Free Tesla's Attic (9781423155126) by Neal Shusterman Page B

brushing Nick off like so much dandruff.
    All that mattered was that Petula was not going to let this go.
    She observed Caitlin continuing to do man-in-the-cafeteria interviews during lunch. After lunch she watched as Caitlin tried unsuccessfully to fit the bulky recorder in her locker and then had Theo deposit it in the art room. There was no art class that period, so after the late bell had rung, rather than going to class, Petula slipped into the room. Caitlin had taken the microphone with her, but that didn’t mean Petula couldn’t listen to the things the machine had recorded. She rewound it and pressed PLAY .
    The questions Caitlin asked all seemed to be very, very personal—and what surprised Petula was that people gave extremely candid responses. Mrs. Applebaum thought their principal was “a silver fox,” whatever that was, and the school’s star running back had a secret crush on the quarterback. Nothing she heard particularly interested Petula—until she got to a certain conversation.
    Petula didn’t consider herself a scheming person. She preferred to think of it as “interpersonal engineering.” It was all about spin. Be that as it may, a magnificent idea came to her as she listened to that conversation and then recorded it on her phone. She had to smile. This was going to be a very good day!
    Hell breaks loose in a variety of ways. Just like the varied splatter patterns when certain things hit the fan. On this particular day, the event in question came down at precisely two nineteen. It was seventh period, the last period of the day. Nick was struggling to keep up in a world history class that he could swear was about a different world than the one he had been learning about in Florida. The teacher, Mr. Brown, was somewhere between Sumeria and Phoenicia when the school’s loudspeaker came on, blasting at high volume into every classroom. Everyone expected some announcement about buses, or sports-practice cancellations, but instead, a conversation between three people played for everyone to hear.
    â€œI’ve been building up the nerve to talk to you all day. You said you shattered that recorder.”
    Nick immediately recognized his own voice and the conversation. But wait a second—had he actually said that out loud?
    â€œI lied, but I had a very good reason, which I’m not going to tell you,” he heard Caitlin say. That had not been a part of the conversation either.
    â€œHow can you be so pretty and so frustrating at the same time?”
    Nick felt himself going red. Now he knew something was really, really wrong. He looked over to Caitlin, who was in his history class, and she glanced at Nick with the kind of panic reserved for random locker checks or an approaching tsunami.
    â€œUh-oh, is my territory being threatened?” he heard Theo ask. “Quick, act intimidating.”
    To which Caitlin responded, “Ugh! Theo, do you have to get involved? Just check out and think about lunch or something.”
    A few people around the room chuckled. Mercifully, Theo was not in this class with them—but no doubt, wherever he was, he was hearing this, too.
    â€œOh, you’re the guy who gave Heisenberg the beef dip,” Theo said. “I’m glad it wasn’t me—I would have peed my pants!”
    More laughter around the room. Now Caitlin just stared forward, as if she were watching it all unfold on the room’s SMART Board.
    And then it got juicy.
    â€œNick,” Caitlin said, “you’re really cute, but you keep giving me grief. Hey, I’ve got an idea! Why don’t you answer a few questions so I know if you like me as much as I might eventually like you?”
    â€œAll I want to know,” Nick heard himself say, “is if that tape recorder has done anything weird.” Which is exactly what he had said, and exactly what he had been thinking. Caitlin’s response, however, was very