I stepped out of the gym and checked my watch. It was almost time for first period. I had just enough time to get to my locker, put away my glasses, and head to algebra. I’d help Noah grab more food items during lunch. Maybe today would be the day that we finally succeeded in feeding the beast!
I continued to test my glasses as I headed for my locker. They correctly identified Kevin Ryan, Mia Trevino, and Tony Garret. Unfortunately, they identified Jamal Watts as his sister, Shandra. I’d have to check my address book to make sure I had their photos right. Otherwise, my program wasn’t able to tell the difference with a strong family resemblance.
I reached my locker and began dialing in my lock’s combination.
“Attention, Swift Academy students,” came Mr. Davenport’s voice over the intercom system. “Noah Newton and Tom Swift, report to my office right away.”
I sighed and reset my padlock. It looked like I was going to be late for algebra.
As I made my way to the principal’s office, I got the usual jabs any student might have received after such a public announcement. They weren’t too bad, especially considering my last name matches the name of the school.
There’s a very good reason for that. My father, Tom Swift Sr., created the school with the profits from his nearby tech company, Swift Enterprises. However, ever since I started at the academy, I’ve done my best to be just another student. I don’t want any special treatment from teachers or students. So far, that had worked out just fine.
When I entered the front office, Noah was already there sitting in one of the chairs by the school office manager’s desk.
Ms. Lane smiled and nodded in the direction of my friend. “Just have a seat. Mr. Davenport will be with you in a moment.”
I plopped down in the chair next to Noah’s. “What do you think this is about?” I whispered.
Noah sighed and shook his head. “Isn’t it obvious? Davenport’s going to shut down my app.” He rolled his eyes. “He probably thinks it’s too disruptive.”
I shrugged. “You never know. It might be something else.”
Noah smirked and gave me a skeptical look. “One of the last times we were here was because of an app. What else could it be?”
My friend had a point. Once, Noah and I, along with our friends Samantha Watson and Amy Hsu, came to see Mr. Davenport because of an app Amy had created. It was a cool program that let students know when teachers were going to give a pop quiz. Now that app was disruptive… to the teachers’ lesson plans, at least. Even though Noah’s app did have kids’ faces buried in their phones a little more than usual, I didn’t think it was actually disruptive.
Something buzzed on Ms. Lane’s desk and Mr. Davenport’s voice blared out of a small speaker. “Send them in, please,” he said.
As Noah and I stood and headed back, Ms. Lane gave us a nod and a half-grin that seemed meant to wish us luck.
When we reached the principal’s office, I was surprised to see that he wasn’t alone. A blond woman in a bright red sweater sat in one of the four chairs in front of Mr. Davenport’s desk. She turned and smiled at us as we filed in.
“Mr. Newton. Mr. Swift,” Mr. Davenport said. He pointed to the chairs. “Please take a seat.”
As we settled down, the principal stood. “Now, Mr. Newton, I was about to put the brakes on this… Feed the Beast app of yours.”
My best friend gave me a What did I tell you? look before addressing the principal. “What if people just used it before school and during lunch?”
Mr. Davenport chuckled. “You’re not listening, Mr. Newton. I said I was about to put the brakes on it.”
Noah opened his mouth to debate some more, but then caught himself. “Oh,” he said, relaxing a little. He’d clearly had an argument all ready to go.
The principal gestured to the woman. “But Ms. Jensen here talked me out of it.”
The woman turned and extended a hand to us. “Purely for selfish reasons, I assure you,” she said. “I’m Holly Jensen, the new head of PR at Swift Enterprises.”
As I shook her hand, I was glad she said she was new. I didn’t know everyone who worked at my father’s company, for sure, but it would’ve been embarrassing if I had already met her and forgotten.
“How do you know about my app?” Noah asked. “It’s just for the students and it’s only been live for a few days now.”
“Oh, I poke around here and there, talking to a few students and teachers,” Ms. Jensen replied with a sly smile. “I wouldn’t be good at my job if I didn’t stay on top of all the exciting new innovations you little geniuses come up with.” She stood, becoming quite animated. “And I think your app would be perfect to showcase at the upcoming… wait for it… Inventors’ Olympics!”
Noah and I glanced at each other. “Wait, what?” I asked.
Ms. Jensen grinned and glanced around. “You two are the first students to find out the big news! In two weeks, instead of Mr. Edge’s invention convention, Mr. Davenport has graciously allowed Swift Enterprises to put on a display of all the academy students’ inventions, which will be open to the public!”
Mr. Edge, our engineering teacher, holds a monthly showcase he calls the invention convention—a chance for students to show off their inventing skills. It’s pretty informal; we meet in the cafeteria during lunch. But it’s really cool to see all the creative inventions students have been building. I’d never thought of it being open to the public before. It was a good idea scheduling this new event to replace the upcoming invention convention. Most of the students were already well on their way to getting their inventions ready anyway.
“We thought it would be great advertising for the school,” Ms. Jensen continued. She
