You don’t understand Ava said her eyes never leaving the picture on the front I’ve been saving for this thing forever Believe me I do understand Andre replied shaking his head That dumb thing is all you’ve been talking about Everyone in our family has Shh Ava said putting her hand up Don’t say anything more You’re going to ruin this moment As if nothing else in the world mattered Ava slipped the box open and stared inside It was almost too good to be true There sitting in the molded shell with a thin protective layer of clear plastic over the screen was the reason Ava had been saving her allowance and birthday money for the last year and a half A MyPad Micro It was pearly white along the edges and back 6
There had been only one updated version released since she’d fallen in love with it way back when so the newest MyPad Micro model was even better It had a better graphics chip making the screen’s resolution just shy of perfect Hey can I see that Andre asked I’ve never seen one of those up close Ava wrapped her arms around the MyPad and shot Andre a look as if he were insane No way Ava said I’m not letting anyone touch this For once I have something I don’t have to share with anyone else She stared at the MyPad tuning the rest of the world out She began to imagine all of the great things she’d be able to do with it Okay whatever Andre said breaking Ava out of her semi-trance Mom and Dad just wanted me to give you a ride But I’ve got stuff 7
to do sis Were you thinking we’d just stand in the mall all day Yeah Ava said dreamily but then realized what she was saying I mean no You have to charge that thing right Yeah Ava said again distractedly But I need to get home and charge it As he guided Ava to the parking lot Andre mumbled under his breath That’s what I said After school that Monday Ava pushed open the door to the computer lab The handful of students who made up the Wheatley Middle School coding club were 8
already in their usual spots She saw that the PC workstation next to Marco Martinez was open and waiting for her Ava watched what Marco was working on for a moment before slipping her MyPad out of her backpack She was pretty sure the sheer awesomeness of her newest toy would get his attention It didn’t Marco kept editing his configuration files for the mini robot he’d been working on since joining the Codeheads the name the group decided to call itself So I finally got it Ava said holding her beloved tablet carefully in her hands Loaded it up with a ton of apps Still got a crazy amount of space left on it too Marco mumbled something Ava couldn’t hear He squinted at the screen on the desk and then at the laptop perched on his wheelchair 9
