Chapter 10

Chapter 10 IF YOUR RIVAL REACHES ACROSS THE AISLE…GIVE HER A COOKIE. It was a beautiful morning outside in the real world. Jodi, Harper, and Theo were together, sitting beneath a tree. Jodi was sketching Minecraft rabbits on graph paper. She wouldn't let some creepy, kooky Minecraft mob ruin her love of bunnies. Or llamas. Or axolotls! She'd never known how cute amphibians could be. She'd looked them up online and confirmed that they were just as adorable in real life as they were in pixels.

第十章如果你的对手走到过道对面，给她一块饼干。 这是一个美丽的早晨，外面是真实的世界。 乔迪、哈珀和西奥在一起，坐在一棵树下。 乔迪正在方格纸上画《我的世界》里的兔子。 她不会让那些怪异的《我的世界》暴徒毁了她对兔子的爱。 或骆驼。或墨西哥蝾螈!她从来不知道两栖动物可以这么可爱。 她在网上查了一下，确认他们在现实生活中和在像素上一样可爱。

Jodi glanced at Harper. She was drawing, too, and Theo was looking over her shoulder. They were putting their heads together on a new plan to deal with the spider. Morgan was nearby, rushing to finish his homework. He'd spent all night making cookies. They were unappetizing, but at least he hadn't set the kitchen on fire. To Jodi, that was progress. "Hi, everybody," said a voice, and Jodi looked up to see Shelly Silver standing over them. "Can I join you for a minute?"

乔迪瞥了哈珀一眼。她也在画画，西奥在她身后看着。 他们正在商量一个对付蜘蛛的新计划。 摩根就在附近，急着完成作业。 他整晚都在做饼干。 它们不好吃，但至少他没有把厨房点着。 对乔迪来说，这就是进步。 “嗨，大家好。”一个声音说，乔迪抬起头来，看见雪莉·西尔弗站在他们身边。 “我能和你聊一会儿吗？”

Jodi was surprised. She'd never talked with Shelly —and despite Po, she'd certainly never spied on her. So what was Shelly doing here? "Uh…sure, you can join us," said Morgan. He obviously felt awkward. Jodi even saw him look around to make sure Po wasn't nearby. But there was still twenty minutes before the first bell, and Po usually didn't get to school this early. Harper set aside her notebook. "Have a seat, Shelly," she said. "What's on your mind?" Shelly smiled. She had a nice smile, Jodi thought. Friendly. "Thanks," Shelly said, and she folded her legs to sit on the grass. "I know you're all friends with Po, so I won't try to convince you to vote for me. But I'm trying to speak with every student before the election." She took out a pocket-sized spiral notepad and a glitter pen with a big pink pompom on the end. "That way, if I am elected, I'll have an idea what everyone cares about." "What we care about?" echoed Theo. "Yeah," said Shelly. "You know. What's your number-one issue? What would you like to see change around here?"

乔迪很吃惊。她从来没有和雪莉说过话——除了阿宝，她当然也从来没有监视过她。 那么谢利在这里做什么呢？ “嗯……当然，你可以加入我们。”摩根说。 他显然感到很尴尬。 乔迪甚至看到他环顾四周，以确保阿宝不在附近。 但是离第一声铃响还有二十分钟，阿宝通常不会这么早到学校。 哈珀把笔记本放在一边。 “请坐，雪莉。”她说。 “你在想什么？”雪莉笑了。 她的笑容很美，乔迪想。 友好。“谢谢。”雪莉说，她把腿交叉起来坐在草地上。 “我知道你们都是阿宝的朋友，所以我不会试图说服你们投我的票。 但我想在选举前和每个学生交谈。” 她拿出一个口袋大小的螺旋记事本和一支闪光笔，笔头有一个粉红色的大绒球。 “这样，如果我当选，我就会知道大家关心什么。” “我们关心什么？”西奥附和道。 “是的，”雪莉说。“你知道的。 你的头号问题是什么？ 你想在这里看到什么变化？”

Theo thought about it. "I'd like the computer lab back," he said. "Ditto," said Morgan. "Our computer equipment should be in the school, where we can keep an eye on it." Jodi knew they were worried that keeping their VR headsets in the library meant that someone else would use them. "I care about recycling," said Harper. "And other sustainable practices." "Oh, me too, actually!" said Shelly. "Woodsword is pretty good about all that, but it could be better. I have a lot of ideas." That got a big smile from Harper. "What do you think about the upcoming block party?" she asked. Jodi understood immediately why Shelly was asking. The block party was an annual event—an after-school party for all the students and their families. But some students had decided the party was a big waste of money. They argued that the money could be spent on important improvements around the school. "I think it's a waste," said Harper, and Theo nodded in agreement.

西奥想了想。“我想要回电脑室，”他说。 “我也是，”摩根说。“我们的电脑设备应该放在学校里，这样我们就可以盯着它了。” 乔迪知道，他们担心把虚拟现实头盔放在图书馆里会被其他人使用。 “我关心回收，”哈珀说。 “以及其他可持续的做法。” “哦，其实我也是！”雪莉说。 “《木剑》在这方面做得很好，但它还可以做得更好。 我有很多想法。”哈珀笑得很开心。 “你觉得即将到来的街区聚会怎么样？”她问。 乔迪立刻明白了雪莉为什么这么问。 街区聚会是一年一度的活动——为所有学生和他们的家人举办的课后聚会。 但是一些学生认为这个派对是在浪费钱。 他们认为这笔钱可以花在学校周围的重要改进上。 “我认为这是浪费。”哈珀说，西奥点头表示同意。

"No, I love the block party!" said Morgan. "I've been looking forward to it all year." Jodi noticed Shelly writing their responses in her notebook. She was really paying attention to what they cared about. And she had a sudden, sinking feeling…that Po might not win the election. "Oh!" said Shelly. Her eyes had landed on Morgan's containers full of cookies. "Are you selling cookies?" "Yeah," said Morgan. He squirmed a little. "Uh, they're for Po's campaign, though. Sorry." Shelly shrugged. "That's okay." She'd been so nice, though, that Morgan let her have her choice of cookie anyway. She chose one and bit into it immediately. Jodi watched as Shelly's expression went from excitement…to confusion…to mild disgust. She chewed for several seconds, then winced as she swallowed. "That is…an interesting cookie," she said.

“不，我喜欢街头派对！”摩根说。 “我已经期待了一年了。” 乔迪注意到雪莉在她的笔记本上写下了他们的回答。 她真的很关注他们关心的事情。 她突然有一种不祥的预感……阿宝可能不会赢得选举。 “哦！”雪莉说。她的目光落在了摩根装满饼干的容器上。 “你在卖饼干吗？”“是的，”摩根说。 他有点局促不安。“呃，它们是为阿宝的竞选准备的。 抱歉。”雪莱耸耸肩。“没关系。” 不过，她太好了，摩根还是让她选择了自己喜欢的饼干。 她选了一个，马上咬了一口。 乔迪看着谢莉的表情从兴奋变成困惑，再变成轻微的厌恶。 她咀嚼了几秒钟，然后在吞咽时畏缩了一下。 “那是……一块有趣的饼干，”她说。

"I'm sorry!" said Morgan, knowing the cookies were terrible. "I think I mixed up the baking powder and the baking soda. But why is baking soda a powder? It's so confusing!" They all laughed, Shelly the loudest of all. She didn't eat the rest of the cookie, but she politely wrapped it in a napkin and placed it in her purse, as if she might get back to it later.

“对不起！”摩根说，他知道饼干很难吃。 “我想我把发酵粉和小苏打混在一起了。 但是为什么小苏打是粉末呢？ 这太令人困惑了！”他们都笑了，雪莉笑得最响。 她没有吃剩下的饼干，但她礼貌地用餐巾包好，放在钱包里，好像她以后还会再吃。