“The asteroid is one hundred percent certain,” I say. “You’re wasting your time.”
“Okay, okay,” he says. “But you have to convince my parents of that. Do you want to come over tonight and tell them? Think about it, Elle. I don’t have a choice.”
I can’t say anything else. I’ve always counted on Mack. He’s been my friend forever. Without him…I don’t even want to think about it.
“If I visit the school or not, does it really make a difference?” he asks. “It doesn’t change what’s happening in April. Right?”
“You’d learn more by coming to Nature Club than visiting that place.” I see my angry reflection in his dark glasses.
“You’re right. Like today I learned if I run while carrying a gallon of water, I’ll end up with a bruised thigh.” He rubs his leg.
“I’m serious. You can’t leave Hamilton after impact. It won’t be safe.”
“I promise. I won’t. Okay?” He tugs on my arm. “Come on, let’s keep running. We have to get these people in shape before April.”
Mack might be the most trustworthy kid in all of Hamilton Middle School, but I know he just lied to my face. He doesn’t realize what he’s risking. Even with all I’ve done, I may still end up losing my best friend.
Mack is off wasting his time at the Conrad School, but things aren’t as bad as they usually are when he’s gone. At lunch, I talk to Londyn, Spencer, Ajay, and Dominic. They all want to know what we’re doing at the meeting this afternoon.
“No more exercise, please,” Spencer begs with folded hands. “I’m still sore from last time.”
“That was two weeks ago,” I say.
“I’m a slow healer.” He rotates his head and stretches out his neck.
“No working out today. But you should be doing that on your own. That’s how you get in shape. Do a little each day.” I haven’t done any exercise except what’s mandatory in gym class, but I don’t tell him.
“So what are we doing, Norie?” Londyn asks.
“Fine, I’ll tell you. Today is a special two-part meeting. First, I’m going to teach you about the difference between heirloom seeds and genetically engineered seeds.”
“That sounds exciting.” Londyn fakes a huge yawn.
“And I’ve agreed to let Ajay give us a space lesson.”
“Did you know most ‘shooting stars’ are actually bits of space rock burning up as they enter our atmosphere?” He does air quotes around the words shooting stars. “Technically, they’re called meteors. My main astronomy focus has been planets and stars. But I’ve been brushing up on asteroids, comets, and meteoroids because it seems most important to our future.”
I don’t see the point in learning about space. The only space object I’m concerned with is 2010PL7, and that’ll be pulverized in April.
“If Ajay gets to run a meeting, I want to run a meeting,” Spencer whines.
“What would you talk about?” Londyn asks him.
“I could teach y’all how to use a slingshot,” he says. “I got one for Christmas, and I’ve been practicing.”
“I want to do something too,” Dominic says with a mouthful of sandwich. “I could—”
“Stop! We don’t have time,” I say. “I have the rest of our meetings planned out. We’ve only got a few left. We need to stay focused.”
They all start talking and asking questions. I almost miss the good old days when no one spoke to me. Almost.
“I’m going to the bathroom.” I shove my uneaten lunch into my bag and get up.
“I’m going too.” Londyn stands.
“I actually have to go to the bathroom,” I whisper to her.
She shrugs and then follows me into the hall. She’s acting weird. I’ll admit, we’re friends and we hang out a lot. But she’s not the clingy kind of friend.
“You okay?” I ask when we’re alone.
“I told my parents.” She takes a deep breath.
“Oh.”
“They’re getting a divorce.”
“Because of the asteroid?”
“No, you moron.” Her insult doesn’t have its usual venom. “This divorce has been coming since last summer. At least.”
“I’m sorry.” I wait for her to say more. She stares at the grimy floor.
But I wasn’t kidding. I do have to use the bathroom. I push open a stall door. Once it’s closed, she starts talking again.
“My mom and I moved out in the fall. That’s why we’ve been staying with my aunt.”
“Okay.” I try to stay quiet so she’ll keep talking.
“It was supposed to be temporary.”
When she pauses, I flush. I leave the stall and go to the sink. Londyn is staring at the same spot on the floor.
“Where’s your dad?”
“He’s been living with my grandparents in Michigan.” Londyn sniffs hard.
I hand her a paper towel.
“Showed my mom the website last night. Told her we all need to be together if we’re going to survive this.”
“She didn’t believe you?”
“Nope.” Londyn wipes her eyes with her thumb, leaving a black smudge. “She said I was a brat. Said I was taking my dad’s side. Told me to grow up.” A few tears run down her cheek. She stops trying to wipe them away.
“My dad doesn’t believe it either,” I say.
“But at least he’s here, and you’ll be together.” She grabs another paper towel. “And you have Grandpa Joe, your brothers. You’re not alone, Norie. Not like me.”
“What about your aunt?” I ask.
Londyn shrugs. “She’s nice, but…I just want…”
She doesn’t finish, and I don’t really know what to say. I try to get her to focus on what we can do now. “We still have time to make your parents believe, and to make my dad. Meanwhile, we need to get ready.”
“This asteroid is really happening, right?” She stares at me, and I can feel a weight on my shoulders and a tightness around my head.
“Yes.”
She nods slowly. “It has to happen.”
“It will,” I whisper.
“And my dad will come home,” she says. “And we’ll be together.”
“Yeah.”
* * *
• • •
Grandpa Joe picks Londyn and me up after Nature Club. I haven’t seen him since Dad put my computer in lockdown weeks ago. I wonder if the two are related.
“Soldiers, how was school?” he asks as we climb into his truck.
“Fine.” Honestly, it wasn’t our best Nature Club meeting. I think I killed it when I talked about heirloom seeds and gardening. I brought everyone a packet of corn. But Ajay went on and on about space stuff. He even made a PowerPoint presentation. We all got a good nap.
“I’ve had better,” Londyn says.
“How was your—” I try to ask my grandfather about his day, but Londyn cuts me off.
“What’s it really going to be like? When the asteroid hits?” She turns around in the front seat and faces me.
My eyes open wide. I’m not used to talking about this in front of adults, even if it’s Grandpa Joe.
“Depends on the site of impact,” I explain.
“If it hits North Carolina?” she asks.
“We’re basically vaporized in an instant.” I shrug. There’s no point giving her false hope.
“What if it hits Montana?” She stares at me.
“I’m not sure where Montana is; if it’s farther than a thousand miles, we’ll be okay. Anywhere within a hundred miles, we aren’t going to make it through the first hour.” I shrug like, What are you going to do.
“Girls, maybe we shouldn’t be talking about this.” Grandpa Joe looks at me in the rearview mirror. “I promised your daddy that I wouldn�
��t put any ideas in your head.”
“Okay.” I don’t want them to fight again. I pretend to zip my lips and throw away the key.
Londyn turns back around and faces the road. We drive in silence. Grandpa Joe fiddles with the radio. He seems to get frustrated and turns it off.
“Oh Lord, I can’t do it,” Grandpa Joe says, and Londyn stares at him because neither of us knows what he’s talking about.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“I can’t force you to be quiet. This is too important.” He slaps the side of the steering wheel. “Eleanor is right. If the asteroid hits the East Coast, we’re goners. But anywhere else, we have a fighting chance. And by God, we’re going to fight.”
For the rest of the ride home, we talk about all the scenarios and what it’ll be like living in the aftermath—lawlessness, disease, filth, and constant fear. Grandpa Joe could specialize in giving kids nightmares. My heart races faster than it did when we ran laps carrying gallons of water.
“But don’t worry, soldiers, we’ll take care of each other,” he says as he pulls into Londyn’s driveway.
“Thanks, Grandpa Joe.” Londyn jumps out of the truck. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think she looks pale.
She texts me thirty seconds later, before I even get home.
LONDYN: Grandpa Joe gave us our next newsletter
ME: huh?
LONDYN: everything he said about the future
LONDYN: we need to write that
ME: you wanna do fiction?
LONDYN: it won’t be fiction in april
Mack returns a few days later. He does a poor job of hiding his excitement about the Conrad School.
“It was so cool, dude. And you can visit. They allow friends and family to come stay.”
“Uh-huh,” I say into the phone. I don’t encourage him to go on, but I’m still trying to be a good friend and not hang up or scream.
“I wish you could check out the dorms. There are two guys to a room, and on each floor there’s a kitchen and a living room. We can cook for ourselves or eat in the cafeteria. The living room has a video game system with…” He continues describing every inch of the school.
“Sounds great,” I say, as if I’d been listening and not focusing on finding a snack from the pantry.
“Can I be honest?” he says. “I’m really nervous.”
“About what?” I open a vanilla pudding cup.
“Duh, the school. I’ve never been away from home for that long. I’d miss my parents…and you. Maybe it’s a bad idea to move out when you’re thirteen.”
“It is a bad idea!” I drop a blob of pudding, and Bubbles licks it up. “Because a giant asteroid is going to crash into Earth before you turn thirteen.”
“Do we always have to talk about the asteroid?”
“Do you always have to talk about the Conrad School?”
“Okay, okay. I don’t want to fight.”
“Me either.” I slide to the ground with my back against the pantry door, and we have our first awkward silence in the history of our friendship. With only a month or so left to impact, I don’t know how to make him realize what’s at stake.
“I thought of something else for our bucket list,” he practically yells in my ear.
“What?”
“Rock climbing!”
“No way. Why are you determined to kill us?”
Mack laughs. Then he tells me a story about some senior at the Conrad School who has climbed the highest peaks in the Smokies.
When we hang up, I decide to take a chance. I haven’t written to Dr. Cologne since Dad put me under surveillance. I’ve been worried he’d see it, but maybe he needs to.
Dear Dr. Cologne,
I’m concerned about the asteroid. I know there’s nothing we can do to stop it, and I’m doing all that I can to be ready. But not everyone believes. Do you have any more information I can give to my family and my friend? What’s the date of impact? You must have a guess where it will hit. You’re very smart. I know you’re working hard to figure it all out. Anything extra you can tell me will be helpful.
E.J.D.
Seconds after I send it, I get a message. But it’s an auto-reply.
Thank you for your email. With the enormous amount of correspondences I receive, I’m not able to personally reply to each. Please see the website for the latest information.
* * *
• • •
On Saturday afternoon, I wait outside the climbing gym for Mack and Londyn. Mack won’t give up on this new rock-climbing dream, but his parents wouldn’t let him scale Everest. A plastic mountain will have to do. I think it’s a waste of time. We should be gathering supplies. I’ve asked Grandpa Joe to get me more heirloom seeds and a wheelbarrow. He promised to put it on his list.
Londyn arrives first. She’s wearing only a black hoodie with a hole in the sleeve, and it’s freezing out.
“Let’s wait inside.” I grab the door handle and pull just as a few girls push their way out. I recognize them from school.
“Oh, excuse me,” Hannah Carpenter says in a sweet voice. But once she realizes it’s me on the other side, her smile turns to a growl. She curls her lip, exposing her braces and her disgust of me.
Three other girls trail behind Hannah. They stop talking when they spot me.
I hold the door as they all pass, keeping my focus on the ground.
“Loser,” one of them mumbles, but I don’t dare look to see who.
When they’re gone, Londyn and I finally go inside, and I release a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
“Why are the girls at our school so mean?” I ask.
“Total jerks,” Londyn adds.
“But why? I’ve never done anything to them. Ever!”
Londyn bursts out with a laugh. “They weren’t talking to you. I’m the loser.” She shakes her head. “You really don’t pay much attention to the Hamilton Middle School social scene, do you? You’re wrapped up in your own little Eleanor Dross world.”
Before I can protest, I start piecing the puzzle together. “Those are your best friends!” I blurt out. “You hung with the popular kids last year.”
She groans. “There’s so much wrong with everything you said. They were my friends. Or that’s what I thought.”
“What happened?” I ask. “Not that you’ll tell me.”
She tilts her head down and gives me a sideways glare.
“Well, you won’t.”
“Fine. You wanna know?” She grabs my arm and pulls me to a bench near the windows. She looks over her shoulder like she’s making sure no one is spying on us. “I had a back-to-school sleepover at the end of last summer. Hannah, Megan, Arya, and Jesse were hanging in my room when my parents decided it was a perfect time to have an epic fight. Like on a nuclear level. They were throwing stuff and screaming. We heard glass breaking and about a million swear words. I guess my mom had put a tracker or something on my dad’s phone and she caught him.”
“Sorry.” I assume she means caught him with another woman, but I don’t ask.
“I begged them to shut up,” she continues. “They wouldn’t stop. Finally, my dad stormed out of the house. When I went back to my room, my friends”—she shakes her head—“they were texting everyone about it, making jokes about my parents and me.”
“That’s awful!”
She nods. “No kidding. I kicked them out.”
“Jerks. They deserved it.”
“Yeah.” Londyn looks off into the climbing gym. I can tell she wants to say something else.
“What is it?”
“Nothing. Let’s get ready to climb.” Maybe she’ll never completely trust me.
We give our permission slips to the guy behind the counter and pay for one hour of climbing. Mack and his dad wa
lk in while we’re picking out helmets.
“Who’s ready to reach the clouds?” Mack says when he joins us.
“Not me,” I say. “But I’m ready to climb thirty feet in a stinky gym.”
“Hello, Eleanor. Hello, Londyn.” Mr. Jefferson isn’t going to leave. We might have been able to convince Mrs. Jefferson. She thinks Mack should be learning to handle stuff on his own. Mr. Jefferson thinks Mack is capable, but he likes to hang close by just in case.
We get our harnesses and another helmet. Mack gives his cane and dark glasses to his dad. Mr. Jefferson finds a seat along the wall. He taps on his phone but also keeps his eyes on us.
“Let’s go to the expert wall,” Mack says.
“Slow down, Spider-Man,” I say.
“We have limited time. Let’s make the most of it.” Mack holds out his hand, looking for my arm.
“You’re very confident. Give it a try.” I escort him to the expert wall.
“Who’s going first?” he asks.
“You!” Londyn and I say at the same time.
“So much for ladies first.” Mack turns, and I adjust him so he’s standing in front of the climbing gym employee.
The guy stares hard at Mack. His eyebrows rise up. I don’t think Mack can climb this wall. He has no experience. But I get furious when people think he can’t do something because he’s blind.
“He can do this,” I say loudly.
“Okay.” The employee holds up his hands in surrender.
We get Mack’s harness hooked up to the safety ropes and inspected. The employee works the belay—which keeps Mack from falling if he slips. In seconds, Mack climbs ten feet off the ground by feeling around with his hands.
“Reach up with your left, about two feet over your head,” I suggest.
He finds the hold and tries to pull himself up.
“No,” the employee says. “Climbing is about using your legs. You have to find your foothold first. Use your leg muscles.”
“Okay! Direct me where to go!” Mack shouts.
“Left foot goes up and to the left,” the employee says.
The World Ends in April Page 15