Chapter ONE Rough Morning Paisley Atoms didn’t set her alarm Actually she couldn’t set her alarm She’d taken it apart to use the circuit board to trigger a sprinkler system symphony to celebrate her best friend’s birthday Ben Striker was officially a year older this morning Paisley had counted on the sprinkler system symphony waking her up since Ben lived right next door to her She hadn’t counted on staying up so late to get everything to work or how soundly she would sleep once she finally went to bed Dad shook Paisley awake right as she was dreaming about the times she visited the Milky Way and Alpha Centauri galaxies with Ben Good morning sleepy head Your eggs and biscuits are getting cold he said 6
Not only was it cold but their pet mongoose Newton had eaten half of Paisley’s eggs in the ninety three seconds it had taken her to get ready Save some for me Paisley said shooing Newton off the table You know you’re not supposed to be up there She sighed as Newton scampered away The morning was off to a rough start She hoped the day would get better Dad offered to cook some more eggs but she was running out of time Paisley didn’t like to be late especially not for Mrs Beaker’s science class She grabbed her house key which was stuck to the light switch Dad had attached magnets underneath the face plates of every switch in the house to make it easier to find metal stuff like keys Dad was just as forgetful as Paisley although she would never forget the ancient key she wore around her neck that her mother had given her It had special powers that helped Paisley and Ben fuel their inventions Your mom might think my new organization idea is an eyesore but I think it is attractive Dad said 7
to laugh When Paisley didn’t respond Dad explained Attractive as in magnets attract iron certain types of steel nickel and cobalt Get it Ha ha Yes Paisley said too worried about Ben Where was he Ben usually met up with Paisley so they could walk to school together Unless they were arguing which didn’t happen often Did Ben somehow sleep through his birthday gift or had his parents taken him out for breakfast and she’d missed it Paisley had her answer a moment later when Ben raced over Water droplets covered his glasses and his shoes sloshed with water as he walked His outfit was remarkably dry I take it you’re responsible for the sprinkler songs that woke us all up Ben asked Paisley couldn’t tell if he was upset She could easily blame it on a sprinkler malfunction Well maybe not What sprinkler randomly starts playing the Happy Birthday song and shoots waterworks 8
It was epic if so Ben said I ran outside to watch but got soaking wet I had to change but I outgrew all my spare shoes Anyway that’s why I’m late Mia Paisley’s other neighbor met up with them The little girl had played in the sprinklers too and hadn’t bothered to change out of her soaking wet puffy pink skirt and matching top She left a trail of water as they
