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

haven’t treated me much better since then, not even at the club meeting, even though you
said
you wanted to be my friend when we were on the dig.”
    My ears got warm. I looked at my shoelaces. Morgan seemed like an okay girl. But that was the problem. She was a
girl
. None of my buddies hung out with girls. Andher mouth just never stopped moving! Yes, Morgan and I had some common interests. But did that mean I had to like her?
    No. But you said you would be her friend
.
    â€œSorry,” I mumbled.
    Morgan shrugged. “It’s all right.”
    I stood there silently, but my brain was screaming
Run!
and my muscles twitched like they might actually do it.
    â€œWe could have a do-over,” Morgan suggested. “That’s what we call it in my family. You know, a fresh start. Whatever you did to mess up, it can’t be held against you.” She held out her hand. “So, what do you say? Do-over?”
    I
wanted
to say I hadn’t messed up. Didn’t she know it wasn’t cool for a guy to hang around with a smart, nerdy girl? I glanced around. Only a few other kids were in the hall, and they weren’t paying attention to us. I shook her hand quickly and let go.
    Morgan grabbed the crook of my arm. “Isn’t it fantastic that we get to be partners for this incredible competition?”
    I pulled away and started toward my locker. She caught up with me.
    â€œWe’re going to
win
, Brendan! We’ll be the Dynamic Duo!”
    I wasn’t so sure. Maybe I could still go to Mr. Hammond and ask him to switch me and Lauren Dweck,Aadesh’s partner. Aadesh had proposed a cool-sounding project on artificial intelligence. And Morgan and Lauren seemed to like each other all right. Mr. H could just say he’d rethought the assignments.
    â€œDo you want to come to my house after school to talk about our experiment? What’s your interest in alternative fuels? And what was Khalfani talking about back there, anyway? Cow doo-doo? Oh! I know. You want to do something with biomass.” Morgan “Mile a Minute” Belcher opened her locker.
    I flubbed the combination and had to try again. I couldn’t focus with Miss Energy Ball asking so many questions. How would I ever be able to complete the detailed measurements and observations required for my experiment with her talking in my ear?
    I dropped my books into my locker and grabbed my red gym bag. As soon as I shut the door, she grabbed my arm again and started walking. “We have so much to discuss. This is going to be great. Great!”
    She didn’t even know what my idea
was
. “What about what you proposed?” I stopped abruptly in the middle of the hall.
    Her hand—thankfully no longer on my arm—waved away my question. “Watching algae grow? Bo-ring! It was my mom’s idea, anyway.”
    I’d come across several articles on algae farmers and harvesters while doing my research on alternative fuels. “Algae has a lot of potential as a future energy source.”
    â€œBelieve me, I know. My mom’s a marine biologist, remember?”
    I started walking. Of course I remembered. How could I forget that
both
of her parents were scientists?
    Morgan caught up with me again. She was as sticky as a housefly. “Personally, I think cow poop sounds like much more fun.” Her eyes sparkled with excitement.
    I stopped. Apparently, she was like a fly in more ways than one. “You
do
?”
    She nodded like one of the bobbleheads in Oscar’s bedroom window. I pulled my chin into my neck. What kind of girl thought cow poop sounded like fun? “You’re not grossed out by the idea?”
    â€œAre you kidding? I’m a scientist! Nothing grosses out scientists. Not good ones, anyway.” She smiled.
    Morgan thought of herself as a scientist, too. We started to walk again, but now my scalp felt tingly, as if I’d been plugged in.
    â€œWhat are all those