STARSCAPE BOOKS(52)

Martin slunk back. I expected him to be angry, but he just sighed. “You probably saved me from making a fool of myself. How old is she?”

“Sixteen,” Cheater said. “But she’s pretty mature.”

“No kidding. I think she’s out of our league,” I said.

“If that’s how you feel, I’ll take the next turn at bat,” Flinch said. “Girls love guys who make them laugh.”

“I think girls love music,” Torchie said. “Heck, everybody likes music.” He pulled the FME device from his pocket again.

“Go in the kitchen,” we all shouted.

While Martin, Flinch, and I were talking about Livy, and revealing how little we knew about girls, Cheater sat down at the dinner table and plugged my MP3 player into the USB port. “Let’s see what we have.”

Martin and Flinch crammed in on either side of him. I leaned over his shoulder and watched. Cheater opened the first file. The screen filled with a jumble of letters.

“It’s garbage,” Martin said.

“Try another.”

Cheater opened the next file, and got another screen full of junk.

“Are you sure your memory didn’t get messed up?” Flinch asked.

“I pulled it from the computer without ejecting it. And I’ve been running all over the place,” I said. “It could have gotten damaged. Try some more.”

With each file that Cheater opened, my hopes grew dimmer. “So we’ve got nothing.” As I slumped back down on the couch, the phone rang. Cheater picked it up, listened for a moment, then said, “It’s Uncle Ray. You guys want to go downstairs and get some dinner?”

I was starving, but I was also exhausted. I’d been gassed, kidnapped, operated on—twice—and dragged all over Philadelphia. I couldn’t stand the thought of sitting at a table making pleasant conversation and pretending my life was normal. I looked around at the guys. They seemed pretty fried, too.

Cheater told his uncle, “Maybe I’ll just grab some food and bring it up.”

“That sounds perfect,” Martin said. “I’m not moving another step tonight.”

Cheater hung up the phone. Ten seconds later, there was a tap on the door and Livy poked her head in. “Hey, I’m going down for dinner. You guys coming?”

“Yeah!” Flinch said, leaping to his feet ahead of the rest of us.

“Great idea!” Martin said.

I pushed myself to my feet. Sure, I was tired. But it would be rude to turn down an invitation. I went to the kitchen to get Torchie, who was playing with a radio on the counter. “It doesn’t work,” he said.

“You didn’t burn it, did you?”

“No.” He sniffed the air. “I didn’t burn anything in here. Not yet.”

“Forget about it,” I said. “We’re going to get some food.”

We followed Livy down to the restaurant. Uncle Ray was sitting at a big round table in the back, near the kitchen. There were a half dozen platters of food in front of him, along with heaping bowls of steamed rice.

“Come on, boys,” he said, “get it while it’s hot.”

Livy sat next to him. As Martin grabbed the seat next to her, Cheater made the introductions.

“So, what are you studying?” Martin asked Livy.

“I’m taking math courses right now,” she said. “But my special interest is video-game programming.”

I could see Martin’s jaw drop. Mine felt pretty loose, too. Not only was she smart and beautiful—she loved games. That sort of combination could make any guy momentarily speechless.

Torchie broke the gaping silence by telling Livy, “I play the accordion. But mine broke.”

Livy didn’t seem impressed.

Flinch told a joke.

Livy smiled politely.

“Math’s my favorite subject,” Martin said. “In school,” he added, as if there could possibly be some other place where math was a subject. “Numbers are awesome.”

Livy’s cheek twitched. I couldn’t tell whether she was holding back a yawn or a smile.

I dug through my life for anything that would make me seem irresistibly attractive to a brilliant, beautiful, videogame-playing older girl. I definitely didn’t want to earn a yawn. I doubted she’d be impressed by my ability to draw zombies and skeletons. Other than that, I came up blank. So I grabbed a fork and turned my attention to the food, but watched the premier episode of the Martin and Livy show out of the corner of my eye.

When she poured herself some tea, he poured himself some tea. When she picked up her chopsticks, he picked his up. When she ate a piece of chicken, he started to eat one. But just before it got to his mouth, it somehow slipped from the sticks, hit his chest, and rolled down the front of his shirt, landing in his lap.