"Madre! He's a friend from school. I told you this already."
"Ay, Zachito. You want me to let you spend the night at a friend's house while you're grounded? I can't do that." Zachary's mom picked up another dish, scrubbing it aggressively with a wet sponge before dunking it in the water-filled sink.
"Well, his mom has agreed to drive us to the school early and we need to set up our physics project before the others get there. So unless you can drive me early, I don't see a better option." She sighed and reached for another dish. Always something with this child...
"You'll have to be grounded for one more day. And you better work double when Destiny's over next to make up for it. You willing to do that?"
"Yeah, sounds manageable."
"Okay. I'm holding you to that."
***
Carl set his books down on the table next to Zachary's.
"How are you always here before me? You hate this class."
Zachary laughed. "It's that personal library, Carl."
"What? You blame John Kuprenas and Charles B. Cabe? You wouldn't!"
Carl stared narrow-eyed at Zachary. Zachary stared blankly in return.
"John. Kuprenas. The civil engineer? Senior VP of AECOM? You seriously don't know him? Fine. As long as you know Charles B. Cabe..."
Zachary continued staring.
"How are we friends, Zach? Charles Cabe! Inventor of AeroRonze technology? Only the most accomplished inventor of our time! C'mon, Zach!" Carl sat down in his chair dejectedly. "You're hopeless."
"Hey! Look, all I meant is that you walk slow when you carry all those books around."
"Have you ever read any of these? Here! Take this one. You can't judge a book by its heavy cover."
"The Secret to Soaring... 'everything an aerospace engineer should know before his first project takes flight.' Huh. Seems like it'd be a long time before that poor engineer gets his project in the air with how thick this book is... what?"
"Whatever. Keep it. I just finished it anyways. And you won't need to take all your books home tonight if you're coming to my place. Wait, what'd your mom say?"
"We made a deal. I'm good for tonight."
"Really? What'd you tell her?"
"That we have a Physics project to set up before the other kids arrive."
Carl grinned thoughtfully as he started folding a piece of paper. "Not a lie... not the truth... I'm impressed."
"Well, you haven't told me much. What are we really doing tonight?"
"Shhh! We'll talk about it later. Not here at school."
Zachary rolled his eyes. "Fine. Does it have something to do with this book?"
"Mayhaps..."
"Right. No more Charles Cabe for you."
"But I have three more books of his left!"
"Three more? Carl! Are you obsessed with this guy or something?"
Carl threw the paper he'd been folding. It soared gracefully toward the front of the room. Floating gently, its nose dived down and after a small flip, reversed itself and struck Zach on the nose.
"Ay!! Why?"
"Not obsessed with him. Just admire his work. And that was a demonstration of it. Your pain brought to you by Charles B Cabe!"
"Huge fan." Zachary rubbed his nose, "What's the B stand for anyways?"
Carl grinned. "No one knows, actually. He autographed one of his books that way but has never mentioned it or taken any questions on it. Kind of odd..."
"Yeah... you're not obsessed..."
Carl's objection was masked by the sound of the starting bell.
By @Siling-La
