by Sheryl Berk
“You could take Connie,” Arnold teased. “She’s a really good dancer.”
Kylie raised an eyebrow. “No way. She dances too?”
“Wanna see?” Arnold typed in a sequence on his computer, and Connie immediately began whirling and twirling around the room, waving her arms in the air.
“That’s amazing!” Kylie said, laughing. “She’s really graceful.”
“I taught her to do the ‘Whip/Nae Nae’ dance,” he said. “She’s got serious moves.”
“What else can she do?” Kylie asked.
“What can’t she do? She can spell, do math, speak Mandarin and French and Spanish…”
“Oh, Jenna would love her. They could habla all day long!”
“She can shoot a basketball into a hoop…” Arnold continued.
“And play a game of one-on-one with Sadie!” Kylie enthused. “Awesome!”
“I programmed her once to paint a still life of a bowl of apples.”
“Lexi would just love that!” There—she’d said her friend’s name. And it didn’t make her sad or mad at all.
“Connie’s pretty amazing,” Arnold said, patting the robot on the head. “Good girl.”
“You’re pretty amazing,” Kylie told him. “You’re going to be really famous one day. I know it.” She looked past his glasses into his eyes, which were a deep, dark blue.
Arnold blushed. “You think so? I mean, no one has ever called me amazing before either.”
“Well, no one ever made a cupcake-baking robot before,” Kylie said. “So that makes you cool in my book.”
“Can I ask you something?” Arnold began. He touched her hand, and Kylie held her breath. Maybe he thought her mentioning the dance was an invitation for him to ask her? She hadn’t meant it that way—or had she?
“Do you want to come with me Saturday to the robotics competition? You know, just in case Connie needs some expert advice? Or I need a vote of confidence?”
Kylie considered his request carefully and smiled. “Yes, but only if I could bring one of my friends since you’re bringing your friend Connie.” She knew exactly who she wanted to invite.
• • •
Lexi couldn’t believe her ears when Kylie called her. “Me? You’re inviting me? I thought you hated me!”
“Hate is a strong word,” Kylie said. “I was mad at you, but I was also mad at myself. I got too carried away and let that get in the way of everything.”
“So what changed?” Lexi asked.
“I found a not-so-secret admirer.” Kylie giggled.
“No way! Who?” Lexi gushed.
“Arnold.”
Lexi’s jaw dropped. “Seriously? Bot Boy?”
“He’s a lot more than that,” Kylie explained. “He’s sweet and sensitive and really, really smart.”
“And he likes you! Of course he does! Why wouldn’t he? You’re all those things too, Kylie.”
“I didn’t think I liked him. I mean, he was kind of obnoxious when we fought at my locker that time. But he grows on you.”
“Like a weed?” Lexi teased.
Kylie chuckled. “I guess. We just spent the whole week working on Connie together, and I really think I like him and he likes me.”
“So, what are you waiting for?” Lexi pushed. “Ask him to the dance.”
“Ask him? I can’t. I mean, I hinted, but I can’t be the one to ask.”
“Why not? You’re a modern woman!”
“I just can’t. I don’t want to scare him off.”
Lexi thought for a minute. “Then someone needs to give him a little push.”
“Lex, please don’t meddle in my love life again. We both know that doesn’t end well,” Kylie begged her. “I forgive you. Now promise me you won’t do anything or say anything to Arnold.”
“I promise,” Lexi said. She had no intention of giving Arnold a push—but she knew someone else who might be willing to lend a hand.
The robotics competition looked like something out of a Star Wars movie. There were all kinds of beeping, blinking robots around the room—some with heads and bodies, and others that resembled vacuum cleaners.
“This is really…different,” Kylie said, surveying the room. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” Each team was working out the last-minute kinks on their robots. “Whoa! That one looks like R2-D2, don’t ya think?”
Arnold didn’t hear a word she was saying. He was too busy checking and double-checking Connie’s internal memory card and the program he’d created on his laptop for her to follow.
“Arnie, you’re all set,” Kylie said, trying to assure him. “You’ve been over it and over it.”
“Well, I should go over it again,” he said, ignoring her. “One more time.”
Herbie rolled up behind them, pushing a cart filled with measuring cups, assorted bowls, muffin tins, and piping bags. “You want to give it a once-over?” he asked Kylie. “Make sure Connie’s got all her cupcaking equipment ready?” Thankfully, he was a lot calmer than Arnold.
Kylie looked over everything and nodded. “Everything’s here.”
“You’re sure?” Arnold grabbed her by the shoulders. “You’re absolutely positive nothing can go wrong?”
“Well, I never say nothing,” Kylie confessed. “I mean, there was that time when Lexi accidentally forgot to pack the piping bags and we had to frost all the cupcakes at the last minute with Sadie’s skateboard key…”
“What? Do you have the piping bags?” Arnold rifled through the cart.
“Yes, yes,” Kylie said. “That was just a Lexi oopsie. It happens.”
“Did I hear my name?” Lexi asked. She was carrying several boxes of prebaked cupcakes for Connie to decorate when the time arrived.
“I was just telling Arnold about the time you frosted eight dozen cupcakes with a skateboard key.”
Lexi laughed. “Yeah, that was an oopsie. The annual kite-makers’ convention. But it’s no worse than the time I had to use a ketchup bottle to pipe roses!”
“Oh yeah,” Kylie recalled. “The Ladies of Litchfield luncheon. I forgot the piping-bag tips that time, and you improvised. That was an epic oopsie.”
“What? Epic oopsies? That cannot happen today. Do you hear me?” Arnold was now hyperventilating. “Everything has to go exactly as planned and programmed.”
“It will.” It was Herbie’s turn to try to calm him. “You’ve done an amazing job, and your program is flawless.”
“But is it amazing and flawless enough?” Arnold asked, checking out his competition. “I mean, look at that obstacle-course navigator the Westport team came up with. It’s sick!”
“Looks pretty healthy to me,” Kylie said, poking Arnold playfully in the ribs. “Get it? Sick? Healthy?”
Arnold was not in the mood for jokes. Not when the Darien team had built a sumo robot that could actually wrestle. “I feel a little faint,” he said. “Is the room spinning?”
Herbie helped him sit down on the floor and place his head between his knees. “Take a deep breath,” he instructed Arnold. “You’re going to be fine.”
“Fine? I don’t want to be fine. I want to win. I have to win!”
Lexi pulled Kylie aside. “Wow, your boyfriend’s intense,” she said.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Kylie corrected her.
“Yet,” Lexi replied.
“Arnie’s just worried,” Kylie said. “I get it. He has so much riding on this, and he put his whole heart into it.”
“His whole heart?” Lexi teased. “I hope he saved some of it for you. Did you mention the dance again?”
Kylie shook her head. “No, I can’t. He’s a wreck. Any more pressure might drive him over the edge.” She walked off to help Herbie line up all the ingredients on the demonstration table.
Lexi noticed Arnold tinkering with a walk
ie-talkie-like gadget. “What’s that thing do?” she asked.
“This thing helps me communicate with Connie,” he explained. “She can respond to voice commands. If anything goes wrong with her preprogramming, I can correct her and she will follow my orders.”
“No kidding?” Lexi asked. “So if you said, ‘Connie, paint the Mona Lisa,’ she’d do it?”
“I’d have to program that skill set,” Arnold explained. “Right now, I could say, ‘Connie, go right, go left, raise your arm’ and she’d do it. Or, ‘Spin three hundred and sixty degrees in a direction—’”
“Could she give someone a little push?” Lexi interrupted.
“A push? I suppose,” Arnold replied. “I’d have to command her to raise her arms and move forward.”
“Uh-huh,” Lexi said. “That’s fascinating.”
He set the remote down on the table. “Don’t touch it,” he warned Lexi. “It’s highly sensitive.”
Lexi placed her hands behind her back. “Of course!”
She waited patiently for Arnold to walk away, then quickly grabbed the remote and put it in her pocket. All she had to do was get Arnold and Kylie next to each other for her plan to work. She watched as the two of them got Connie ready for her moment in the spotlight. Kylie tied an apron around the robot’s waist, and Arnold placed a measuring cup in Connie’s hand. They worked quickly and efficiently, but every time Kylie went right, Arnold seemed to go left. There was no getting them together long enough for Connie to give them a push.
“Students, advisers, and robots,” a voice boomed over the loudspeaker. “The annual Connecticut Robotics Competition will begin in two minutes. Please take your places.”
“That’s your cue to take your seat in the bleachers,” Herbie said, ushering Lexi off the gymnasium floor.
“Really? So soon?” Lexi pleaded with him. “Couldn’t I just stand on the sidelines and watch?”
“Not a chance. Arnold would have my head,” Herbie insisted. “Only the robotics teams and advisers are allowed on the floor. No spectators.”
Lexi pouted. How was she supposed to see her plan through all the way from the top of the bleachers? Like the time she piped roses with a ketchup bottle, she would simply have to improvise.
Lexi watched anxiously as several teams presented their robots. One zoomed around the floor doing its version of Swan Lake. Another walked a narrow tightrope on a single wheel. Finally, it was Arnold and Kylie’s turn to show what Connie was capable of.
“This is Connie, and she bakes cupcakes,” Arnold announced in the microphone. A hush fell over the gymnasium. He flipped a switch on Connie’s control panel, and she began emptying a measuring cup filled with flour into a mixing bowl. Each time Arnold handed her another ingredient, she poured it in without spilling a drop.
He rolled her over to the next station. Connie scooped the batter into a muffin tin that he and Kylie had lined with cupcake wrappers. Each scoop had the perfect amount.
“This is going really well,” Kylie whispered to Arnold. “Don’t ya think?”
“Don’t jinx us,” Arnold whispered back. “But yeah.”
Finally, it was Connie’s chance to demonstrate her piping abilities. As Lexi watched, Arnold stood next to the robot, and Kylie watched over his shoulder. The piping bag was already in Connie’s hand when Lexi saw her opportunity and seized it.
“Turn right,” Lexi spoke into the remote. The robot suddenly obeyed and faced Arnold.
“Connie! What are you doing?” He looked panic-stricken. “The cupcakes are in front of you. Start piping!” He went to his laptop and punched a few buttons, but the robot refused to turn around. He searched the counter for his remote. “Where is it?” he asked Kylie. “I left it here! It’s the only way I can override her.”
“Now push!” Lexi said from her seat in the bleachers, mentally urging the robot to give Arnold a gentle nudge right into Kylie’s arms. Instead, Connie’s eyes flashed and her head started to shake from side to side. She looked confused.
“I said, push !” Lexi repeated into the remote. Connie just stood there, beeping.
“Oh, wait! Forward! Go forward!” Lexi tried. “Isn’t that what Arnold said? Go forward?” This time, Connie inched ever-so-much closer to Arnold and Kylie.
“Okay, now arms up!” Lexi said excitedly. It was working! Connie raised her arm—but the piping bag was still in her hand.
“Put that down! What are you doing?” Arnold scolded the robot. He tried punching the buttons on her control panel, but it was no use.
Herbie raced to his side. “Are her circuits overloading? Does she have a short?” he asked.
“She’s like a zombie,” Kylie said. “Why won’t she listen to what you programmed her to do?”
“I have no idea!” Arnold cried. “And the judges are watching every move!”
Lexi waited till the perfect moment—when Arnold was facing Connie and Kylie was next to him—to issue her final command. “Push!” she said into the remote and crossed her fingers. But instead of giving Arnold and Kylie a gentle nudge, Connie squeezed the piping bag. Pink frosting went flying right into Arnold’s face.
“Stop! Stop!” Arnold cried, finally cutting off Connie’s power switch. The robot’s eyes went dark, and her arms fell to her sides.
“I’m finished! Ruined! The judges are going to deduct a million points from my score!”
Kylie felt awful; they had worked so hard for this day! And somehow, something had gone wrong, terribly wrong. Epically wrong. This was no oopsie—it was a train wreck! She gazed up at the bleachers and saw Lexi watching them. She noticed there was something in her hand—Arnold’s remote! And when Lexi realized Kylie had seen it, she quickly tucked it in her pocket.
“Oh my gosh, she was trying to get us together,” Kylie said.
“Who? What? Get who together?” Arnold said.
“Connie. I mean Lexi. That was the plan. She didn’t mean to mess things up…”
Arnold scratched his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Just follow my lead, okay?” Kylie said. “Trust me, Arnie. I’ve got this.”
She grabbed the microphone and took a deep breath. “So you all know that little messes always happen when you’re baking cupcakes in the kitchen,” she said, addressing the audience and judges. “Flour flies; frosting winds up on your face…”
She turned Arnold around to face the audience. “See? What do you do when you get icing up your nose?” Everyone roared with laughter.
Arnold was mortified—then caught on to where Kylie was going with this.
“You clean it up!” he said. He hit a few buttons on his laptop, and Connie sprang back to life. She picked up a towel from the counter and then wiped Arnold’s face till it was spotless.
There was thunderous applause in the gym—and the lead judge came over to congratulate Arnold and hand him a prize ribbon. “A robot that bakes and cleans up the kitchen afterward—very clever,” he said. “And something we’ve never seen before.”
As he walked away, Arnold pulled Kylie into a huge bear hug. “That was amazing! You totally saved our presentation!”
“Our presentation?” Kylie asked.
“Well, yeah,” Arnold said. “We’re a team.”
Lexi raced down from the bleachers the second she saw her bestie and Arnold hugging.
“It worked!” she said. “Kinda. I mean the frosting in the face wasn’t great…”
“It was!” Kylie said. “The judges were totally wowed, and we never would have thought of it.”
“Can I have my remote back?” Arnold asked Lexi, holding out his hand.
Lexi pulled it from her pocket. “Sorry. I just wanted you guys to get together. I wanted Kylie to have a date for the dance.”
Arnold smiled. “Oh. So that was the plan. Why didn’t you just
say so?” He turned to face Kylie. “Would you go to the dance with me? If I promise to leave Connie at home? I guess she is kind of a third wheel…” He hit a button, and Connie spun around. “Get it? Wheel?”
Kylie laughed. “I get it, and I would love to go.”
Lexi put her arm around the robot. “Nice job, girlfriend,” she whispered to Connie. “We did it!”
Kylie stared in the mirror in Lexi’s bedroom. “I dunno about this dress. I think I look weird.” She was wearing a navy dress with a round collar and long sleeves.
Lexi shook her head. “It’s not weird, it’s just a little…plain,” she said, tugging at the hem. “And long and shapeless.”
“It looked really good when I ordered it online. I thought it would be dark and dramatic. But on me it looks…ugh.”
“Maybe you just need a little makeup,” Lexi suggested. She applied lip gloss, mascara, and pale-pink eye shadow to Kylie’s face with an artistic touch.
“There!” she said. “So much better.”
Kylie wrinkled her nose. “Well, my face looks better. But my dress is still awful. It just doesn’t feel like me. The model was way taller—and curvier.” She fussed with the too-long sleeves and baggy waistline.
There was a knock on Lexi’s bedroom door, and Jenna bounded in. “Hola, chicas,” she said. She was wearing the hot-pink ruffled dress her mother had made her. “How do I look?” Jenna asked. She twirled around, and the layers of chiffon flew out in every direction.
“Stunning,” Lexi said. “Like a beautiful flower.”
Kylie looked down at her drab dress. “Ugh,” she said and sighed again.
“Qué pasa? ” Jenna asked, noticing her. “Are you going to a dance or a funeral?”
Kylie buried her head in hands.
“We’re having a bit of a fashion emergency,” Lexi explained.
“You can say that again,” Jenna muttered under her breath.
“I didn’t have a lot of time to find a dress,” Kylie said. “Not with us having to bake two hundred and forty cupcakes for the dance and get them all packed and ready to deliver.”
“So you chose that dress?” Jenna chuckled. “Was it on sale…or free?”