by Mclean, Hope
“We’ve got to think about every possibility,” Ryan was saying. “We have to do this right.”
“Let’s check out the Space Race room,” Veronica said. “It’s right over there, and it’s got some interesting stuff inside.”
Erin quickly ran from the module and went to find her friends. She bumped into Willow first.
“You’ll never believe who I just saw,” she said, breathless.
Willow looked past her and saw the Rivals. “Seriously? What are they doing here?”
Ryan saw Willow looking at him, and at first he made a ducking move, like he didn’t want to be seen. But then Willow waved and called, “Hey, Ryan!”
The Rivals all looked at one another, and Erin could have sworn they were nervous. They walked up to meet Willow and Erin, led by a reluctant Ryan. Willow made sure she got the first word in.
“So, what are you guys doing here?” she asked.
Ryan shrugged. “We’re just, uh, brushing up on our science.”
Behind him, Isabel looked angry. “That is ridiculous! We do not need to brush up on anything!” she protested, and Aaron nudged her.
“I guess we’re doing that, too, then,” Willow said carefully. “You know, keeping sharp for our next meet. Will we see you guys at the Think Out?”
The Think Out was a quiz bowl event at the Hallytown Harvest Festival. It was mostly for fun, a chance for local schools to show off.
“No,” Ryan replied. “It doesn’t count toward nationals or anything. Or didn’t you know that?”
“We might be new to the circuit, but we can still read the schedule,” Willow retorted, annoyed. “Anyway, it’ll be fun.”
“Plus they have corn dogs!” Erin chimed in.
Isabel made a face. “Let me guess. This is something you eat? A corn dog? It sounds disgusting.”
“Oh yeah, well, so is …” Erin searched her mind for something French she could insult. “… French toast!”
“See you guys around,” Ryan said with a smirk, and the Rivals hurried off.
Willow glared at Erin. “French toast? Seriously?”
Erin shrugged. “It was all I could think of. Who does she think she is, insulting corn dogs like that?”
Lili and Jasmine found them.
“So, should we head to the next exhibit?” Jasmine asked.
“First we should make sure the Rivals aren’t there,” Erin groaned.
Lili looked confused. “What do you mean?”
Willow explained their encounter, and Jasmine shook her head.
“It’s like we can’t get away from them.” She sighed.
“Well, I guess it makes sense, since Atkinson Prep is right next to Hallytown,” Willow pointed out. “And anyway, they said they’re not going to the Think Out tomorrow.”
“Yeah, they probably think it’s beneath them or something,” Erin said.
“Well, let’s forget about the Rivals. I want to see the Explore the Universe exhibit,” Jasmine suggested. “We should get Ms. Keatley. She’s been staring at the space suits for, like, fifteen minutes.”
“Can we stop in the food court first?” Erin asked. “Talking to snooty people always makes me hungry!”
“Ready? Set? Go!” Delia Winters, the owner of Sweet Treats Bakery, yelled.
At a table covered with a red-and-white checkered tablecloth sat ten people. Each had an entire pie sitting in front of them, and everyone’s hands were tied behind their backs. When Delia yelled “Go!” ten heads dove into their pies.
“Eli! Remember how to do it!” Lili yelled loudly.
Eli looked up from his pie and grinned. His face was already smeared with apple pie filling. He grabbed the foil pie plate with his teeth and turned it over on the table. The pie slid out, and Eli went to work, gobbling it up.
It was a beautiful fall Sunday and perfect weather for the Hallytown Harvest Festival. Main Street had been closed off to traffic and transformed with haystacks, pumpkins, and scarecrows. Booths were set up, and vendors were selling handmade crafts, baked goods, and other items. But the Jewels were all gathered around the main stage, where Lili’s brother was participating in the pie-eating contest.
Out of nowhere, Willow started laughing. “This reminds me of a joke: What do you get if you divide the circumference of a jack-o’-lantern by its diameter? Pumpkin pi. Get it? Pi, the mathematical constant approximately equal to three-point-one-four?” She started cracking up.
Jasmine chuckled, but Erin pretended to look horrified. “We need to get you out more. And not to museums or quiz bowls! You need a day of no-brain-required fun.”
“That’s what this is!” Lili pointed to the stage as she began to chant, “E-li! E-li! E-li! E-li!” over and over again.
Willow joined her, jumping up and down and clapping. “You can do it, Eli!”
Then Eli stood up, pie filling dripping from his face. Delia hurried over to check his empty pie plate.
“The winner!” she yelled.
“Yes!” Lili cheered, giving Willow a high five. “Way to go, bro!”
“That was fun!” Jasmine said. “But messy. I hope they give Eli a wet wipe or something.”
“I hope they clean that stage off before the Think Out,” Willow added. “I don’t want to go to hit the buzzer and end up with a handful of apple pie instead.”
“Well, I do!” Erin said, with big eyes.
“About the Think Out.” Jasmine frowned. “Do we really have to wear these?” She pointed to her shirt.
Each of the girls wore a black T-shirt, bedazzled with the words “Jewels Rule!” in red and white rhinestones and decorated with glitter swirls.
“They are corny chic,” Lili explained. “Like ugly Christmas sweaters. Cool people will get the irony. Plus, I spent all night making them!”
“You know how I feel about fake gemstones,” Jasmine complained.
“But the slogan is awesome,” Erin pointed out.
“That’s because you thought of it,” Jasmine reminded her.
“Yeah, but anyway, I kind of like them,” Erin said. “They’re super sparkly.”
“They definitely show off our team spirit,” Willow said encouragingly. “And they’re perfect for the Think Out today. We don’t have to make them the official team uniform if we all don’t agree to it.”
“That’s fair,” Jasmine said. “But I don’t think I’ll change my mind!”
After the remains of the pie-eating contest were cleaned up, the mayor of Hallytown, Barbara Gilmore, waited on the side of the stage. Next to her stood a confident-looking teenage girl with long black hair. She wore a red gown with a puffy skirt and a sash that said “Miss Hallytown.”
“Wow, that’s a great dress,” Lili said admiringly. “She looks like a princess.”
“Yeah, and she acts like one, too.”
The girls turned to see Veronica Manasas of the Rivals standing behind them. She wore jeans and a sweatshirt, just like she had at the museum. Her black hair was held back with a headband, although a few wisps had escaped and were hanging on her forehead.
Erin looked from Veronica to Miss Hallytown. “No way. Is that your sister?”
Veronica sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yes, that is the amazing Amelia,” she said sarcastically.
A short woman with perfectly styled wavy hair breezed by the girls and stopped when she saw Veronica.
“Don’t look so miserable, sweetie,” she said, clicking her tongue. “You should be happy for your sister. And pay attention. You could be Miss Hallytown one day, too!”
Then she hurried off and began fussing over Amelia.
“Was that your mom?” Willow asked.
Veronica nodded. “Oh yes,” she said glumly.
“Let me guess,” Erin said. “Your mom thinks your older sister is perfect, and doesn’t let you forget it, right?”
“Yeah,” Veronica said. “How did you —”
“I know, ’cause I’ve got one, too,” Erin explained. “If I hear one more ti
me ‘Mary Ellen did this’ or ‘Mary Ellen did that,’ I’m going to scream!”
Veronica relaxed a bit. “Science is my life. You think my parents would give me some credit. Scientists cure disease and help change the way the world works. But oh no, my beauty queen sister is the best thing since nuclear fission.”
The audience applauded as the mayor and Amelia got onstage to crown the new Miss Hallytown. When the ceremony ended, a crew began to set the stage for the Think Out.
“Good luck, guys,” Veronica said. She smiled at Erin, then walked off to find her family.
Jasmine turned to her friends. “Is it possible? One of the Rivals is actually nice?”
“Why not?” Willow asked. “They can’t all be as bad as Isabel.”
“I sure hope not,” Erin said.
Willow glanced up at the stage. “Looks like it’s time for our match.”
“No pressure, Jewels!” Lili said. “Remember, this quiz bowl is for fun only. The win won’t count toward nationals.”
Willow made a face. “But we still want to do as well as we can,” she pointed out. “After all, this is Martha Washington’s first year in the Think Out. We want to make a name for ourselves.”
Lili only laughed at Willow’s seriousness. “Relax! We’re going to be awesome. But first we need some brain food. Where is that corn dog truck?”
Erin tilted her nose in the air and sneered. “You mean ze dog of ze corn? Such a thing will not pass zese perfect lips,” she said in a really bad French accent. The girls doubled over in laughter.
“I hate to say it, but I agree with Isabel on that one,” Willow said. “I brought my own brain food.” She dug into her backpack and came out with a plastic bag. “Peanut butter and whole-grain crackers, anyone?”
The girls eagerly shared Willow’s snack.
“This is much better than that tin of sardines you tried to get us to eat before that one practice,” Jasmine told Willow. “They were gross!”
“Lili and I wouldn’t even try them,” Erin added. “And you could only eat one yourself, Willow, remember?”
Willow shuddered, thinking of those little salty fish. “I read they were a super brain food. Hey, at least I gave it a shot!”
“You threw them into the garbage can, and it was a Saturday,” Jasmine reminded her. “When Ms. Keatley went into her classroom on Monday, she thought something had crawled under her desk and died!”
The girls broke into peals of laughter.
“Ms. Keatley was ready to call poison control,” Lili giggled.
“Are you talking about the sardine incident again?” Ms. Keatley asked as she joined the group. “I swear, on a humid day I can still smell them sometimes.”
Willow cringed.
“No worries.” Ms. Keatley smiled. “I think it’s great that for a team that hasn’t been together that long, we already have a history. Is everyone ready for the Think Out?” The girls nodded. “Remember how this is going to work: Two teams will compete against each other in a miniround. These are high-speed rounds, with no bonus questions. The winning team moves on, and the losing team is out of the competition. It will continue until only one team is left.”
“So that means we’ll have to win all six rounds to be the champions.” Jasmine looked worried.
Willow gave a confident grin. “We can do this!”
The Jewels took to the stage and lined up behind their buzzers. Lili went over to Jasmine and tugged off her sweater, revealing the glittery “Jewels” shirt Lili had made. Jasmine sighed.
For this special match, Mayor Gilmore was acting as the Think Out moderator. She welcomed the Jewels and their opponents from Fox Farm Middle School.
As Mayor Gilmore began to read the first question, Jasmine felt like her stomach was in knots. The team’s bedazzled T-shirts weren’t the only thing making her nervous. She didn’t want the science questions to be the Jewels’ downfall. She had to concentrate!
“After which scientist is the world’s first space-based optical telescope named?” she asked.
Jasmine pressed the buzzer in a flash.
“Martha Washington,” Mayor Gilmore acknowledged.
“Edwin P. Hubble,” she answered confidently.
“That is correct,” the mayor replied.
Willow flashed a smile at Jasmine along with a thumbs-up. Their trip to the National Air and Space Museum was already paying off!
The first round seemed like a blur as the questions kept coming at a fast pace. Fox Farm earned a few points, but the Jewels were the first team to answer four questions correctly! Next they faced North River Middle School.
“Who was the first human in space?”
The mayor called on North River.
“Alan Shepard?” a boy answered.
“Incorrect. Martha Washington?”
“Yuri Gagarin?” Erin answered, her face turning red.
“Correct!”
Erin let out a big exhale. She might have been bored by the Space Race exhibit, but at least she had remembered some stuff.
The Jewels were on fire. They were hitting their buzzers so often that Lili had started to blow on her hands — the buzzer was getting hot!
“What is the decimal for one-sixteenth?”
Willow buzzed in. “Zero-point-zero-six-two-five.”
“Which artist painted The Scream?”
“Edvard Munch!” Lili answered.
Team after team left the stage as the Jewels captivated the crowd with their rapid-fire answers.
After winning five matches, they faced their sixth and final team. If they got this one last question right, they’d be the Hallytown Harvest Festival Think Out Champions!
“Name the first US space station.”
Jasmine’s buzzer rang out. “That would be Skylab.”
The mayor smiled. “Correct! The winner of this match, and of the entire Think Out, is the Martha Washington Jewels!”
The crowd cheered. Erin and Lili grabbed hands and started jumping up and down. Jasmine and Willow joined in, too.
“We did it!” Willow cried. Ms. Keatley ran up to them.
“Group hug!” Lili grabbed everyone together.
“Wonderful job, girls!” Ms. Keatley said. “You’re more than ready to face the Rivals at next Saturday’s competition.”
Erin grinned. “I was born ready!”
The next morning, all of the Jewels were still flying high as they met outside the school.
“Everyone is buzzing about us!” Willow said proudly. “I heard all the other schools are betting we’ll be the ones to end the Rivals’ winning streak.”
“They’re smart to bet on us,” Erin said. “We’re so going to destroy those guys!”
Jasmine turned to Lili. “I’m sorry, but I think it’s back to the drawing board for our uniforms,” she said. “They’re cool, but I just felt like too much of a show-off in that shirt. It was hard to concentrate!”
“No prob!” Lili said cheerfully. “I’ll come up with something even cooler for our next match.”
They joined the throngs of girls walking into the school.
“So the plan is on, right?” Erin asked in a loud whisper. “We’re going to investigate the library for clues? I bought a big magnifying glass last night after the Harvest Festival.”
“And I brought the cucumber sushi,” Lili said.
Willow nodded. “We’re on.”
* * *
The morning seemed to go by so slowly. When lunchtime finally came, the girls quickly ate and then headed through the busy hallways to the library.
In the main room, several students were sitting at the round tables, studying. Police tape still blocked the entrance to the reading room through the back wall.
“Let’s act casual, like we’re looking for books,” Willow suggested in a whisper. “Then we’ll make our way over there.”
Jasmine looked worried. “Oh, I hope Mrs. Potter doesn’t notice,” she said, nodding toward the librarian’s desk. The g
ray-haired woman was busy typing something on a computer.
“Looking around isn’t a crime,” Erin pointed out. “Come on, let’s go.”
The girls slowly made their way to the back of the library, stopping to look at books on the shelves as they went. When they got to the reading room, they peered through the tape. In the center of the room stood the ruby’s glass display case, but it was bare.
“I’ve never seen that case empty,” Jasmine said wistfully. “It’s so strange.”
Her eyes roamed around the small room, searching for any sign of something out of place. With the exception of the ruby being gone, everything looked exactly the same.
“It seems pretty normal,” Jasmine said, shaking her head.
Erin was holding a big magnifying glass up to her eye. “Yeah, everything’s just kind of blurry,” she said.
Jasmine glanced around the library. Nobody seemed to be paying attention to them, but she was still nervous. Mrs. Potter could notice them snooping around at any minute, and Erin’s magnifying glass was the opposite of subtle.
“Come on, let’s go,” she urged her friends. “There are obviously no leads here.”
She turned to leave when something shiny caught her eye.
“Look at that!” She pointed to a glittering object on the library’s dark wood floor, just inside the door to the reading room.
“A clue!” Erin exclaimed. “I think I can reach it.”
She leaned over and stretched her arm under the yellow tape, carefully scooping up the object on the floor. “Got it!”
Erin opened her hand as the other girls gathered around. Inside lay a circular silver pin with a bright blue stone in the center. The words “Brain Brawl Champions” were inscribed around the edge.
“Brain Brawl — that’s the name of the eastern regional quiz bowl championship tournament,” Willow said.
“Martha Washington hasn’t had a team in a long time, let alone won a championship,” Jasmine commented.