I’d also noticed that people in the halls were giving me strange looks. Maybe I was just being paranoid, but it seemed as if everyone was keeping an eye on me for some reason. Maybe word of Noah’s and my dispute had gotten around and people were waiting to see how things played out. But it seemed that there was plenty of other people’s drama to keep everyone entertained. I didn’t know why I would be of particular interest.
Since Sam and Amy were still on chewing-gum detail, I took my lunch into the robotics classroom so I could finish building the lens filter for Noah’s app. I wasn’t doing it to get him off my back. (Okay, maybe that was one reason.) I had told him that I’d build the filter, and I wanted to keep my word. I certainly didn’t want to give him any reason to think that I was trying to sabotage his big break.
Unpacking my notebook, I turned to the page with my filter designs. I’d also pulled out a tiny video screen that I’d brought from home after taking apart an old broken camcorder. Once the screen was mounted at just the right angle, it should be able to project an image onto the glass filter, working the same way my glasses did.
I was halfway through assembling the filter when Ms. Jensen walked into the classroom. “Ah, there you are, Tom,” she said.
I put my tools down. “You’re looking for me?”
“Yes, you’re one of my last stops. I’d like to borrow any invention designs or blueprints you have.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
She clapped her hands together. “Well, since this school is chock-full of talented young inventors, I had the wonderful idea to use different blueprints as cool graphics during the show.”
“I don’t understand,” I said. “You’re working on the show too?”
Ms. Jensen gave a dismissive wave. “I like to pitch in where I can. Remember, eyes and ears everywhere or I wouldn’t be good at my job.”
“Oh, okay.”
She pulled up a stool to my worktable. “Here’s how it’ll work: Say Joey records someone’s invention in action. Well, before that, he’ll cut to an animation of the blueprints in action. One of your fellow students, Amy Hsu, has even agreed to help with the animation.”
“Oh yeah. She’s great,” I said. Amy had some mad animation skills, so if anyone could pull it off and make it look good, she could.
Still, I instinctively reached out and slid my notebook closer. “My designs are pretty crude, though,” I said. “They’re not what I’d call real blueprints.”
Ms. Jensen glanced down at my sketch. “Oh, are these them? May I?” She didn’t wait for an answer before she picked up the notebook and began thumbing through the pages. “These are great. They’ll be perfect.”
It felt weird having a stranger look through my designs. Sure, there weren’t any top-secret inventions like at my dad’s company, but the notebook was filled with ideas that I hadn’t fully fleshed out yet.
“I… I don’t know,” I said, slowly reaching out for my notebook.
“Oh, come on,” she said. “Don’t you want to help support your school? Besides, everyone else has been fine with it.”
Yeah, but everyone else seems to have reality show fever, I thought.
Ms. Jensen clutched the notebook to her chest. “Please? We’ll scan in the pages and get your plans back to you tomorrow.”
I think the implied peer pressure finally won out. After all, were my inventions so special that they had to be more of a secret than anyone else’s? If I didn’t want anyone giving me special treatment based solely on my name, then I shouldn’t give special treatment to myself, either, right? Still, I wasn’t thrilled to just hand over my private notes. It wasn’t like my notebook was a diary or anything, but for an inventor like me, it was almost just as personal.
I rubbed the back of my neck. “I… I guess so.”
“Wonderful.” Ms. Jensen got to her feet. “So glad you could help,” she said, before she breezed out of the classroom with my notebook tucked under her arm.
I glanced down at my work and was tempted to run after her—she’d just walked off with my plans for the lens filter I was building. But I stopped myself when I realized that I no longer needed them. I’d already built all the components using the dimensions I’d written down. All that was left to do was the assembly, and the steps for that were in my head.
I sighed before going back to work. If I hurried, I could finish most of the filter before class began. Part of me wanted to get it out of the way so I could finish tweaking my robot. But a bigger part of me didn’t want to work on the filter in front of Noah. I didn’t want any suggestions from him and I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing my attention focused on his project. It was petty, sure, but I was still angry about what he’d said.
As my classmates began filing in, I put away the last piece of the filter. It appeared I’d been worrying about Noah for nothing, since he was a no-show. In fact, I didn’t see him again until everyone was gathered out front after school for the latest beast attack.
Just as Noah wanted, Mr. Davenport had made an announcement earlier reminding everyone about the app. The front grounds were packed with students holding their phones in front of them. Noah stood a few feet ahead and didn’t turn around. Both camera crews were also set up recording the event.
“Did you download the update?” Sam
