Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 The competition was scheduled for after lunch in the multipurpose room. I was so nervous during lunch that I didn't even eat. That's only happened to me two other times in my whole life. Once was before I played in the big basketball championship game against PS 91. The other time was when the cafeteria was serving fish sticks that looked like they were still swimming on the plate. After lunch, I walked down the hall to the multipurpose room. Frankie and Ashley were by my side. They never stopped encouraging me. And I never stopped thanking them. "You guys were with me all the way," I said.

"Hey, that's what friends are for," Frankie said. "Stanley's going to knock everyone's socks off," Ashley said. "As a matter of fact, he already did," I answered, pointing to a girl in front of me who was wearing sneakers with no socks. We were laughing so hard, I almost dropped Stanley. "Be careful there," Frankie said. "Stanley's big moment is coming up. You don't want him to fall apart before you get onstage." When we walked into the multipurpose room, it was buzzing with excitement. All the kids in the school were there, except for the kindergartners, because those lucky little guys get to leave school early. All the parents that could come to watch the competition were there, and all the teachers, too. Leo, the school handyman, was sitting in the front row. Even the lunch ladies, with their hairnets still on, had shown up to watch.

Those of us who made robots got to sit up onstage in a semicircle around Principal Love. We each had our robots in our laps. Jaden was there holding his Alaskan husky robot that could bury bones. I wondered how he was going to demonstrate that, since the stage was made of wood. Then I noticed that he had a box of dirt at his feet. I should have known. He's the kind of kid who thinks of everything. Next to Jaden was Luke Whitman, whose robot looked like a hand with one long finger. Luke is a champion nose-picker. I had a creepy feeling that I knew what that long robot finger was for.

Next to Luke was a girl whose name was George Henry. She was all smiles. I would have been grinning, too, if I had a cool robot like hers. It looked like a ballet dancer and even had a tutu made from sparkly tinsel that people put on Christmas trees. There were four other kids. They all had one thing in common. They looked pretty serious. And so did their robots. One robot looked like a car, one was a space rocket, and one was a giant ant with moving jaws. "Welcome to PS 87's first ever Build-a- Robot competition," Principal Love said into the microphone. "This is a day when we get to see how our young people have combined science with their imaginations."

Wow, I actually understood what Principal Love said. Usually, he goes on so long that I'm lost after "Welcome." I took that as a sign that good things were about to happen for Stanley and me. "We have put the names of our contestants into a hat to see who goes first." Principal Love reached his hand into a PS 87 baseball cap and pulled out a slip of paper. "George Henry," he called out. "George, come forward and show us your robot." George took her ballerina and placed it on the floor in the center of the stage. "Hello, everyone," she began. "My robot is named Raspberry Swirl, because I love ice cream. Her talent is spinning on her toes, but

here's the special part. When she spins really fast, she turns a bowl filled with cream and sugar and chocolate syrup into chocolate ice cream." I looked down at Stanley. Suddenly he seemed very plain. I wanted to cover his ears so he wouldn't feel bad, but then I remembered that he didn't have ears. So I covered mine instead. When George turned the motor on, Raspberry Swirl started to spin so fast that all the tinsel on her skirt stuck straight out. The bowl spun really fast, too. When George hit the stop button, she showed everyone what was inside the bowl. It wasn't exactly ice cream. It was more like chocolate ice-cream soup. I think George Henry made up a brand-new dessert.