Chapter 8

Chapter 8 SCIENTIFIC SUCCESS! AWKWARD PERSONAL MOMENTS! By Monday, Harper and Theo's coral had already started to grow. "It's incredible!" Harper said. She double- checked their log. "If it keeps growing at this rate, our coral will be ready for ocean transport in a few weeks."

Although they had started with a single piece of coral, Doc had asked them to break the coral into smaller pieces. She had explained that breaking the coral would cause it to grow faster. Some of the pieces had only grown a couple of millimeters. Some had grown by centimeters. But they were all growing. Theo looked around at his classmates' aquariums. "Our samples are definitely doing the best." He grinned shyly. "Not that it's a competition." "Right," said Harper. Then she grinned back. "But that is pretty cool."

Harper snuck a peek at a neighboring aquarium. Theo was right. Not everyone was having the same success. She made sure to write down the exact temperature of their water. They also recorded the pH level and the salinity. If their coral continued to do well, those numbers would be important to scientists all over the world. "Hey," Theo said. "Are you playing Minecraft after school today?" Harper froze. "Uh, why?" she asked. Theo shrugged. "Isn't that what you and your

friends do in the computer lab after school? I saw you go in there every day last week. My locker's right there." "Oh," Harper said. "Yeah. We play Minecraft and stuff." "I'm a gamer, too," he said. "I've put some of my builds online. You should check them out." "Yeah," Harper said. "I definitely will. Definitely!" An awkward silence followed. Harper had a feeling Theo was waiting for an invitation. But she couldn't bring someone new into the group, could she? For one thing, they didn't have an extra headset. For another, there was real danger in that virtual world. She'd felt it when that creeper had exploded. How could she put someone else

in harm's way? "Oh!" Harper said. "I totally forgot. I was supposed to refill Baron Sweetcheeks's water today." It wasn't technically true. But Harper felt more and more awkward the longer the silence lasted. And the class hamster could always use fresh water. She took her time with the task. She was still at the hamster cage when the bell rang and students started filing out of the classroom.

When she walked back to her table, Theo was already gone. She felt guilty. She didn't like keeping secrets from anyone. But the idea of inviting someone new into their special group would have to be discussed by everyone. As she put her books into her backpack, she noticed something strange. It looked like a piece of coral was missing from their aquarium. That can't be, she thought. But Theo had their logbook, so she couldn't double-check. She'd have to look into it tomorrow.