Chapter 61

              Thursday morning, Simon’s friends, being that they’re still part of the Wind Ensemble, have already been on San Leandro High campus since 7 AM. At 7:45 AM, Craig “Hardwire” Foster arrives and walks right to the grass of the quad. He paces about, and other students look at him curiously as they also arrive.

            “We should tell Simon,” Alex says.

            “Yeah,” Bryan says. “Does anyone have his number?”

            “No, texting would take too long,” Alex says. “Someone should wait out front and tell him.”

            “I’ll go,” Julian says.

            Julian hurries across the quad, glancing at Hardwire as he heads for the side gate. Julian goes out through the side gate, to the sidewalk, and looks North up the street. He spots Simon and Zoey and waves to them. Simon takes note of it, and the three meet on the grass.

            “What’s going on?” Simon asks.

            “Craig’s back,” Julian says.

            Zoey groans.

            “He wants you to fight him already?” she says. “School hasn’t even started!”

            “Maybe that’s a good thing,” Simon says. “We can get this out of the way now.”

            “First off, we just talked about how you shouldn’t yesterday,” Zoey says. “Secondly, think about it: If you’re late to class, it’ll be super obvious you’re… You know who.”

            “That’s a good point,” Julian says.

            “Thank you, Julian,” Zoey says with a smile.

            Simon scrunches up his face as he thinks it through for himself.

            “Yeah, it is,” he sighs with a bit of a grumble. “I’ll just go after him between First and Second Block.”

            “Again,” Zoey says with a stern look, “we talked about this. Just because he’s egging you on doesn’t mean you have to respond.”

            “I do if I want him to stop,” Simon counters.

            “That’s a good point,” Julian says.

            Simon smiles and Zoey pouts.

            “Boys,” Zoey grumbles as she moves for the side gate.

            “Well, if you’re not going to go right at him,” Julian says as he and Simon follow after, “you should probably go around him. Doesn’t he still think Simon is The Spektrum?”

            “He didn’t when the world saw The Spektrum die, was skeptical when Siro showed up, and might be wondering since The Spektrum returned,” Simon says as they stop in front of Hall A. “Maybe I should keep out of sight.”

            “Now that’s a good point,” Zoey says.

Zoey follows Simon up the steps into the hall.

            “We’ll see you guys in class,” Simon says to Julian.

            Julian nods and goes back to the others while Simon leads the way up the stairs.

            “I’m glad you’re letting this go,” Zoey says. “Just let that guy run his mouth, get all mad, and then sit out there all day in the cold.”

            “Oh, no, I’m still going to shut him up later,” Simon says. “Doesn’t matter if it’s lunch or after school, it’s happening.”

            Zoey loudly groans in frustration.

            “Why do you want to beat him so badly?” she asks. “Do you hate him that much?”

            “Hate is a strong word,” Simon says. “But it is accurate, so yes.”

            “You didn’t listen to the lesson last night at all, did you?” she says. “‘Hatred stirreth up strifes-’”

“‘But love covereth all sins’, yeah,” Simon says. “But also, ‘Wise men lay up knowledge, but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.’ That fool’s mouth is gonna get destroyed by my foot!”

Zoey groans again. She’s frustrated with Simon being so stubborn but is also worried he and Siro are still alike.

“Then how about this?” Zoey says. “Colossians 3:8. ‘But now ye also put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.’ We are told by God through Paul to not be so angry, to not want to hurt someone, to not want to do something awful to someone.”

Simon sighs, faced with another irrefutable point. But he does think of a way around it.

“Alright, what if I didn’t beat him up, but just beat him?” Simon says.

“What do you mean?” she asks.

“Well, there are ways to win in pro-wrestling that are quick and painless. I can just, y’know, one-two-three, pow-pow-pow.”

“And if you beat him quickly, that would be a bit humiliating for him,” Zoey says. “That might humble him a bit.”

“So, I can still face him then?”

“Yes,” Zoey sighs with a chuckle.

“Alright,” Simon says, head bobbing as he nods. “I’m gonna make him look like a loser!”

Zoey looks at him flatly, but Simon simply smirks.

Simon and Zoey barely make it to Miss B’s classroom in time for the bell. They sit down and class begins, but then a new noise starts droning on.

“Speeeeeektruuuum~! Oh, Speeeeeeeeeeektruuum~!”

Everyone looks to the window, but they don’t need to look out to see who it is; it’s Craig.

“Speeektruuum~!” Craig continues. “Come out ‘n’ plaaay~! Speeeektruuuum~! Come out ‘n’ play-yaaaay~! SPEEEEKTRUUUUUM~! Come out ‘n’ play-YAAAAAY~!”

Simon frowns, because he understands that reference.

Security walks out from the main building and walk over to Craig.

“Could you keep it down?” one of the guards asks. “Classes are in session, y’know.”

“Hey, man, I’m not the one wasting everyone’s time,” Craig shrugs. “If The Spektrum would just get out here, we could settle this and then that’d be it.”

“Still,” the security guard says. “The teachers need teach and the students need to learn.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Craig says as he looks from window to window.

Simon rolls his eyes, and mutters, “Idiot,” under his breath.

Doesn’t he get that HE’s the one wasting our time? Simon thinks. He keeps starting stuff, keeps egging me on. Siro whooped his ass, what makes him think he can beat me? Because I’m definitely gonna beat the hell out of that piece of-

“Simon,” Zoey mutters as she nudges him.

Simon snaps back to attention and looks at her.

“Pass the homework down,” she says.

“Right,” he says. “Sorry.”

He takes the papers she holds out to him, adds it to his own, and hands those to Alex.

Craig paces, impatiently waiting as First Block passes by slowly. He goes back and forth from being worked up over The Spektrum direspecting him and dumping him on his head, to being calm and confident that he’ll get back at The Spektrum.

“And from there,” Craig mutters to himself, “I’ll beat that stupid clone of his, and those alien freak shows he’s friends with, and I’ll be the hero. I’ll be the best.”

As Ms. B has her class pack up for the end of class, Simon starts to worry he’ll have to pass in front of Craig again. But then it starts to drizzle, and many students complain.

“Oh no,” Zoey says. “I didn’t bring an umbrella.”

“Neither did I,” Simon says. “But I at least have my hood.”

Simon puts his dark blue hoodie back on and flips the hood up.

“That doesn’t really help me, though,” Zoey says.

“Sorry,” he says. “Here, use my lunch box to shield your head.”

“Oh,” she says, a little surprised. “Thank you.”

The two hurry to C Hall’s stairs and down to the ground floor and outside to the quad. Simon keeps his eyes on the Science Wing, hoping Craig doesn’t look over. They make it to the Science Wing’s stairwell without a problem.

“Here,” Zoey says as she hands the lunchbox back to him.

“Thanks,” he says as he slings the strap back around himself.

While Simon, Zoey, and all the other students go to class, Craig stands on the grass of the quad and lets the rain fall on his head.

What class does that Simon guy have? Craig wonders as he looks at windows again. The Spektrum’s alive so he’s alive so where the hell is he?!

Second Block begins and Craig grumbles as he takes shelter under the awning connecting C Hall and the gymnasium.

“Coward,” he mutters as he sits on the steps.

In Science, Zoey feels better about the subjects they’re learning this week.

“Physics is always my favorite science,” she whispers to Simon. “It’s just math!”

“Yeah, I guess it is,” he chuckles.

Mr. Gugel clears his throat to get Zoey and Simon to focus. Simon and Zoey both blush and smile nervously as they sit up and look back at the worksheet about Kinetic Energy, Potential Energy and the equal transference from the one to the other.

Kinetic Energy is energy possessed by an object in motion. The earth revolving around the sun, someone walking down the street, and molecules moving in space all have kinetic energy.

Kinetic energy is directly proportional to the mass of the object and to the square of its velocity: K.E. = 1/2 m v². If the mass has units of kilograms and the velocity of meters per second, the kinetic energy has units of kilograms-meters squared per second squared. Kinetic energy is usually measured in units of Joules (J); one Joule is equal to 1 kg m² / s².

Potential Energy is energy an object has because of its position relative to some other object. When you stand at the top of a stairwell, you have more potential energy than when you are at the bottom, because the earth can pull you down through the force of gravity, doing work in the process. When you are holding two magnets apart, they have more potential energy than when they are close together. If you let them go, they will move toward each other, doing work in the process.

The formula for potential energy depends on the force acting on the two objects. For the gravitational force, the formula is P.E. = mgh, where m is the mass in kilograms, g is the acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m / s² at the surface of the earth) and h is the height in meters. Notice that gravitational potential energy has the same units as kinetic energy, kg m² / s². In fact, all energy has the same units, kg m² / s², and is measured using the unit Joule (J).

The Kinetic Energy questions are:

1.    A 500 g block moving at 2 m/s =

A tricky one right off the block, but Zoey keeps in mind that if they’re to use kilograms in the equation, anything less than 1000 grams has to be turned into a decimal.

2.    A 70 kg man walking at 1 m/s =

Another clever one, as the square of 1 is 1 so it’s just about half of the mass.

3.    A 70 kg man running at 5 m/s =

Finally, one that’s a bit more straightforward. 5 squared is 25, half of 70 is 35, multiply those and boom, 875.

4.    A two ton car moving at 60 mph =

Remember: 1 ton = 2000 pounds, and 1 pound ≈ 454 grams. Also, 1 mph ≈ 0.447 m/s.

After converting two tons into 1814 kilograms, and converting 60 mph into

26.8 m/s, the formula can be used and it’s just as easy as the others. Simon is surprised how quickly Zoey finishes those four, and she has quite the lead going into the Potential Energy segment.

            “How is everyone doing?” Mr. Gugel asks. “Try to wrap up in the next few mintues, we’ll be moving on to some experiments.”

            Simon and Zoey wait quietly as the other students finish. It only takes another five minutes, and the worksheets are collected. Mr. Gugel then has a few students help bring out yard sticks. Mr. Gugel also brings out an assortment of rubber balls, ranging in size from golf ball to baseball, as well as stop watches.

            “Now we’re going to see Potential and Kinetic Energy in action,” he says. “Everyone pair up, get a yard stick, a stop watch, and a ball.”

            Simon and Zoey of course team up and while she picks out a tennis ball sized ball, he carries the yard stick back to their table.

            “The experiment we’re about to do will prove the concepts we just discussed,” Mr. Gugel says, “but also sees if you can reverse engineer some values in those equations. Obviously, you’ll notice that not everyone has the same sized balls. Don’t laugh at that.”

            Immature students, mostly boys, stifle their snickering laughter.

            “We’re going to test the factors of one Joule,” Mr. Gugel says. “One Joule is one kilogram moving one square meter in one square second. That means it is one by one by one, for one. But we know with Potential Energy, it isn’t that clean cut. The gravitational acceleration constant, ‘g,’ is 9.8 meters per square seconds. Experiment a bit, and try to find where your balls- Alright, I’m going to stop referring to them as that.”

            Again, students stifle their snickering.

            “Find where your objects reach the perfect one Joule height,” Mr. Gugel says. “It’s alright if at first you don’t succeed, we can take the rest of the Block to do that. And to help with that, the objects are labeled with their metric weights.”

            Simon and Zoey look at the tennis ball and see it is 1 kilogram.

            “Well, that simplifies the math a bit,” Simon says. “One kilogram turns the equation from mgh to just gh.”

            “True…” Zoey says as she starts writing.

            “Okay, so 0.102 meters is…” Zoey says.

            “Four inches,” Simon says as he checks the yard stick. “Since 0.1 meters is just 10 centimeters.”

            “Okay,” she says. “So if we drop the ball from four inches, that’s only going to take one second?”

            “That is the hypothesis.”

            Zoey crouches as Simon stands up the yard stick. She puts the ball at above four inches.

            “Ready?” she asks.

            “Yes,” he says as he has the stopwatch in his hand.

            “And… Go.”

            Zoey drops the ball, Simon presses the button on the stopwatch, and when he sees the ball hit the floor, he presses it again.

            “Well, I was a little late,” he says. “But yeah, one second.”

            “Nice!” she says as she grabs the ball before standing back up. “Okay, we need to replicate the experiment so that the theory is proven.”

            “Right,” he says.

            Zoey crouches again, Simon resets the stopwatch, and the ball is set back at four inches.

            “Ready… Go!”

            She drops the ball, he presses the button, and he’s better at stopping it after the ball hits.

            “Another one second,” he says.

            “Nice!” she says again as she catches the ball.

            Zoey stands up and offers a high-five, but Simon needs a moment to set the yard stick on the table to accept. He then grabs the yard stick again to stand it back up.

            “Oh, I have an idea,” he says. “If the ratio holds, shouldn’t doubling the height also double the time?”

            “Right, good point,” Zoey says. “Eight inches should only take two seconds.”

            Zoey crouches down a third time and sets the ball at eight inches. Simon resets the stopwatch, she gives the go ahead and drops the ball, and he times it.

            “Two-point-oh-two seconds,” Simon reads.

            “That’s awesome,” Zoey says as she stands up again.

            “Good work, you two,” Mr. Gugel says as he checks Zoey’s math and Simon’s notes. “I don’t have something in the way of a prize, but I’ll make note of this and give you some bonus points.”

            “Wow, thank you, sir!” Zoey says.

            “Thank you,” Simon says.

            Zoey and Simon look at each other with big smiles as Mr. Gugel walks off to check on other teams.

            “You’re secretly kinda nerdy, aren’t you?” he teases her.

            “Why would you say that?” she asks.

            “I’m not saying it’s bad,” he defends. “Science is a lot of fun.”

            “Physics is a lot of fun,” Zoey says.

            “And it’s a science,” he says.

            “Yes, it’s a science,” she says with a coy smirk.

            Class finishes and lunch break begins, and both Simon and Zoey stay back in the stairwell as everyone else spills out of the Science Wing.

            “Alright, let’s go through this again,” she says, voice hushed so it won’t echo. “You are to defeat Craig as quickly as possible.”

            “Right,” he says.

            “Don’t get angry,” she says, “don’t toy with him, just win.”

            “Just win, baby,” he says. “Like the Raiders.”

            “Yes, that’s good!” Zoey says with a finger point. “Oh, hey, is that why you have Codes Silver and Black?”

            “No,” he says, a bit confused by her asking that. “Though, it is interesting how that worked out.”

            “Alright, go get ’em,” she says.

            “Right,” he says.

            Simon turns into The Spektrum and heads for the door.

            “Wait, you can’t go out there as Green,” Zoey says. “You’re supposed to stay in a good mindset.”

            “Well what’m I suppose to do?” he asks. “I have a limited selection, remember?”

            “Then be Silver,” she says.

            “Right, duh,” he says as he makes the switch.

            The Spektrum, Code Silver, walks out of the stairwell, steps out into the open, and then goes back to the door.

            “It stopped raining, so you can come out,” he tells Zoey.

            “Oh, okay,” she says. “What should I do with your things?”

            “Can you bring them?” he says. “If I get seen with them, people might connect the dots.”

            “Fine,” she grumbles.

            Zoey carries Simon’s backpack and lunch box, along with her things, out of the stairwell.

            “Good thing the bleachers are right here,” she says as she sets his things down. “Oh, they’re all wet from the rain, I can’t sit down here.”

            “Yo, Craig, where you at?” The Spektrum says as he heads for the grass square of the Quad.

            The Spektrum holds his arms out wide as he looks around.

            “C’mon, Craig, don’t chicken out now!” he says. “If you want some… Come get some!”

            Students clear out as Hardwire storms up from the direction of the gymnasium.

            “Here we go,” The Spektrum says, clapping his hands together. “Here we go.”

            Hardwire suddenly takes an explosive step forward and tackles The Spektrum to the ground! The impact would’ve been harder, but they hit the mushy mud of the grassy square!

            “You stupid punk,” Hardwire says as he gets up to throw down hammering fists. “How dare you call me the chicken when you were hiding for three hours!”

            The Spektrum blocks a punch, hits Hardwire back across the face, and Hardwire staggers away as The Spektrum gets back up. The Spektrum winds up but Hardwire hits him with a back elbow. The Spektrum staggers back to the concrete, Hardwire storms up to him, and The Spektrum turns around for Hardwire to CRACK him with an elbow to the mouth! The Spektrum staggers and stumbles more, but he stays on his feet.

            “I’m not the chicken!” Hardwire says as he storms up on The Spektrum again. “You’re the chicken!”

            Hardwire throws body shot punches, aiming for ribs and kidneys! The Spektrum staggers but stays up with the light ropes, and the students back up again as the four sides of the “ring” flash bright.

            “What classroom were you hiding in, huh?” Hardwire mockingly asks while continuing to throw body blow after body blow. “What did you learn in class while you were avoiding me? Huh? Huh? Did you take good notes, you wannabe hero little wuss?”

            The Spektrum kicks Hardwire right in the kneecap! Hardwire’s leg buckles and The Spektrum gets him on the ropes, a forearm pushing into Hardwire’s neck!

            “ARE YOU SERIOUS!?” The Spektrum shouts right in Hardwire’s face, his own heart racing.

            “Oh no,” Zoey mutters as she watches Code Silver give way to Green.

            “Are you, YOU, really calling ME a wannabe?!” The Spektrum shouts more.

            Hardwire shoves The Spektrum but The Spektrum kicks Hardwire in the knee again. The Spektrum goes back to Silver long enough to grab Hardwire’s head with both hands and TOSS him across the ring! Hardwire spins through the air and lands hard on the concrete! Hardwire checks his teeth while The Spektrum seethes his way back to Green.

            “Are you really that damn stupid, Craig?!” The Spektrum shouts as he storms over. “You’re the one who tried to ruin my life! You wanted to expose who I really am to the world, and all I did was break your phone. Weird how you think what I did was worse.”

            Hardwire gets up and turns around into The Spektrum’s back hand chop! Hardwire’s shirt protects his skin from the stinging contact, but the blunt force gets him in his sternum and makes it hard to breathe for a moment. And by the time that moment has passed, The Spektrum chops him again! The Spektrum shoves Hardwire into a corner and stomps the same knee again and again.

            “Cornering. Cornering. Five. Four.”

            Computer’s voice returning is a surprise to everyone, especially The Spektrum, but he backs off and the counting stops. Then he goes after the bad leg and wraps it around the ropes! The Spektrum pulls Hardwire’s leg, and the rope wanting to spring back pulls the leg the other way! Hardwire hammers The Spektrum while Computer speaks again.

            “Ropebreak. Ropebreak. Five. Four. Three.”

            The Spektrum lets go, to then kick the rope! The rope moving around is enough to tweak Hardwire’s leg, and as he clutches at the thigh and knee, The Spektrum SLAPS Hardwire across the face! A lot of the students let out an “Oooh…!” with wincing faces after just hearing the sound.

            Hardwire seethes through grit teeth and he stands up straight as he glares at The Spektrum.

            “Get that look off your stupid face, Craig,” The Spektrum says. “You don’t deserve to be upset with me.”

            “I don’t-?!” Hardwire says, cutting himself off. “I don’t deserve to be mad at you!?”

            Hardwire swings a punch, but The Spektrum not only dodges it, but he hooks Hardwire’s arm with his and uses that to spin Hardwire around. The Spektrum then hooks Hardwire’s head, turns him more, and hits a neckbreaker! The Spektrum looms over Hardwire while he writhes and clutches his head.

            “No, you don’t,” The Spektrum says. “I’ll say it again but slower for you: Youuu… tried to ruin myyy… liiiiiffffuh! You are what’s nicely put as ‘a bully.’ And all I did to you was break your phone. Boo hoo, sorry you had to get a new one.”

            But then Hardwire kicks from the ground and gets The Spektrum on the top of his head! The Spektrum snaps back and falls against the rope while Hardwire gets up.

            “It wasn’t just the phone!” Hardwire growls as he goes after The Spektrum on the ground. “It was everything that was on that phone! I lost all of that because of you!”

            The Spektrum drags Hardwire down by his shirt and pushes his face into the bottom rope!

            “Then that’s on you for using it for something stupid like that!” The Spektrum shouts in Hardwire’s ear.

            “Ropebreak. Ropebreak. Five.”

            The Spektrum groans but he lets off, only for Hardwire to get up and tackle him back down! He digs a forearm into The Spektrum’s head and pushes him into the ground, then hammers him with one hard shot! The Spektrum winces then has eyes go wide from the pain both on the back and front of his head.

            “I may have tried to ruin your life,” Hardwire says, “but you actually ruined mine! Do you know how long it was before people stopped treating me like a pariah?!”

            “Wow, that’s a high level word for you, Craig,” The Spektrum sneers.

            The Spektrum grabs Hardwire by the head again and brings him in for a headbutt! Hardwire snaps back and staggers as his eyes water from getting hit in the nose! Hardwire keeps his guard up as he blinks the tears away. The Spektrum mule kicks Hardwire’s bad leg, Hardwire braces himself with his arms, and with no more guard, The Spektrum CLOCKS him with a forearm to the side of the head!

The Spektrum gets back up to his feet and he seethes while catching his breath.

“Y’know what?” he says as he looks at Hardwire on the ground. “I was wrong. You’re not dumb. You’re deluded. People turned on you because of who you are, you stupid bastard! You made yourself an outcast by showing your true colors. You. Are. Scum. And that’s no one’s fault but your own.”

Hardwire sits up to a kneeling position as The Spektrum’s words sink in. He remembers Siro saying a lot of the same things. Hardwire clenches his jaw and grits his teeth, then looks up at The Spektrum.

“Ah-”

POW! The Spektrum Superkicks Hardwire right in the mouth!

“Shut up, Craig,” The Spektrum says as he hooks him around head and shoulders. “No one wants to hear you talk.”

The Spektrum hits Hardwire with a Complete Shot! Hardwire’s forehead hits off the concrete, but The Spektrum isn’t done there! He shifts position while holding onto Hardwire. With Hardwire’s left arm trapped behind The Spektrum’s head, The Spektrum has both hands under Hardwire’s chin. The Spektrum then pushes with his legs to bend Hardwire’s neck and spine WAY back! The crowd winces and groans seeing the painful position as Hardwire endures the pain. The Spektrum lets up on the pressure to then push even harder!

Hardwire reaches with his free hand, but he’s nowhere near ropes! His legs are free, so he uses those to move around. The Spektrum counteracts by leaning into Hardwire. Hardwire sees they’ve gotten closer to one side of the ring, and he reaches out. Hardwire doesn’t care about pro-wrestling but he understands the ropes are like the out of bounds line in football.

The Spektrum sees how close Hardwire is to touching the ropes, so he lets go of the submission hold to then get up, drag Hardwire away by his left arm, and then kicks him sharply in the side of the head! Hardwire’s ear is ringing as The Spektrum stands him up. The Spektrum tucks his arm for the pump handle and hooks on the half nelson.

“Green!” he says as he lifts.

“Folding!” as he quite literally folds Hardwire up.

“STUFF!!” he shouts as he DRIVES Hardwire into the ground!

The Spektrum keeps Hardwire’s shoulders down with a leg over his head and an arm holding his leg back.

“One! Two! Three!” Computer counts. “The Spektrum wins!”

The Spektrum lets go of Hardwire, and for the second time in two days, leaves him down and out on the ground. The Spektrum storms off to C Hall and goes inside. Students want to follow him, but faculty makes sure they stay back. The Spektrum goes upstairs to the boys’ restroom. No one is inside, so he changes back into Simon.

Simon takes off his jacket to see there’s some mud on the back. He has to get rid of that or else it’ll be obvious to everyone that he and The Spektrum are the same person.

He turns on the water, hot and cold together, then grabs a bunch of paper towels from the dispenser. He soaks the towels and starts wiping the mud away. It’s tedious and tricky and frustrating, so that makes him scrub harder and faster. He growls as the mud stubbornly holds on, and so he scrubs harder. He growls sharply as he has to get more paper towels. He takes a deep breath while the towels soak up water. The jacket and the mud might be frustrating but he’s really mad at Craig. The Spektrum won, but it wasn’t satisfactory. And as he thinks about it, he isn’t sure why.

Someone else walks into the bathroom and Simon quickly throws away the paper towels. Simon turns around to see the person who walked in… was Chris.

Simon and Chris stare at each other, not having seen each other in weeks. Simon moves on just as Chris was about to say something. Simon takes the long way around through C Hall, B Hall, and down some stairs and then down A Hall. In that same time, Reciprocity Inc’s Fast-Pace and Mountain arrive to fetch Hardwire.

“Stupiditch Spekt-rum,” Hardwire sputters as he is helped onto his feet. “I’ll gettim nexime.”

“Sure you will,” Mountain says flatly as he less helps and more drags Hardwire to the exit.

Simon waits for Reciprocity to leave the campus before regrouping with Zoey and his friends.

As Simon finally eats his lunch, there’s a rather oppressive silence and Zoey doesn’t like it. But she’s also unsure how to break it.

“Um,” she says as she nervously glances at him then back down at her hands. “I’m-”

“I know, I know,” he sighs. “I lost my cool. And that wasn’t a fast win, either. I didn’t keep my promise.”

“Yes, and yes,” Zoey says. “Though, it wasn’t exactly a promise. At least, we didn’t say the word ‘promise’ when talking about it. But it’s okay, because I’m not mad at you.”

“You’re not?” he says, looking up from his sandwich to look at her.

“No, I’m not,” she says. “Because I have done the same to people who upset me. It wouldn’t be fair if I judged you and not myself. I’m sorry for that, and I forgive you for breaking the promise.”

The earnest expression on Zoey’s face is a bit of a surprise to Simon, but it’s also endearing. And then he feels a little guilty and a little bashful.

“I’m also sorry, for breaking the promise,” he says. “And I forgive you for holding stuff against me.”

Zoey smiles and then gently bumps shoulders with him. Simon then notices the sarcastic smiles on his friends’ faces.

“Stop it,” he tells them with a rasp in his voice.

Zoey and the others chuckle, then everyone finishes up their lunch.