The camera crew stayed in class for the entire period, so we had no choice but to keep up the act. After class, they trailed after Noah, so at least I could talk to Sam and Amy.
“Everything still a go?” Sam asked as we walked down the crowded hallway.
“You bet,” I replied. “We just have to keep cool a couple more hours.”
Amy squeezed the straps of her backpack. “This is so stressful.”
“Just act natural,” Sam told her.
Amy rolled her eyes. “When someone tells you to act natural, that’s the last thing you can do.”
We split up and headed to our second-period classes. We just had to hold it together until the end of third period. Since Amy had been working in the editing suite, she knew that was when Danny and Joey would leave for lunch. And since they always left the campus to eat, they also locked the editing suite while they were away. Luckily, we had a man inside—well, a robot inside.
Just before the end of third period, I used one of Noah’s hall passes to get out of class. I hustled down to the cafeteria and found Sam and Amy already waiting.
“Where’s Noah?” Sam asked.
“I don’t know,” I replied, pulling the VR gear out of my backpack. I placed a controller in each hand and pulled my glasses down over my eyes. It took a few seconds, but I easily connected to my robot through the school’s Wi-Fi network.
Noah finally arrived. “Man, I had a hard time ditching the camera crew. What did you tell—” He paused and sniffed the air. “Cool! Tater tots!”
“Focus, Noah,” Sam scolded.
“All right, all right,” Noah said as he pulled his tablet from his backpack. He gave the screen a few taps. “I’m tied in.”
I glanced at my friends. “Time to go live.”
I pressed a button on my right controller and my view shifted. Instead of just looking at a blank cafeteria wall, I now saw the interior of the editing suite. If I were wearing true VR goggles, it would look as if I was really there, but since I viewed the scene through my glasses, I saw a transparent version of the room. Fortunately, the image would be solid on Noah’s tablet.
“How’s it look?” I asked him.
“Crystal clear,” he replied. “And recording.”
I moved the joystick on my left controller to make the robot rotate left and right. The camera scanned the area. Once I was certain the room was empty, I moved the robot toward the main workstation.
“Okay, let’s start with the same clip we saw yesterday,” I said.
“Tap any key to wake the computer out of sleep mode,” Amy instructed.
I raised my right hand and the robot’s right arm came into view. I reached out and had its claw tap the space key. The bank of monitors blinked on. Then I reached over to operate the trackball. Unfortunately, I didn’t take into account the smoothness of my robot’s claws. Whenever I tried to roll the ball, the claw simply slid off the ball’s polished surface.
“Uh-oh,” I said.
“You’ll have to use the keyboard,” Amy said. “Press Command and Tab at the same time. Then press the down arrow three times before—”
“Hang on.” I had barely gotten both claws over the keyboard. “What were the first two again?”
“Better let her drive, Swift,” Sam suggested.
I nodded. “I think you’re right.”
“What?” Amy asked as I handed her the controllers. “Oh, okay.”
I gave her a crash course before placing the glasses on her head.
“This is interesting,” she said as she moved her hands in front of her face. On Noah’s tablet, the robot’s arms mirrored her motions. She giggled. “But so cool.”
“Now you focus, Amy,” Sam said, sounding slightly annoyed.
“Right,” Amy said as she moved the robot closer to the keyboard.
After a couple of misses, Amy picked up the controls like a pro. Sam and I crowded around Noah’s tablet and watched the claws nimbly tapping all the right keys. Above them, one of the screens showed the familiar file folders opening. It didn’t take long before the large television monitor played the clip from the day before. Amy backed the robot away to better frame the screen while the video’s sound played from Noah’s tablet. That was thanks to a microphone I had added just for the occasion.
Sam shook her head as she watched the clip again. She seemed equally disgusted the second time around.
“Wait until Davenport sees this,” Noah said with a grin.
“It may not be enough, though,” I said. “You think we can find another clip that’s equally as bad?”
“From the way this guy was stirring things up,” Noah said, “I guarantee it.”
Once the clip had finished, Amy moved the robot back to the keyboard. She tapped some more keys (even faster now) and another clip played on the big screen.
As she backed the robot up to get a better shot, all of us jumped with a start. It wasn’t what was on the screen that had scared us. It was the giant face looming in front of it: Joey’s face.
“What have we here?” Joey’s voice asked through the tablet’s tiny speaker.
13 The Reality Revelation
“IS THAT YOU, TOM?” JOEY asked, his face moving even closer to the camera. “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about Noah tearing up your robot… because I’m going to do it first.” He gave a devious grin. “What do you think about that?”
I sprinted for the cafeteria door, then bolted into the hallway and raced toward the computer lab. In that moment, I didn’t care if we had recorded enough footage to show Mr. Davenport. I just didn’t want anything to happen to my invention. I didn’t know Joey well, but from what I had seen so far, he might just be the kind of person to make good on his promise to destroy my robot.
I ran through the computer lab and burst into the editing suite. To my surprise, Joey was sitting casually in the chair in front of the workstation.
“I thought that would get you here in a hurry,” he said with a huge grin.
I glanced at my robot; it was still thankfully in one piece.
Joey hit a key on the keyboard and the large television screen went dark. “So, you thought you’d get a sneak peek at the show, huh?” He clapped his hands together. “Spoiler alert! It’s great, isn’t it?”
“It’s awful,” I said. “You make it look like everyone’s fighting all the time.”
Joey gave a dismissive wave. “Come on, that’s no big deal. You have to have some drama,” he explained. “A show just about a bunch of young inventors?” He pretended to nod off. “Snoozefest.”
“What about all that stuff about me?” I asked. “It looks like the whole school is against me.”
Joey shrugged. “Hey, every great story needs a villain, right?”
I gasped. “A villain?”
“Okay, maybe ‘villain’ is a strong word.” He snapped his fingers. “How about… ‘antagonist’?”
“But why—”
“Look,” Joey said, cutting me off. “In this story, Noah is the protagonist and you’re the antagonist. It’s simple. It’s elegant. It’s… Storytelling 101.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This guy was making me into the bad guy at my own school.
“But… it’s not real,” I muttered.
Joey chuckled. “I’m going to let you in on a little secret.” He glanced around as if he was worried someone would hear. “Reality television… isn’t real. None of it is.” He pointed to the workstation. “I can have Danny cut that footage together in a hundred different ways to tell a hundred different stories. Reality television is all in the editing, my friend.”
My lips pressed together. “And your manipulations.”
Joey shrugged. “Well… a little push here, a little nudge there, maybe. But that’s why I’m the best.” He gave me a sly wink. “But come on. I didn’t put words into anyone’s mouth.”
He was right about that. It was troubling how easily my fellow students and I were pitted ag
ainst one another. But that still didn’t make it right.
“What do you expect Mr. Davenport will think about your show when he sees this?” I asked.
“Oh, please,” Joey said with a smirk. “We have so much footage of him, he thinks it’s going to be the Ronald Davenport Show. You know? ‘Captain at the helm’ sort of thing.”
“Let’s go get him,” I suggested, crossing my arms. “Show him what you’ve been working on.”
Joey motioned toward the door. “Be my guest. Danny and I put together a special cut just for him.” He rolled his eyes. “It won’t make it into the final show, but…”
“He’ll have to see the final show sometime,” I said. “What about then?”
Joey laughed. “Are you kidding me? By the time this thing airs, I’ll be on a boat in Scotland searching for the Loch Ness Monster.” He shrugged. “Maybe we’ll even find it. I haven’t decided yet.”
This guy might actually win. Sure, we could show our recorded clip to Mr. Davenport, but one, Joey would probably find some way to explain it away, and two, we would probably get into trouble for using my robot to spy in the first place.
I had almost resigned myself to being the villain in this new reality show, when a knock at the door interrupted my train of thought and Mr. Davenport entered the room.
Perfect timing.
Joey leaped up from his seat. “Ron! You’re just in time. I was telling young Tom here about some great footage we have of you.”
“Actually, Mr. Davenport—” I began.
“It’s rude to interrupt, Mr. Swift,” the principal said with a sharp look. He softened when he turned back to Joey. “I’m sure it’s nothing, but I heard some concerns from a few of the students on how they’ve been portrayed in your program.”
Joey shot me a look. “Is that so?”
Mr. Davenport waved him away. “We’ll get to that later. Let’s see that footage you were talking about.”
Joey smiled and plopped down at the workstation. “Coming right up, Ron,” he said as his fingers flew across the keyboard.
Mr. Davenport turned to me and smiled. “I’m sure it’s a real captain at the helm sort of thing. Perfect for the Ronald Davenport Show.”
Joey froze mid-keystroke. “I don’t know what you heard…,” he began as he slowly turned toward the principal.
“I heard and saw plenty,” Mr. Davenport said.
I suddenly had the feeling I was being watched, and not by a camera crew. Glancing at the door, I saw my three friends peeking in at us. When Joey followed my gaze, Noah held up the tablet and wiggled it a little. The screen showed us in the editing suite from the robot’s point of view. When Joey turned from the tablet to the robot, Amy gave a friendly wave and the robot mirrored her movements.
Mr. Davenport crossed his arms. “Now, let’s see some real footage from the show.”
“Come on, Ron,” Joey pleaded. “It’ll be out of context.”
Our principal shook his head. “I don’t care. Let’s see it.”
Amy leaned in and pointed to the workstation. “There’s one already cued up.” Behind us, the robot pointed along with her.
Joey shot her a Thanks a lot look as he pressed the space bar.
The main video monitor played the sequence we had already seen—the one where everyone was hounding me. Mr. Davenport shook his head as he watched the clip run.
“You see, every good story needs a vil—an antagonist to…,” Joey began.
“Yes, I heard,” Davenport said. “Play another one.”
Joey opened another folder and selected a file. A new clip appeared on the screen.
“Did you hear what Terry said about you?” Ashley Robbins asked Deena Bittick as they walked down the hallway.
The scene cut to Terry Stephenson in the confessional. “Deena can be super stuck-up sometimes.”
“Were you ever going to actually show our inventions?” Sam asked Joey. “I know your camera crews recorded them.”
Mr. Davenport raised a hand. “I’ll handle this, Miss Watson.” He removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’ve seen enough.”
Joey stopped the video. “You see, you need a little drama to move the story along,” he explained.
Our principal checked his watch. “You and your people have exactly fifteen minutes to get off my campus before I have security escort you out.”
“Yes!” Amy shouted, before catching herself and covering her mouth. The nearby robot mimicked her.
“You can’t do that,” Joey said as he leapt to his feet. “We had a deal!”
“For a show that makes my students look like spoiled brats?” Davenport asked. “I don’t think so.”
Joey shook his head as he began gathering his jacket and notebooks. “You’re going to regret this. My lawyers are going to have a field day.”
Mr. Davenport pointed to Noah’s tablet. “Even after they see your detailed description of reality television?”
Joey shook his head and moved toward the door.
Then it hit me.
“Wait,” I said. “Where’s the hard drive with everyone’s invention plans?”
Joey glanced back into the room before shrugging. “I don’t know, kid,” he replied. “That was Holly Jensen’s big idea. I think she swung by and picked it up.” Then he chuckled. “And if I know Holly, you have bigger problems than my little show.”
I looked at my friends’ stunned faces. I clearly wasn’t the only one who didn’t like the sound of that.
“Well, that’s just great,” Noah said.
14 The Augmented Exhibition
“AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, IT was a dirty job at times,” Sam said, pointing over to Amy, who was once again dressed in her full-body hazmat suit. Amy held a bucket in one hand and a paint scraper in the other. The audience laughed as Amy gave the scraper a brief wave. “But thanks to Amy Hsu, Swift Academy is now gum free.”
The spectators filling the bleachers applauded Amy’s presentation. She and Sam stood on a small stage in front of the track. One of Amy’s chewing gum receptacles shared the stage and a large banner fluttered in the wind above them. It read SWIFT ACADEMY INVENTORS’ OLYMPICS.
Amy grabbed the receptacle and left the stage as Sam continued her presentation. “As for my invention, I took Amy’s processed gum and recycled it into these custom sandals.” She pointed down to her bright green footwear. “As you saw in the video, Mia Trevino helped me make casts of my feet so I could mold the melted material perfectly.” She raised one foot off the ground. “And they’re the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever worn.”
The audience applauded again as Sam made her way off the stage. Noah, Amy, and I were waiting for her.
“So, let me get this straight,” Noah said, rubbing his chin. “You’re not supposed to step in gum… but now you’re stepping in gum all the time?”
Sam jutted a thumb at Noah and raised an eyebrow at me. “See? This is what I was talking about.”
I couldn’t help laughing.
Noah raised his hands defensively. “No, no, I think they’re cool. Still kinda nasty… but cool.”
So far, the Inventors’ Olympics had been a huge success. Jamal Watts and Maggie Ortiz had pitted two battlebots against each other, demonstrating how the academy hosted robot battles a few months back. Collin Webb did some stunt flying with his drone—the one everyone called the Collybird. And Jim Mills drove his custom hovercraft around the track. The audience seemed to love it. I know if I didn’t already go to this school, I’d want to after seeing all the cool stuff we get to do.
“Come on, Amy,” I said. “We’re up next.”
Ashley Robbins was just finishing up demonstrating her plastic water bottle shredder and recycler.
Amy pulled off her protective suit. “Ugh, I can’t believe I agreed to do this.”
“Come on! You’re a natural,” I said. “Besides, everyone’s going to be watching the robot, remember?”
I had decided to showcase
my robot after all. I was even going to have it make pancakes again. Well, it would do everything but the actual cooking. I wasn’t planning on feeding everyone.
But the most brilliant part of my demonstration (if I do say so myself) was to have Amy pilot the robot. Like I said, she was a natural. She operated it flawlessly during our rehearsals. She could even crack an egg using both robot claws and not get any shell in the mixing bowl.
“This is turning out to be the Amy Hsu Show,” Sam said.
“Yeah, this is her big night,” Noah agreed. “Way to go, Ames.”
“Oh boy,” Amy said as she donned the VR gear.
“Please,” I said. “Can we not add any more pressure before she helps with my presentation?”
They were right, though. Not only was Amy going to be on stage twice, but she had also received full credit for editing the short video that had launched events that evening.
Joey and his crew had left the school and all the editing equipment behind. The way things ended, I was surprised they let the school keep the editing suite as promised. Fortunately, my father’s company ended up paying for the equipment, as well as siccing its legal team onto Joey’s production company, just in case Joey wanted to make trouble.
But the most important thing Joey’s guys had left behind was all of that raw footage. Amy had taken a week to cut together a cool video that really showcased the school. Best of all, the final video wasn’t so character driven anymore. Heck, there wasn’t even any dialogue. Music played over clips showing students happily building their inventions, collaborating, and testing them together. You know… just like how things really were at the academy!
“Next up, we have Tom Swift,” Mr. Edge announced, “assisted by Amy Hsu.”
The audience applauded as Amy and I took the stage. I carried the robot, while Sam and Noah brought up a small table with all the things we’d need to make pancakes.
“Hi, everyone,” I said, trying to keep my nerves in check. “I originally created the glasses that Amy is wearing to help with Noah Newton’s app, which you’ll see in a minute. But then I realized that I could do more with them.”
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