Free Nerd Camp by Elissa Brent Weissman

sleep.”
    Nikhil walked to the graph on the wall and found that day’s date with his finger. His bunkmates watched as he slid his finger up to halfway between sixteen and seventeen seconds and put a dot. He took a step back and looked at the graph. “Not as fast as yesterday, but still not as slow as July seventh.”
    â€œI’ll never be as slow as July seventh. It’ll go down in history.”
    On their graph, the line rose steeply to a dot at forty-five seconds, the time it had taken Wesley to get free from his sleeping bag the morning of July 7. It made the graph look like a heart monitor with only one spike of life.
    Wesley pulled some wrinkled clothes out of his duffelbag. “I’ve got to hurry,” he said. “I have a couple of geometry problems to finish before breakfast.”
    Gabe clapped his hands once. “Were you thinking about your homework last night?”
    â€œYeah,” said Wesley. “I had a dream that I was in Shapeland.” He shuddered and shook his head.
    The other two looked at each other. Shapeland must not have been a pleasant place.
    â€œWell,” said Gabe. “I bet the answer to one of your homework problems is
x
equals seventy.”
    Nikhil and Wesley looked at each other, waiting for an explanation. Nikhil moved his finger around his ear.
    â€œJust check it,” said Gabe, smiling. “You use the Pythagorean theorem.”
    Wesley took out his geometry book and unfolded the piece of paper that he’d stuck in between the homework pages. He did a few calculations. When he got the answer, he paused for a second before looking up with suspicion. “How’d you know?”
    Gabe’s eyes became rounder. “No way. It’s really
x
equals seventy?” His mouth fell open. This was certainly nerdy, but it was so unbelievable that Gabe couldn’t be anything but amazed.
    â€œDid you do Wesley’s homework after lights out?” asked Nikhil.
    â€œNo,” Gabe explained. “Wesley did it in his sleep!”
    He told them what he heard, and Wesley plugged “ √ 65” into problem number fifteen, which also ended up being right. Nikhil was in awe, but Wesley claimed that Gabe had waited until he’d fallen asleep, taken out his math book, and done the problems by flashlight.
    â€œI didn’t,” Gabe insisted. “How would I even know what problems to do or how to use the Pythagorean theorem? I just heard you say it before I fell asleep. You also said ‘Toyota Corolla.’”
    Wesley gasped. “I was driving a Toyota Corolla in Shapeland,” he remembered. “Those problems were
so
hard. I’m a genius at night!”
    â€œDid I say anything?” Nikhil asked Gabe hopefully.
    â€œNo,” said Gabe, but Nikhil looked so disappointed that he added, “but maybe you did after I fell asleep.”
    â€œWe should set up a recording system for after lights out,” said Wesley. “Tonight I might solve the mystery of life.”
    â€œWhat’s the mystery of life?” asked Nikhil.
    â€œI don’t know,” said Wesley. “That’s why we should record what I say.”
    Problem: Am I a nerd who only has nerdy adventures?
    Hypothesis: No.
    Proof:
THINGS I CAN
TELL ZACK
(I am not a nerd.)
THINGS I CAN’T
TELL ZACK
(I am a nerd.)
1. I’m going to sleepaway camp for six weeks!
1. It is the Summer Center for Gifted Enrichment.
2. My bunkmates are really cool, and we became friends right away!
2. They like learning digits of π .
3. The food is bad, just like at camps in books and movies!
3. We fixed it with lemon juice to kill the bacteria.
4. I’m being stalked by an annoying girl!
4. She is in my Logical Reasoning and Poetry Writing classes.
5. I creamed Amanda in a sing-off!
5. We sang all the countries of the world.
6. We put music and sports pictures on our walls.
6. They are of Beethoven and the rules of badminton.
7.