PROPERTY OF A. KENDRICK

Entry 59

November 2

Today, school was abuzz with bragging. Everyone was talking about how much candy they got, or which party they went to, if they thought they were too old for trick-or-treating. I tried my best to look like I hadn't done anything, but it was hard to think of Saturday night without smiling, or to think about the weight of the bags Liota and I brought home without wanting to gloat. But I managed to.

Henry was especially loud today, waving his candy all over the place. I felt a strange bolt of satisfaction when a teacher—fed up with all the tomfoolery—confiscated their candy til the end of the day. I didn't let it show, but Henry kicked my chair as he passed, as if his candy's confiscation was my fault. He was in a pretty bad mood the whole rest of the day, but I tried not to let it get to me.

At lunch, Henry and his boys sat down by Vinni, who'd been having a conversation with an older girl, probably a 7th grader. I guess he'd be in her grade if he hadn't been held back. She left when Henry and the rest came over and practically kicked her out. Both she and Vinni looked pretty annoyed by it. I was surprised to see the girl shoot a glance straight at me. Our eyes met, but to my relief, she didn't come over here. With the loss of his candy and Vinni's increasingly-obvious rejection of him, Henry was dangerous enough. The last thing I needed was for him to see me getting more positive attention.

I tried to focus on my book: A Swiftly Tilting Planet, by Madeleine L'Engle. Liota encouraged me to read it—the entire series, actually—talking about how interesting it was and how much it made you think. He's obsessed with it. I find the ideas in it equally intriguing and terrifying. Science fiction just kind of scares me, because you never know what's going to happen next. But it could be true because it's all based on science!

Like the videogame incident that took place over 100 years ago, where everybody got powers from the videogames they played. That obviously isn't something that happens in real life, but it did anyway. And the chaos of those few years and everything that happened afterward was so bad that it put the world at a technological standstill. So things now don't really look much different than they did in 2013 AD. Well, I mean besides all the rebuilding that's happened since then.

I just find history so fascinating. But I guess I should get back to my own history.

So I was trying to focus on my book, but I couldn't help looking over to see what Vinni and Henry were up to. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I could tell Vinni was sort of trying to pretend like he was actually interested in what Henry was saying. That was good. He understood that when we were in school he wasn't supposed to do anything that might tip Henry off that we were actually friends. It was dangerous for both of us.

Then something dropped in front of my eyes. I glanced up to see the girl from earlier staring at me with a blank expression. After making eye contact with me, she walked away.

I looked at what she'd dropped, which had fallen into my lap. It was a note. All it had on it was a weird smilie face and "5:30". I held my book up to hide my grin.

When Liota and I arrived at the library with our candy right on time, Vinni was already waiting for us.

"Congrats on being on time, for once," I joked.

He grinned back at me. "Thanks, do I get a prize?"

"Um... more time with us?"

He laughed. "I'll take it."

We dumped our candy out on a table in one of the focus rooms and began counting it. Vinni sat across from me, with Liota on the end. Liota started sorting his candy out into even lines. He eyed my sloppy piles with a look I've come to read as distain.