Team BFF--Race to the Finish! #2 Page 2

  “Lucy; Maya Chung; and the new girl, Erin Roberts—you know, the seventh-grader who moved here this year.” I thought about how Mrs. Clark had decided the four of us should be a “permanent group” after the first week of coding club because we worked so well together. We’d become close outside coding club, too, and I couldn’t imagine school without them now.

  Mom patted my hand. “I’m so happy you and Lucy are getting along again, Soph.”

  “Yeah, me too.” Lucy and I had been BFFs for years, but we’d drifted apart last year when I thought she didn’t want to be friends anymore. Turned out it was a big misunderstanding, and now we were BFFs again.

  “So, anyway,” I went on. “First we have to come up with a plan for what to code at the hackathon, so my friends are coming over later to work on it.”

  “That’s fine, Sophia,” Mom said. She gave me a stern look. “But in the future, you should ask me first before you invite people over.” Abuela was nodding behind her. I didn’t like having them gang up on me.

  “I tried, Mom, but you were busy.” The words rushed out before I could stop them. I gave my mom my best don’t-be-mad-at-me face. “But next time I’ll ask.”

  My mom’s expression relaxed. “I am glad you’re enjoying the club.”

  “Me too,” I said, sitting down at the table.

  Abuela walked over to the stairs. “Pearl, Lola—dinnertime!”

  I crunched on a chip. “You’ll be able to come to the hackathon, right, Mom? Mrs. Clark said parents can come at the end to see our coding projects.” Mom had been busy with my little sisters these days and had missed the last three football games I’d helped oversee. I didn’t usually mind, but I really hoped she could be at the hackathon. We were working hard, and I wanted her to see how cool coding was.

  “I’d love to, sweetie. I’ll check my schedule.”

  Boom! Boom! Boom! My sisters sounded like a herd of elephants running down the stairs. Pearl came in first, throwing herself into Mom’s arms. She was little but fast. “Mama! Watch!” She spun around in a circle. “See how good I dance?”

  “Amazing,” my mom gushed, clapping. “But it’s time for dinner, sweet pea.”

  Pearl took her usual seat at the table, next to Abuela. She was still wearing her pink leotard, and her curly long hair was pulled back in a ponytail. “I’m going to put on a show for you tonight, Abuela,” she said, wiggling back and forth.

  Abuela winked. “I can’t wait to see it, mi amor. Now, here, have some rice,” she urged, putting a big spoonful on her plate. My sisters went to bed early, so they started eating right away while Mom finished getting things ready.

  Lola was usually pretty quiet unless she was talking about her favorite subject: dogs. Once she started telling you about them, she’d go on forever. She was already sitting down, looking out the kitchen window. “Daddy!” she burst out suddenly.

  Two seconds later, the door that led to the garage opened, and my dad entered with my youngest sister, two-year-old Rosie, toddling beside him.

  “Sophia!” Rosie shouted, half running to me. She wrapped her little arms around my neck. “Missed you!”

  “I missed you, too,” I said, kissing her pink cheeks and tickling her tummy as she giggled.

  “Perfect timing,” Mom said, filling the girls’ cups with milk. “Everything’s ready.”

  Dad gave Lola and me each a peck on top of our heads. “How’re my girls?” he asked, mussing up my hair.

  “Hungry,” I declared. Mom liked for us to wait until everyone was at the table before we said grace, but the food just smelled so good, I couldn’t help myself. I piled a tortilla with chicken, cheese, avocado, and salsa, rolled it up, and took a huge bite.

  Dad chuckled. “Looks like you weren’t kidding, Soph.” He leaned in to give Mom a quick kiss.

  “Yuck!” Lola put a hand over her eyes. “Gross!”

  “Someday you’ll like kisses.” Mom made a loud smooching sound. “Someday you might even want to give one to someone.”

  “Ewww!” Lola and Pearl shrieked together, and Lola stuck out her tongue in disgust.

  A few minutes later, everyone was finally sitting together at the table. It was a typical dinner at Casa Torres. Rosie was dropping shredded cheese all over the floor. Pearl was talking about ballet class with her mouth open. Abuela was trying to coax Lola into eating more chicken, and Mom and Dad were eating and chatting about work.

  I took another bite of my burrito and frowned. My friends would be here soon, and my one-on-one time with Mom had disappeared as fast as the warm tortillas.

  “Chip, pwease!” Rosie said, raising both her hands. Sighing, I put one chip on her plate and three on mine.

  “You can have another one if you don’t drop it,” I told her. She stuck out her bottom lip. “Okay, fine,” I said, giving her two more chips. She grinned, and I smiled back at her. On the bright side, at least I had been able to tell my mom about the hackathon. And when she came to see it, I could finally show her what coding club was all about!

  We had just finished dinner when Pearl started yawning, Lola spilled her milk, and Rosie put her head down on the table.

  “The girls are exhausted,” Mom said, getting up. “I’ll take them up and get them ready for their baths.”

  Abuela rose, too. “I will help, m’ija, so you can get to work on time.”

  Mom gave her a grateful look. Mom scooped up Rosie from her chair and kissed the top of her head. “Who’s ready for some bubbles?”

  “Vamos, chiquitas!” Abuela commanded as she herded Lola and Pearl out of the kitchen.

  Dad carried his dinner plate to the sink and sighed. “Those girls,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s nonstop energy, isn’t it?” It was amazing how quiet it got once my sisters, Mom, and Abuela left the room.

  “Yeah,” I agreed, enjoying the calm.

  “Music?” Dad asked me, turning on the old-school radio we had on the counter.

  I grinned. “Only if we play what I like.”

  He found my favorite pop station, and we hummed along to the song. We were halfway through loading the dishwasher when the doorbell rang.

  Dad’s forehead wrinkled. “I wonder who that is, this time of night.” He glanced at his watch. “Probably someone selling something.”

  “Yeah,” I said. Then, suddenly, I remembered my plans. “Oh! It’s my friends!”

  Dad raised an eyebrow. “On a school night?”

  “We’re not just hanging out, Dad, we’re working on something for coding club. I told Mom they were coming, and she said it was fine.”

  “Okay, go ahead,” he said, putting the silverware in the cutlery basket. “I’ll take care of the rest.”

  “Thanks, Dad!” I exclaimed, rushing to the door.

  Ring ring

  Ring ring ring

  Ring ring ring ring

  There was only one person impatient enough to ring the bell that many times.

  Chapter Two

  “Hi!” Lucy said excitedly when I opened the door. She gave me a wave instead of ringing the bell again. Maya and Erin were standing next to her.

  Lucy’s black hair was pulled back into two neat, tight braids, and she had on her bright heart-shaped stud earrings, which stood out against her dark skin. She’d been wearing those a lot lately—I was pretty sure it was because Maya had told her they looked cute.

  “Hey,” Maya said, making her way into the house. If Lucy was a trend chaser, Maya was most definitely a trendsetter. She was wearing black drawstring pants matched with a loose floral top. I was amazed at how she could make anything fashionable, even something I thought looked like pajamas.

  “I brought treats.” Erin tapped her paisley-print backpack. “Homemade s’mores cookies.”

  “Yum!” I said, ushering my friends in. Everyone took off their shoes and hun
g their coats on the coatrack.

  “Lucy, did you bring the binder?” I asked. Over the last week, Lucy and I had organized everything we’d learned in coding club into a white two-inch binder to help us get ready for the hackathon, and we’d included all the information about the hackathon, too. It was nice to have a best friend who loved organizing things as much as I did.

  “The binder?” Lucy gasped, dramatically putting her hand on her chest. “I had one job. How could I have forgotten?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Never mind. I see it in your bag, Lu.”

  She dropped her hand and giggled. “You only texted me about a million times to remember it, Soph.”

  My dad popped out of the kitchen to say hello to my friends, and we then headed toward my room.

  “I’m so bummed I missed coding club yesterday,” Maya grumbled, making a face. “What did you do?”

  “Wait, first tell us what happened at the dance meeting,” Erin said as we trooped upstairs. “I thought you were going to text us about it.” As president of the student council, Maya was in charge of organizing the upcoming winter dance at school. They’d had their first meeting yesterday during coding club, which was why she’d missed it.

  “Ugh, my battery died last night, and I couldn’t find my charger.” Maya groaned.

  “Not being able to find things . . . welcome to the story of my life,” Erin said, shaking her head. “I lost my glasses yesterday, and you’ll never guess where I found them.”

  “Your backpack?” Lucy ventured.

  Erin giggled as she tapped her lens. “Nope. On my face!”

  We all laughed as we walked into my bedroom.

  “I wouldn’t have wanted to text you about the meeting, anyway,” Maya said, plopping onto my bed and sighing.

  “Why?” I asked. “I thought you were so excited about it.”

  “I was,” Maya explained. “Until I got there and hardly anybody showed up! Some people were out sick, and I guess other people just forgot or something. And our advisor was super late, so basically nothing happened.”

  Lucy spread out on the floor and pulled the binder from her bag. “Did you talk about the theme? Or decorations?”

  “Nope,” Maya said, shaking her head. “It was super annoying. When I saw how many people were missing, I should have just canceled the meeting and gone to coding club instead.”

  Erin offered Maya a cookie. “Here, have a s’more. Maybe it’ll make you feel better.”

  Maya shrugged. “One will make me feel a little better.” She reached into the tin. “Two would make me feel a lot better!”

  I went over to grab a cookie, too. They had a graham cracker crust with melted chocolate and roasted mini marshmallows on top. I licked my lips and took a bite, making sure not to get any crumbs on my floor. “Mmm . . . so good, Erin!”

  I took a seat at my desk. “Okay, so we need to talk about our plan for the hackathon,” I said. I pulled out a small whiteboard from behind my desk and erased last week’s predictions. My dad and I always wrote down our forecasts before we watched football games together. I had totally beaten him last weekend—as usual.

  Maya rummaged through her bag. “Gahhh, here it is.” She held up her charger and waved it around. Then she took out her sketchbook—we hardly ever saw her without it. “Did Mrs. Clark tell you more about the hackathon yesterday?” she asked.

  Lucy clapped. “Oh, we have to tell Maya the theme!”

  Maya raised an eyebrow. “We couldn’t even come up with a theme for the dance, but you’re telling me there’s one for the hackathon?”

  Lucy nodded. “Yes.” She paused dramatically. “The theme is . . . robots!”

  “Beep beep bop!” Erin playfully imitated robot sounds, moving her arms around stiffly. “Beep bop boop!” Erin loved acting, and she was really good at voices. And apparently, at robots, too.

  Lucy started bumping into Maya, saying, “Error! Error!”

  Erin lifted her arms and twisted her upper body to the left, keeping her back straight. She moved mechanically, a blank expression on her face.

  Lucy and Maya couldn’t stop giggling. “She’s doing the robot!” Maya said, clapping.

  Lucy clutched her neck with one hand and her leg with her other hand and began hopping up and down. “Watch out, Sophia, or you’re going to get wet. It’s spuh-rinkler time!”

  Suddenly my bedroom had turned into a full-on dance party. Maya hopped off my bed and pretended she was pushing a shopping cart around. She guided the “cart” between Erin and Lucy, who squealed and moved out of the way. Reaching up toward my bedroom walls, she grabbed and tossed imaginary items into the pretend cart.

  I tried hard not to laugh. “Stop goofing around, guys!” But my friends wouldn’t listen. Lucy stopped being a sprinkler for a second to grab my hand and pull me up. “Come on, Soph, show us your moves!”

  I crossed my arms, feeling a flare of annoyance in my chest. We were supposed to be coding, not dancing! But to be honest, the empty expression on Erin’s “robot” face was pretty hilarious. I broke into my best running man shuffle as my BFFs egged me on.

  “We look ridiculous,” Lucy gasped, doubled over laughing.

  “Speak for yourself,” I panted, hopping in place and swinging my arms.

  Before long, we were all rolling on the floor in hysterics.

  Across the room, I heard my phone vibrate. I disentangled myself from my friends and picked it up. It was probably Abuela practicing texting again—she kept sending me texts that said “TEST” (yes, in caps. Don’t ask). I’d write her back, and then she’d say she couldn’t find the texting app. Typical. But when I saw who the text was from, my heart skipped a beat.

  “Ooh, you’re turning red, Sophia!” Maya said, looking at me with a curious expression. “Did you get a text from a secret admirer?”

  My cheeks felt hot, and I hoped my face hadn’t turned beet red. “What? No, it’s nothing.”

  Lucy came up behind me and peered over my shoulder. “By ‘nothing’ she means she got a text from Sammy and it says, ‘See you tomorrow.’” She gave me an incredulous look. “Sammy, like Sammy Cooper from coding club? Why is he texting you?” Her brown eyes opened wide. “Ooh, is this what you were talking about the other day?”

  “No, it’s not! It’s nothing,” I said a little too loudly, quickly turning my phone off. Sammy and I were in English class together, and he’d been out last Friday, so he asked me about what he’d missed. We’d exchanged numbers, and he’d texted me a few times. I hadn’t told my friends, though Lucy had pried out of me that maybe I had a crush on somebody.

  “Talking about what the other day?” Erin asked, rolling onto her stomach and propping herself up on her elbows. “Sounds mysterious.”

  I shoved my phone into my desk drawer, grabbed my whiteboard, and sat down at my desk. “I swear, it’s nothing. Hackathon, remember?” I crossed my legs and gave my friends my best no-nonsense face, hoping my cheeks weren’t still flushed. “So, we need robot ideas.”

  “I bet Sammy would be happy to help you brainstorm ideas,” Lucy said slyly.

  Erin made smooching sounds. “Oh, Sophia. I had a question about algorithms, and it just can’t wait until school tomorrow,” she said dreamily, batting her eyelashes.

  Maya started giggling. “Somebody has a cru-ush,” she said in a singsongy voice.

  I kept my expression blank. “When you’re done amusing yourselves, just let me know.”

  The three of them gave a collective sigh. “Maybe you need another s’more,” Erin said, pushing the tin toward me.

  I scowled in her direction. “Bribes will get you nowhere.” But I did reach for another cookie. “Are we ready?”

  “Oooooookeydoke.” Lucy picked up the binder and started paging through it. “Mrs. Clark told us that each team will get what they need for a programmable robot:
a robot rover, which is like the base of the robot, and a motherboard.”

  “What’s a motherboard?” Maya asked.

  Erin broke off a chunk of cookie. “It’s like the command center for the robot. The rover has four wheels and a flat thing on it, and the motherboard goes on top, right?”

  Lucy nodded. “That’s what we connect to the computer to program it. Look, like this.” She turned the binder toward us and showed us an image we’d printed out of a metal rectangle on wheels with another metal piece on top of it.

  We all leaned in to take a look.

  “And we’ll have to add modules to it, I think?” Erin chimed in.

  I remembered that part from yesterday. “Yeah. There’ll be things like lights and movable arms that we can add to our robot rover—it should have four slots where we can plug them in.”

  “And there’ll be a table of supplies where we can get other stuff like balls, blocks, or string,” Lucy added. “Basically any four modules we want to add to our robot.”

  Maya flipped through the pages we’d printed about modules. “Cool, but does the robot have to do something? Or do we just add modules for fun?”

  “I think it does have to do something,” Lucy said, pressing her lips together and squinting thoughtfully. “Hang on.” She flipped through the binder to the hackathon information sheet that Mrs. Clark had given us, and read:

  You will code your robot to go through the judges’ maze. The maze will be a six-foot square. It will have low walls and dead ends that the robots will have to get around to reach the exit. It’s not just about finishing first, though—prizes will be awarded for creativity, coding, and the most imaginative robot.

  Maya nibbled on her fingernail. “So we have to get our robot to go through a maze, and it has to be super creative? What does that even mean?”

  We were all stumped when there was a knock on my door.

  “Come in!” I called out, glad for the distraction.

  My mom poked her head in. “Hey, girls,” she said, smiling at my friends. She had changed out of her jeans and into her scrubs. “I hate to interrupt, Sophia, but I’m leaving soon, and I had a quick question.”