Team BFF--Race to the Finish! #2

by Stacia Deutsch

  Then it hit me: I was going to have to tell my friends the hackathon was off.

  Chapter Eight

  That night, I texted the Rockin’ Robots. I’d wasted enough time. Time to rip off the Band-Aid.

  I can’t go tomorrow

  I waited a second before sending another text.

  my parents need me to take care of my sisters. i tried to get out of it, but no dice

  Maya responded right away.

  what??? . . . like you cant go to the hackathon??

  yeah . . .

  but wait . . . doesn’t this mean we all get disqualified??

  This is what I’d been dreading.

  yeah, looks like it . . .

  No one responded for a few seconds.

  i’m so so so srry. i tried to get someone to babysit but I couldnt . . . my dad also wants me to do a ton of chores . . . and they have to get done before the hackathon.

  Silence.

  i feel terrible. i’m so sorry. i let you guys down . . .

  All I wanted to do was turn off my phone and climb into bed, pull the covers over my head, and not come out for the next few days.

  soph, are u sure u can’t go?

  yeah, u sure? we already did so much . . .

  i know . . . so sorry guys . . . i feel awful. . . .

  I decided to be completely truthful. I’d kept the information from them long enough.

  i’ve known for a couple of days, but i was hoping my parents would change their minds . . .

  why didn’t you tell us?

  i thought i could take care of it . . .

  I watched the screen as three dots appeared by Lucy’s name and then disappeared. What could she say? I stared at my screen. What could I even say?

  i’m sorry. i guess i thought wrong.

  I put my phone down, but the second I did, it started dinging like crazy.

  it’s ok, soph

  you tried

  you have a lot going on right now

  I couldn’t believe they were being so nice—it almost made me feel worse. I wasn’t sure I would have reacted that way if it’d been one of them.

  i’m going to talk to the event organizers. maybe there’s something we can do.

  good idea, lucy. don’t worry ’bout it, soph. we’re a team. we’ll figure something out, and if we can’t go, that’s ok too.

  totally. that’s what friends are for, right?

  I clutched my phone, feeling my heart warm. Maybe my mom was right. Why hadn’t I just told them earlier?

  thanks so much guys. you’re the best. and just in case, i’ll send you all the edit i made of dance to the beat so you have it for tomorrow. i hope they let you go! break a robot leg!

  I crawled into my bed and pulled the covers over my head. I’d nearly fallen asleep when I realized I hadn’t done the one thing I’d promised. Leaning up on one elbow, I grabbed the phone from my nightstand and sent off the edited song.

  As I drifted off to sleep, I hoped it’d work out and that my team could still participate in the hackathon without me. If not, I was sure I was going to feel guilty forever.

  The next morning, I was awake before the sun had barely risen. Abuela had gotten me up when she left for Marissa’s. Mom was at work, and Dad was already at his conference.

  It wasn’t even seven when Rosie came toddling into my room, asking for breakfast.

  “Too early,” I mumbled, putting my pillow over my head.

  “No peekaboo,” Rosie argued, pounding the pillow with her little fist. “Bweakfast!”

  “Good thing I like you,” I grumped, putting on my fuzzy slippers and stomping downstairs after her. Thankfully Rosie had to take the stairs slowly, which suited my tired self perfectly. Pearl and Lola were awake, too, but they weren’t hungry yet. They were building a tower with blocks in the living room—I was just glad they were occupied, for the time being.

  I still felt sluggish, but I’d mustered enough energy to pour Rosie a bowl of dry cereal when the doorbell rang.

  Ring ring

  Ring ring ring

  Ring ring ring ring

  “Bell!” Rosie shouted, and threw cereal at me. “Wucy! Wucy!”

  I stared at my little sister. She was pretty observant for a two-year-old, because there was only one person we knew who was impatient enough to ring the bell that many times.

  But why would Lucy be here now? “No more throwing cereal,” I warned, and ran to answer the door.

  “Good morning!” Lucy trilled. She was wearing her Rockin’ Robots shirt and had a broom in her hand.

  “Huh?” I blinked, willing my eyes to wake up faster. “Lu, what are you doing here? It’s not even eight a.m. And it’s a Saturday.”

  “Funny you ask!” Lucy exclaimed, stepping aside as Erin, Maya, and Leila joined her on the porch. They must have been hiding behind the bushes. Lucy walked right past me into the kitchen.

  Leila grinned. “Hey, Sophia!” She was carrying a sponge and a little bag that said “Fish Food” on the side.

  Maya had a watering can and followed Lucy into the kitchen. “Hi, Rosie.” She popped some of Rosie’s cereal in her mouth. “Yum, my fave.”

  Erin was the last one to come into the house. She had a huge tote bag slung over her shoulder. I moved aside to let her in but reached out to grab her arm as she passed by. “What’s going on?”

  She smiled at me. “We had a chat without you.”

  I swallowed. That didn’t sound good. Did they talk about what a terrible person I was to bail out at the last minute?

  Erin read my expression. “You goof! Don’t worry, it wasn’t anything bad. We talked about what to do. We could have tried to go to the hackathon without you—or we could find a way to go with you.”

  “What do you mean, with me?” I repeated, confused. “I told you guys I can’t go.”

  Erin winked. “That’s what you think.” She breezed past me and into the kitchen.

  My head still felt a bit foggy, but what Erin said made no sense. I followed her to where my friends were sitting and chatting with Rosie, who was loving the attention. I went to sit at the counter, but Maya held out her arm to stop me. “Nope, there’s no time for sitting if we’re going to get all those chores done!”

  Now I was starting to get annoyed. “What are you talking about?” I looked around at all of them. “You guys have got to tell me what’s going on. It’s too early for this.”

  “We only have three hours.” Lucy pointed to the oven clock. “If we want to get to the hackathon on time, we’d better get started!”

  “But I told you I can’t go,” I exclaimed, pouring myself a glass of orange juice. “I don’t know what you have planned, but my dad . . .”

  Lucy interrupted me. “Didn’t he say if the chores were done, you could go?”

  “Well, sort of . . . ,” I clarified. “He said he’d consider it.”

  “So let’s get moving!” Erin said cheerfully. She pulled a container of laundry detergent pods out of her tote bag. “We brought everything we need. We couldn’t take the chance that there was no fish food or laundry detergent.”

  I was so confused. “But how do you even know what chores I have to do?”

  Maya smiled at me. “You sent us the wrong file, silly.”

  “What? No, I—” I crossed the kitchen and picked up my phone from the counter. “Oh.” In my tired, sad stupor last night, I’d accidentally sent them the video of Dad’s list of chores instead of Erin’s song!

  My mind caught up with what was happening.

  “Okay, I get what you’re trying to do, and I really appreciate it, but it won’t work,” I announced, holding up my palms. We’d have to get all the chores done in just a few hours before the hackathon, and, anyway, who would watch my sisters if I was out all afternoon?

  “Monica will be here at ten,” Leila said, as if
she were reading my thoughts. “We confirmed this morning.”

  My mouth fell open. “What? But how . . .”

  “Lucy said she was her neighbor. She’s babysat my little brother before, so I had her number,” Leila explained.

  “Oh,” I said again, my eyes traveling over my friends’ eager faces. “Look, I really appreciate all of this, but trust me, it’s not so easy to convince my dad when he has his mind set on something, especially when he’s on a work trip . . .”

  “We’ll text him when we’re done,” Lucy said simply, sounding like the problem solver she was. “We can send him a video of how clean and neat everything is.” She glanced over at Rosie’s messy face and added, “Including your sisters.”

  “Let’s be sure to send him the right video,” Erin added with a laugh. She handed Lucy a wet paper towel to wipe off Rosie.

  Rosie giggled as Lucy played peekaboo with the towel.

  For once, I stood speechless.

  “Okay, Rockin’ Robots, we’ve got work to do!” Maya set the alarm on her phone for a half hour before the hackathon and held up her broom. “Ready, set, go!”

  Three hours later, the house sparkled. My sisters were all fed and happy. Even Pearl’s ballet costume had been washed. (Maya had convinced her to play dress-up while I did the laundry, making sure to keep the laundry pods away from curious little hands.) It was amazing how much you could get done when you had four friends—your team—helping you. Coach was right: A player was nothing without her team.

  Erin and Lucy had watered the plants and taken the newspapers out, and I had vacuumed. Leila had fed Lola’s fish with her and even set up a machine to feed them later. The coolest thing was that it used Lola’s toys. Lola would knock over a domino that hit a piece of wood, which knocked a ball. The ball opened a chute on a slide, and a little bit of food went down the slide into the fish tank. Leila explained it was called a Rube Goldberg machine—a machine that uses a chain reaction to do something simple. Lola thought it was the best thing ever. Leila promised to come back later to make a different Rube Goldberg machine to help Lola “feed” her dolls.

  “How did you all even think of this?” I asked them as we gathered up all the cleaning supplies.

  Erin smiled. “It was Leila’s idea,” she told me.

  “That’s what friends are for, right?” Leila said bashfully. I gave her a tight hug. It was hard to believe that Leila had only been in our group for a few days. It already felt like she had been part of our “permanent group” forever.

  We took a video of the house and my sisters (who of course put on a dance performance). I sent it to my dad and told him that Monica was ready to come over. My friends were crowded around me, waiting for my dad’s reply.

  Pretty soon three little dots popped up on my screen.

  “He’s writing!” Erin squealed. Lucy squeezed my hand in solidarity.

  Impressive job, Rockin’ Robots. Great teamwork. Code away!

  “Yes!” Lucy shouted as my friends high-fived one another and grinned at me.

  “Wow,” I said, struggling to find the right words to say. Looking at my friends’ faces, a wave of guilt washed over me. I’d been so busy thinking about myself—and so determined to do things alone—that I had almost ruined everything.

  “Sometimes it’s okay to ask for help, you know,” Lucy said softly, reading my mind. “Now go get your T-shirt, Soph. We’ve got a hackathon to go to!”

  Chapter Nine

  “ It looks like a carnival in here!” Lucy exclaimed as we entered the community center gym.

  I took Lucy’s hand and gave it a squeeze. It felt like ages since our first coding club meeting. We were ready to rock: Lucy was wearing her sparkly red heart studs, and I had on my lucky star hoodie.

  We walked under a massive balloon arch. Multicolored pennants hung from the ceiling, and there was a table with free snacks and drinks. Signs marked the bathrooms, and loud music was playing. Not that we needed it: I could feel the excitement in the air. I’d been to the community center tons of times for basketball games before, but I’d never seen so many people packed inside. It felt like another world.

  A large sign on the wall announced the schedule:

  I leaned toward Lucy. “I wonder what the special activity is.”

  Welcome to the Community Center Hackathon!

  Schedule of events:

  Mixer time!

  Get your robot plug-in modules

  Start coding!

  Lunch

  More coding!

  Special activity!

  More coding!

  Practice maze runs!

  Official maze runs for prizes!

  “Me too!” she squealed. “This is so awesome!”

  There were streamers across the ceiling and posters on the walls advertising companies that were sponsoring the event—there was even one for the Bakeshop with images of cake pops all over it, and my mouth started watering.

  “Look!” Maya pointed at one poster.

  TechTown, your local software company, is proud to sponsor this year's hackathon!

  Our Chief Technology Officer, Ana Kamat, is a judge.

  Don’t miss her presentation on TechTown’s newest products!

  Erin eyed the poster. “OMG, this sounds amazing.”

  “It really does,” Leila said, looking around the rest of the gym.

  We made our way through winding aisles of tables full of laptops. There were kids hanging around in clusters, but I didn’t see anyone I recognized. I wondered if Sammy and his group were here yet.

  “C’mon, guys,” Maya said, leading us to the registration table. She told the woman behind the table our team name, and we got name tags and tote bags. I peeked inside and saw granola bars, water bottles, an apple, and a book about coding.

  We were assigned to a table in the center of the gym. As we nudged past groups of kids on our way toward our area, someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was Fatima—a girl I knew from basketball camp. “Wow, hi!” I said, giving her a quick hug. “I didn’t know you coded!”

  She grinned. “I was going to say the same thing to you!” We talked for a minute, and then I rushed to catch up to my friends.

  “Hey! Sophia!”

  I turned and saw Marco, who went to another middle school. He managed his school’s basketball team.

  He told me his team was called Coding Whizzes, and that their robot was going to blink and talk. “What’s your robot gonna do, Soph?” Marco asked me.

  “We’re using a movable arm for one of the modules and—”

  “Sophia!” I heard from across the room. It was Daisy and Rachel McIntyre. They waved at me. Their parents owned a popular sports store in our town.

  Maya looked over at me. “Jeez, do you know everyone here?”

  Before I could finish telling Marco what our robot was going to do, the start of the hackathon was announced. Teams moved quickly to their tables. I hurried to join mine. Each of us had our own laptop, and there were pencils and scrap paper for us to share.

  “To begin the day, we’ll be doing an icebreaker,” a voice called over the loudspeaker. “Near your computers you’ll find a sheet of yellow paper.”

  I picked up the paper. “It has a bunch of questions on it,” I whispered to the others.

  The announcer continued, “Your task is to find students, teachers, or volunteers at today’s event who can answer the questions. Then, get that person’s signature. The winning team will be the first to get signatures for all twenty questions. And there’s a prize for the winners.”

  When the announcer said, “Go!” I read the first question out loud. “Find someone who has moved to town from another state. It can’t be someone in your group.”

  For the next fifteen minutes, we went a
round the room meeting students from other schools and finding out who loved movies, who read mysteries, and who had dogs. It was a bit awkward at first, but since everyone was doing the same thing, we didn’t feel awkward for too long—plus, I knew a lot of kids there, so it made it easier to find people to answer the questions. Within about ten minutes, we had most of the questions answered. But there was one blank we were having trouble filling.

  It said: Find someone who worked on MARS.

  “That’s such a weird question,” I said, tapping my pencil on my chin. “No one has ever been to Mars.”

  “There are some people I’d like to send there,” Erin said with a smirk.

  “For real,” Lucy said, bobbing her head.

  “Can I see the paper?” Leila asked me. I handed it over. “It’s M-A-R-S, not Mars. All in capital letters.”

  “M-A-R-S,” Maya repeated. “What could the letters stand for?”

  “Oh!” Lucy said, snapping her fingers. “I know! Mobile Autonomous Robotic Systems! I read about it in my mom’s TechTown newsletter. It’s a new robot Ana Kamat is making.”

  We rushed across the gym to where Ms. Kamat was unloading boxes from a cart. She had long black hair clasped loosely in a big clip and was wearing a burgundy-colored blazer.