The rules to Trashball were simple. Answer the question right and you got to shoot the ball into the trashcan. Answer the question wrong and you don’t get to shoot at all. Halfway through the game, Michael had nailed a fifty pointer after he had told Ms. Catarinas that a series circuit had only one path for electricity to flow. The fifty points put the Proton team in the lead. But now on the second to last question, the Electrons had the opportunity to catch up.
“Static electricity,” Veronica yelled out.
The class waited, holding their breaths.
“Correct,” Ms. Catarinas said excitedly.
The Electron team went up in cheers.
Trashball was one of Ms. Catarinas’ favorite times in the classroom. All the kids put aside their problems and worked together. That is, except for Lily and Kat.
Veronica stepped up to the point lines on the floor. They were only masking tape with Sharpe, but to the fourth graders in Ms. Catarinas’ class, they were life and death.
The score was set at eighty to forty, Protons. She could go for the fifty line and try to win, but Veronica knew she’d never make it.
“Come on Veronica,” the class jostled. “Throw it already.”
Ms. Catarinas silenced the class with her hand. This was Veronica’s moment. No one would boss her around now.
She stepped to the tape lines, closed her eyes and prayed she’d make it in. She tossed the ball softly, arching it through the air like a professional basketball player.
Swish.
“Forty points for the Electrons,” Ms. Catarinas announced. “Nice shot Veronica. Looks like we have a tie!”
Lily looked back at her team with a fierce glare in her eye.
“It comes down to one question. And that answer belongs to me,” she growled.
“Yikes,” Michael said. “Maybe Lily is the werewolf.”
“There’s no such thing as werewolves Grossman,” Lily snapped. “Get your head in the game before I put it in the trashcan!”
Ms. Catarinas pulled out the last Trashball question and smiled at the children. They knew what that meant. A hard one.
“Alright my little electricians,” she said hoping to trick them. “Let’s see if you know your scientific history too.”
Kat leaned over to Jacob.
“It’s got to be inventors,” she said. “There is no other history we’ve learned about.”
Ms. Catarinas read the question and paused.
“Who,” she said emphatically, “helped to invent the first electromagnet?”
There were plenty of puzzle faces around the room. All of them were confounded except two: Lily and Kat. Lily’s hand shot into the air before her team had a chance to stop her. Ms. Catarinas looked at Lily thoughtfully before speaking. She knew Lily was one you had to be careful with.
“Perhaps you should discuss it with your team to be sure.”
Lily huffed and pulled her hand back down. She turned, unwillingly, to meet with her team. Three pairs of eyes met her. Lily avoided Kat and spoke to the rest.
“It’s obviously Thomas Edison,” she said with the utmost certainty. “He was one of the greatest inventors when it came to electricity. I mean come on, he invented the light bulb!”
“Actually,” Kat chimed in. “That’s not true. He just made the metal filament better.”
Lily’s cheeks flushed. Someone was challenging her.
“It was Michael Faraday,” Kat whispered so the other team couldn’t hear.
Lily couldn’t believe it. Once again Kat was trying to show off. Lily hated her for it.
Ever since Kat had shown up at Edgeview Elementary this year, things had been terrible for Lily. People who used to worship her knowledge now when tot Kat. Every quiz they took, Kat always beat her by one point. It was too much. Lily’s power was failing and she knew it. She would just have to show the rest of them that she really did know more.
Lily turned back to Ms. Catarinas and cleared her throat.
“The person who created the first electromagnet was,” she said while throwing a mean glance at Kat, “Thomas Edison!”
Jacob gasped. Kat looked at her desk disappointed. Michael scratched behind his left ear, certain he had fleas. Lily smiled at Ms. Catarinas, extraordinarily pleased with herself.
They’ll see, she thought.
“Actually,” Ms. Catarinas said slowly, “that’s not right. Electrons do you have the answer?”
Veronica jumped on it.
“Michael Faraday!”
“Correct,” Ms. Catarinas said happily. “The person who invented the electromagnet was Michael Faraday.”
Lily could see nothing but red as Veronica stepped up to the point lines for an easy ten point shot to win the game for the Electrons. Her teammates were quiet as the celebration went on.
“You always do that,” Jacob finally said to Lily. “You never listen.”
Lily sneered at Jacob and stuck out her tongue. She didn’t want to hear it.
“Kat had the right answer,” Jacob continued. “And you didn’t even listen to her.”
Kat kept her head in her electricity book as Jacob laid into Lily. This was why she didn’t want to come to school today.
“That’s why nobody likes you,” Jacob said coldly. “You hear me Lily. No one likes you!”
Yes, this was exactly the reason Kat wanted to stay home today.
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