Brendan Buckley's Sixth-Grade Experiment by Sundee T. Frazier Page A

No way was I going to share that top-secret information! Told her I wasn’t sure, even though I knew I wasn’t practicing complete
yom chi
, integrity. But she shouldn’t be so nosy.
    As far as sixth grade goes, so far, so good. Science, of course, is my favorite class. The other day, we popped balloons with just magnifying glasses and the sun’s rays! I know Mr. H is really going to like my proposal, since it deals with a totally underused energy source: biomass. In class, we’ve been talking about energy from heat, light, and motion.
    Speaking of motion, that kid Dwight David never stops moving. He’s like a toy with no Off switch. He’sreally distracting. He dropped a rubber band onto Morgan’s desk in World Civilizations and yelled, “Dead worm!” Morgan giggled and handed it back to him. Mrs. Simmons didn’t think it was so funny. Neither did I.

A week and a half after I got my idea at Oscar’s house, we sat in science class waiting to hear who our partners would be for the competition. Khal had proposed something related to projectiles, so it was unlikely we’d get put together, even though I’d dropped lots of hints to Mr. Hammond that Khal and I would make a super team. I was 99.9 percent sure I’d get paired with Aadesh. Clearly, Mr. H wanted to win the money. He knew Aadesh was a brain. Together, we’d be unstoppable!
    â€œKhalfani Jones and Dwight David Del Santos,” Mr. Hammond announced.
    â€œDang,” Khal said under his breath. “That kid’s a complete knucklehead.”
    â€œToo bad,” I whispered, “but you had your chance to work with a serious scientist.”
    Khal crossed his arms and sank lower in his chair.
    â€œBrendan Buckley …”
    My ears perked up.
    â€œAnd Morgan Belcher.”
    Khal sputtered like a waterlogged engine.
    Morgan scowled in our direction.
    I shook my head quickly and hitched my thumb toward Khal to let her know it wasn’t me who’d made the sound.
    Mr. Hammond continued. “You both had great ideas for alternative energy projects and I know together you’ll come up with something stellar.”
    Morgan grinned at Mr. H.
    I slumped back in my seat. How could my favorite teacher
do
this to me?

    After class, Morgan accosted Khal and me like a cop going after a couple of criminals. Was I still a criminal in Morgan’s eyes? After the first day of school, she hadn’t seemed to want to talk to me as much, just hi and bye if we ran into each other at our lockers. I’d avoided her at the rock club meeting by sitting between Grandpa Ed and one of his buddies.
    My conscience poked me every once in a while, trying to get me to do something about it, but really, what was there to do? Anyway, I’d seen her talking to some girls here and there—Shyla-Ann Thompson and Lauren Dweck, among others.
    â€œHey, Liver,” Khal said.
    Morgan’s nose wrinkled and her eyebrows scrunched together.
    â€œAs in
organ
?” Khal said. “Get it? Morgan. Organ.” Khal laughed. I rolled my eyes.
    â€œOh.” Morgan let out a little laugh.
    â€œHave fun playing with your cow doo-doo,” he said.
    Morgan’s nose wrinkled again.
    â€œYou coming?” Khal asked, starting toward the cafeteria.
    I glanced back and forth between him and Morgan, who hadn’t moved and seemed intent on talking to me. “Uh … I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
    Dwight David zoomed by and held up his hand to slap Khal a high five. Khal didn’t leave him hanging, but I could tell he wasn’t exactly fired up.
    â€œOkay, so you acted like a protozoa toward me on the first day of school,” Morgan said.
    I stood there feeling dumb. I could try to apologize, but I’d probably just make things worse. Let her believe what she wanted. I knew I wasn’t as awful as she seemed to think I was. I cleared my throat.
    â€œAnd you