But deep down Max had to admit she felt closer to these three than to anybody else at the school And she realized that she herself might very well be the fourth weirdest Then she saw a commotion up ahead The robot must be up there Why me thought Max Why do the three weirdest kids in the whole school always hang around me She moved faster She didn’t want the others to ruin this moment and she wasn’t going to let a gaggle of onlookers get in her way Sure everyone wanted to see the robot but she wanted to see it more so she zigged and zagged through the swarm of kids to get a look And then there it was The robot Walking right toward her It looked absolutely ridiculous It was only a little taller than Simeon who was the shortest kid at Vanguard and was dressed in boys clothes at least five years out of style and was wearing a dark wig And its face was kind of creepy The features were all there but different The bright blue eyes never blinked the eyebrows looked as though they were painted on the mouth was a closed straight line and the nose was formed by straight planes that made its tip look pointed A lot of people were laughing at it but Max thought That’s just the way they dressed it It can’t help what it
looks like The important thing is that this is one of the most advanced robots on the planet and it’s right here where I can And then it fell over Max actually had to jump back so it didn’t land on her KLOMP It must weigh a ton she realized It would have crushed her toes foot Bricked And then it just lay there Frozen Completely still Nice work said Biggs catching up from behind You already broke it Max
1 2 HALLWAY B The robot did appear to be broken It just lay there like a big toy someone had dropped And somehow she felt like it might be her fault Can this day get any worse she wondered Then the walls lit up The computer-generated face of Vice Principal Barbara looked down on them from every angle Vice Principal Barbara was the school’s supercomputer She ran everything and kept an electronic eye on everything as well And when she needed to communicate with the students she had an on-screen avatar which looked just like a grandmother a sort of crazy grandmother Sometimes friendly sometimes stern sometimes angry and often flipping between these modes when least expected Right now she was in what Biggs called grumpy grandmother mode To which Simeon had added You
mean Big Brother’s Grumpy Grandmother But they didn’t say these things at school where Barbara might hear them of course Please keep the hallways clear and safe Barbara said the mouth of her avatar slightly out of sync with her words No stopping is allowed in the hallways Clear the way But Vice Principal Barbara said Max The robot just fell down and Discipline tags will be assigned in five seconds said Barbara Proceed to homeroom Please keep the hallways clear and safe Krysti Biggs Simeon and students immediately headed to class though many craned their necks to look back at Max and the dead robot the other But said Max Discipline tag assigned to Student M Zelaster said Barbara Has it been five seconds already wondered Max but she knew better than to wonder out loud because that would probably get her an additional dTag She looked down at the still robot reluctant to leave it Maybe she could help Don’t touch it called a voice Max looked up to see three adults running down the hall Robotics technicians Max was dying to ask them questions No running is allowed in the hallways at any time for any reason boomed Barbara switching into really stern
