scanned images of everyone’s notes and blueprints?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

  Before Sam or Amy could answer, Noah charged over. “I saw your latest confession, Tom,” he said with a snarl. “Nice. Real nice.”

  “What’s he talking about?” Sam asked.

  “Oh, he didn’t tell you? My best friend here thinks I’m jealous of him,” Noah snapped, jutting a thumb in my direction.

  “What?” Amy asked.

  “I just told the truth,” I barked. I couldn’t believe Noah had the nerve to be angry at me.

  “Swift?” Sam said accusingly. “I don’t believe you.”

  Noah nodded vigorously. “Oh, believe it. He thinks I want the school named after me instead.”

  I pointed at Noah. “Well, he thinks I’m a crappy inventor!”

  Amy gasped. “Noah!”

  He shook his head. “And I still don’t know what you’re talking about!”

  Sam motioned for us to be quiet as she glanced around the schoolyard. Both camera operators were slowly pushing through the crowd, heading our way. “You better keep it down unless you want this to end up on the show,” she whispered.

  Amy looked toward the ground, fidgeting with her hands.

  I had a lot more to say about Noah, but I didn’t necessarily want it recorded for posterity. Sighing, I held up my phone, mimicking the other students around me. Noah glared at me one more time before doing the same.

  Through my phone’s screen, the beast slowly marched toward the school. There was even an animated helicopter hovering above its head this time. But if I’m honest, the new addition didn’t really hold my interest. I was still fuming about Noah. I can’t believe he’s still denying what he said about me, I thought.

  In my peripheral vision, I saw the camera operators slowly lose interest in our group; they turned to sweep their cameras over the rest of the crowd.

  “I saw you say it,” I whispered to Noah. “Why can’t you just own up to it?”

  “I would own up if I had said it,” he hissed back.

  “Maybe you just heard wrong,” Sam murmured.

  “You’re taking his side, now?” I asked, my whisper getting louder.

  Sam shook her head as she kept her eyes fixed on her screen. “I’m not taking anyone’s side. I just can’t believe Noah would say anything like that.”

  “Look, I said he was jealous,” I admitted. “There. I owned up to what I said.”

  Noah shook his head. “And that’s a low blow, man.”

  Amy whispered something, but it was so quiet, I couldn’t make out what it was.

  “What?” I asked her.

  “I said, we can go see for ourselves,” she repeated. “If it will get you two to stop fighting, I can find the clip you’re talking about.”

  “Excellent idea.” I glanced at Noah. “Last chance to come clean.”

  Noah nodded. “Oh, let’s go settle this right now.”

  I looked around to locate the camera crews. They’d disappeared in the sea of students who were watching the virtual beast’s approach. Without another word, the four of us eased out of the crowd and slinked back toward the school. I followed the others through the front door, with one last glance over my shoulder to make sure we weren’t being followed. I’m sure the four of us sneaking away would’ve piqued the interest of the camera operators.

  “I’ll have Danny pull up the exact clip,” Amy said as she led the way up the stairs to the second floor. “Then we’ll see.”

  “We certainly will,” I agreed, glaring up at Noah. He just shook his head and rolled his eyes.

  Everyone followed Amy into the computer lab and into the adjoining editing suite. For the first time since I’d been to the new space, it was completely empty.

  “He must be out watching the beast with the others,” Sam surmised.

  I looked over the complicated workstation. “Do you think you can find it, Amy?”

  She sat down in front of the keyboard. “I think so. After all, I helped organize it.”

  Using the keyboard and the large trackball, Amy navigated to a screen full of file folders. She opened one labeled CONFESSIONALS, revealing more folders inside. Each of these had a student’s name, just like the scanned blueprints. Amy scrolled down and selected one labeled NEWTON, NOAH. There were dozens of new files inside.

  Sam gave a look of disbelief. “How many of these did you do? Have you even been to class lately?”

  I sighed and shook my head. “Welcome to the Noah Newton Show.”

  “Just show me the clip you’re talking about,” Noah snapped.

  Amy moved the cursor over the files. “How do you know which one it is?”

  “It’s Newton el
even,” I said confidently. I may not have a photographic memory like Amy’s, but I remembered the file Joey had asked for.

  Amy clicked on the icon and Noah’s smiling face appeared on the large viewscreen above the workstation.

  “Get over yourself, Tom Swift,” the Noah onscreen said. “Just because your name’s on the school doesn’t mean that you’re a big deal.”

  Sam and Amy gasped in unison.

  “Noah!” Sam said.

  “Oh snap,” Noah muttered. “I remember this now.”

  “You probably wouldn’t be here if your dad hadn’t built the school,” Onscreen Noah continued. “You’re not even that good of an inventor.” The clip cut to black.

  “There,” I said, pointing at the screen. “Is that clear enough for you?”

  Amy sprung out of her seat and rounded on Noah. “How could you?”

  “What were you thinking?” Sam asked.

  Noah held up his hands. “Okay, okay, I know this looks bad.”

  “It is bad!” Amy barked. I had never seen her so worked up. “Tom is your best friend!”

  “Listen, I can explain,” Noah said, backing away.

  Sam narrowed her eyes. “I don’t see how.”

  Noah pointed at the workstation. “Ames…”

  “Don’t you Ames me,” Amy said, shaking her head.

  “No, please. Is there a way to show the entire clip?”

  Amy crossed her arms and just glared at him.

  “Please?”

  Amy let out a long breath and sat back down. She shook her head as she moved the cursor over to a screen showing a timeline of Noah’s clip. Only part of the bar was highlighted. Amy moved the start point back and the end point forward. Once most of the clip was selected, she pressed the space bar so that it played on the main screen.

  “Tell me about your friend Tom,” came Joey’s voice from the speakers. Since he sat behind the camera, his voice was softer than Noah’s had been.

  “Tom’s great,” Onscreen Noah replied. “He’s a first-rate inventor, too. You should see some of the cool stuff he comes up with.”

  I suddenly felt very confused. Here was my best friend, in the same clip, saying how great I was. I didn’t understand.