Field Investigations

Chapter 34:

I sat down in a bright blue folding chair towards the middle of the room, my go-to seat. Like every other room here, the Field Studies classroom was completely shadowless. My eyes still hadn't quite gotten used to that.

That day in class, our assignment was different than the ones we'd had before.

Once everyone entered the classroom, Ms. Rainer announced, "We're going to be doing a relay race!" She said it like a game show host announcing the prizes. "And the winner will be taking home a brand new car!"

I laughed.

She explained the rules of the race. We would be split into six teams, and each team member would start out standing on a platform assigned to us somewhere on the course. The first team member would have to run down the course until they got to where the next team member was. Then, the next team member would need to reprogram the Transporter for their course and run the course up to where the third team member would be standing. Finally, the third team member would enter their course into the Transporter and run the rest of the course to the ladder at the end. Ms. Rainer placed a large, flashing button at the bottom of each course. "The first team to press their button wins," she explained.

And then she split us into teams. My teammates were Quinn and Carrie, so I walked over to the corner of the room where they were standing. When I got closer, I could tell that they were having a quiet conversation. I stopped about twenty feet away from them. I didn't want them to think I was eavesdropping.

After a minute, though, I thought maybe we didn't have time to waste. The other teams were already working out their courses and planning.

I took a deep breath. "Hey," I said. They didn't seem to hear me.

"Hey," I said again, louder this time. Still, they didn't seem to have heard.

I walked a few feet closer. Carrie jumped.

"What're you-" she started.

"I'm on your team," I explained. "Remember?"

"Huh?" she shrugged, turning to Quinn as if to say, Do you understand what she's talking about? He shook his head.

"You know, the relay race thing. We're a team for it. The two of you and I."

"Oh," said Carrie. "Just... do whatever. You can do it on your own if you like; I don't care."

"I can't do it on my own, though," I protested. "It's a group thing. A relay race."

But a minute later, I found myself walking on my own back over to Ms. Rainer.

"What is it?" she asked.

"My group..." I started. "They're not all that interested in, well..." My voice trailed off. Carrie and Quinn were walking over. I didn't want them to hear me complain. I twisted my hair around my finger.

"Never mind," I said.

And to Carrie and Quinn, I asked, "So, are you ready to work on the plan?"

But Quinn shook his head. "Nah," he said. "You can work on that on your own if you like. We've got our own plans to make."

I wasn't sure what he meant by that. "I can't do this project on my own," I protested again. "It's a relay race. We all need to do a section."

"Sorry," I heard him say as they walked away.

I walked over to Ms. Rainer yet again, defeated. Clearly, Quinn and Carrie didn't care about the project. I couldn't imagine that they would object to me trying to switch partners.