The Golden Couple (The Samantha Project Series, # 2) (11 page)

“I tried that. I flunked Spanish. I’m not smart like you.”

“You probably flunked Spanish because you didn’t even try. Did you sleep through the class?”

“No. I texted Blake during that class. Sometimes naughty texts.” She giggled. “He loved those!”

“That’s why you flunked, Brittany. You didn’t put any effort in.”

“But guys are annoyed by smart girls.”

“Guys like Blake are. Because when you act like you’re stupid, it makes jerks like Blake feel smart. And it makes him feel like he can control you. That’s why he treated you like he did.”

Brittany got quiet for a moment. “Do you think I could ever get Erik to like me the way he likes you?”

“Erik and I are just friends. I’ve told you that.”

“But he looks at you differently than he looks at me. He treats you differently.”

“I don’t know why you’re saying that. He treats us both the same.” It was little white lie but it seemed warranted, given Brittany’s fragile self-esteem.

“Then how do I get him to see me as more than a friend?”

“I don’t know. I’m the last person you should ask for dating advice. I’m just lucky I found Colin. And I already told you what to do. Stop trying so hard. Stop using your body as your only tool for attraction. And don’t pretend to be dumb. Because I know you’re not. Now can we go to sleep?”

“I guess. But one more thing.”

“What?”

“I think Colin wants to marry you.”

I sat up, resting back on my elbows. “What? When did he say that?”

“He didn’t actually say those exact words, but I know he wants to.”

I lay back down. “He doesn’t wanna marry me, Brittany.”
 

“I asked him if he loves you and he said that he does and always has.”

“Yeah, well, that doesn’t mean he wants to get married. And why are you asking him stuff like that?”

“Because I’m your sister. I’m trying to figure out what the guy’s intentions are.” Brittany laughed, which made me laugh.

“So what exactly
are
his intentions?”

“I didn’t ask him that specifically. But you’re all he talks about. And it’s obvious that he doesn’t want anyone else but you. It’s kind of weird, really. I mean, he’s kind of young to be deciding that, right? You’d think he’d wanna date other people.”

“Sometimes the right person comes along at the wrong time.”
 

“Hey, is that a country song?”
 

I laughed. “I don’t know. Probably.”

“So if he asked you, would you say yes?”
 

“If who asked what?”

“Sam, just answer the question.”

“Would I marry Colin? Like, right now? No. I’m too young.”

“Hmmm, okay. Good to know.”

“What does that mean? Are you not telling me something?”

“I’m tired. I’m going to sleep.”

“Brittany? What did you mean by that? Did Colin say—”

“Goodnight, Sam.” Brittany rolled on her side and covered her head with the blanket.

He’s not thinking of proposing, I thought. Brittany’s just trying to stir up trouble. Make me think things that aren’t true. But then again, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. Knowing that I could be dead in two years could prompt Colin to act. The idea of it made me anxious. I wasn’t ready to be a bride.

The next morning, Erik was back on the porch working on his code. Jack was sitting at the dining room table typing on the laptop and talking to himself. Brittany slept in, not seeing a need to get up. Colin was in the kitchen making breakfast.
 

“Hey, Sam. I’m making eggs. You want some?”

“Yeah, sounds good. Did everyone else eat?”

“No. Jack and Erik are too busy to eat. They’ve been working since dawn. Erik probably slept for three hours. He’s obsessed with cracking that code. Where’s Brittany?”

“She’s sleeping in. Hey, what did you talk about with Brittany yesterday?”

Colin stopped scrambling the eggs. “Not much. Why? Did she say something?”

“Um, a few things, but she tends to exaggerate. Never mind.”
 

Colin divided the eggs onto two plates and we went to sit at the table with Jack. Suddenly the porch door swung open and Erik raced inside.

“I’ve got it! I know what the code says!”

“So what does it say?” Jack moved his computer aside.

Erik put a sheet of paper on the table so everyone could see. It read, “Superior Genetics Project: Origin of Foreign Nucleobases.”

Jack grabbed the piece of paper. “Origin of foreign nucleobases? Erik, are you sure you decoded this correctly?”

“Yes, I went back and checked it and rechecked it. It was a really complex code. After I figured out which numbers stood for which letters, I had to figure out the right sequence. And then the sequence had to be reordered.”

Jack kept staring at the paper as if doing so would change what it said. “It can’t be. This is too easy. How could it be that the very thing we’re looking for is right here on this disk? Of all the places this could have ended up, it ends up here? At Paul’s house?”

He got quiet and a worried look came across his face. “What’s wrong, Dad,” Erik asked. “What are you thinking?”

“GlobalLife would never want the information on this file to get out. And if it did get out, they’d want to know where it was and who had it. So I’m wondering if this file has some type of hidden locator device built into it that goes off when you open it.”
 

“But the file came from that Dan guy. I thought you and Paul knew him,” I said.
 

“Yes, and he was a good guy. I’m probably being overly cautious.” Jack thought for a moment. “Well, if there’s even a chance that the disk has the answers we’re looking for, then I have to risk opening it. I just can’t believe that the information about those base pairs is what’s on this thing. Maybe luck is finally coming our way.”

“I wouldn’t say that just yet, Dad,” Erik said. “Why don’t you open the file first and then we’ll see.”

“I’m hoping I can. I’ve been working on this for hours, and everything I thought would work hasn’t. So now I need to get creative.”
 

“Then we’ll leave you alone so you can get back to work.” Erik got up. “Sam, let’s go out back and work on some more stuff. Maybe we should practice getting those scenarios running in your head again.”

“That’s my least favorite ability. Let’s practice something else,” I suggested, thinking of how that ability hadn’t helped me much in the past. Also, in order to get the scenarios running, my body had to release a high level of stress hormones and I really didn’t want to feel stressed today.

“What are Colin and I supposed to do all day?” Brittany was finally up and dressed. She came over to the table.

“I’ve got an idea.” Jack glanced up from the computer. “Erik, you and Sam work on listening to Brittany’s and Colin’s thoughts from different places and different distances. It will be good practice for both of you.”

Erik headed for the door. “That’s a good idea. Colin? Brittany? You up for that?”
 

“I guess,” Brittany muttered. “But I still don’t like that whole mind-reading thing you guys do.”

We all went outside and Erik gave instructions to Colin and Brittany. “Okay, now just think about whatever you want. Once you get to your spot, yell back at us to let us know you’re there. After two minutes, come back and we’ll try something else.”

Colin went down the hill and into the woods. Brittany followed him, stopping halfway down the hill.

“Ready,” I heard Colin call out.
 

“Me, too,” Brittany yelled.

Erik nodded for us to begin. At first I tried to hear Brittany’s thoughts. I got nothing until about 30 seconds in.
“How could Paul not have a TV? Who doesn’t have a TV? We were dirt poor and Mom still got us a TV. And cable.”

I stopped listening to Brittany and changed my focus to Colin, imagining him in front of me. I could hear his thoughts right away.
“I’ve gotta get some alone time with you, Sam. Maybe we could sneak away for an hour out here in the woods. It would be just like that time we drove out to Baxter Park and you and I—”

“Stop! We’re done!” I yelled, startling Erik. “Time’s up!”

“Are you sure? I think that was only a minute.” Erik checked his watch.

“Nope. Two minutes. Your watch must be slow.” I could feel my face blushing. “Colin. Brittany. We’re done,” I called out to them.

When they were back up the hill, I yanked Colin off to the side. “Why were you thinking those things? You know that Erik could hear you!”

“Oh, I thought you were listening to me and Erik was listening to Brittany.”

“No! We were listening to both of you!”

Colin shrugged. “I don’t care. You’re my girlfriend. Erik knows that. It’s no big deal.”

“Yeah, it
is
a big deal,” I whispered. “Those were private memories. I don’t want him hearing that stuff. I mean Baxter Park? You had to bring that up?”

“We had a good time there.” He smiled, wrapping his arms around my waist. “A
really
good time.”
 

“Yeah, I remember. But that’s between us. I don’t want other people to know. It’s embarrassing.” I tried to pull away but he wouldn’t let me.

“Okay. I won’t think that stuff anymore. Well, at least not when
he’s
listening in.” Colin leaned down and whispered to me. “So what about my offer? Do you want to get some alone time later?”

“I don’t know. We’ll see how the day goes.” I couldn’t believe Colin could think about making out with everything going on. That was the last thing on my mind.
 

“You guys ready to try something else?” Erik asked. He didn’t act weird, so maybe he hadn’t heard Colin’s thoughts, or at least not all of them.

“I want to try this mind-reading thing.” Brittany went up to Erik. “I want to see for myself what it’s like communicating but not talking.”

“You know that’s not possible, Brittany,” I said. “Only Erik and I can do that.”

“But we could pretend, just for fun. Come on,” Brittany urged. “It won’t take long. I’m tired of everything being so serious. Can’t we have a break?”

“Okay. What are you suggesting?” Erik asked.

“Well, it could be like when we were kids. You know that telephone game where you whisper stuff to people? Except instead of doing that, you’ll listen to our thoughts and write down what we say, giving it to the other person.”

It was juvenile and silly, but Erik agreed to it. After all, it would only take a few minutes. Erik would play the role of “mind messenger,” listening to their thoughts and delivering the written messages back and forth.

Erik asked Brittany to pick the topic that she and Colin would discuss. “Let’s see. I would like to talk about the latest spring fash—” She stopped, glancing over at me. “On second thought, I would like to discuss travel, a topic I am interested in.”
 

Her attempt to impress Erik sounded completely forced. She blushed and looked down at the ground.

“That’s a good topic,” I said, trying to save her. “So, Brittany, what about travel would you like to discuss?”

She looked up, surprised that nobody was laughing at her. “Um, well, I would like to talk about Paris. I’ve always wanted to go there.”

“Okay,” Erik said. “Then let’s pretend Colin is a Parisian and you’re asking him about his culture.”
 

“And, Sam, don’t listen in,” Brittany ordered. “Only Erik can.”

“Why?” She ignored me, so I went and got a pen and some paper for Erik to write the messages. Then I sat off to the side and watched.

The conversation began. Erik listened to Brittany’s questions about Paris, then wrote them down and gave them to Colin. Then Erik listened to Colin and wrote his responses down, giving them to Brittany. It continued back and forth. After a few minutes, Erik was doubled over in laughter. Soon Brittany was laughing, too.
 

“You guys are done. Now what’s so funny?” I asked.

“Colin. He was hilarious,” Erik said. “At first, he tried to think with a French accent. That was funny enough. And then you should have heard his answers to Brittany. Well, they’re all written down so you can read them, but they’re even funnier with the accent. Colin, you should be a comedian, man.”
 

“And that part when you said—” Brittany was laughing so hard she couldn’t finish.
 

Colin’s sense of humor and quick wit were one of the many reasons people liked him. It had obviously won over Erik and Brittany.

“Well, I guess we should get serious again. See that shed over there?” Erik pointed to a small wooden structure at the far end of the backyard. “You guys go in there and start thinking really fast, like you’re in danger. Jump from one thought to another. The thoughts don’t even need to relate to each other.”

Brittany made a face. “I’m not going in that shed. There’s probably snakes and rats in there.”

“I’ll keep them away from you,” Colin assured her as he led her to the shed.

“Sam, you go inside the house and see if you can hear their thoughts,” Erik instructed. “That way, we’ll see if you can hear through several walls. I’ll stay out here.”

“Oh, sure. Give me the hard stuff.”

“I’m being easy on you today,” he said as I walked back to the house. “I didn’t even ask you about Baxter Park.”

I could feel him smiling. I went in the kitchen, ignoring Erik’s comment.
 

“Okay, start now,” I heard Erik yell from outside.

I listened for any thoughts from Brittany or Erik. Thirty seconds passed. Then a minute. Still nothing. After another minute, I heard a few words from Colin, but then he cut out again.
 

I went outside to find Erik. “I hardly got anything. I guess it doesn’t work with all the walls in the way.”

Colin and Brittany came back over by Erik and me.
 

“It didn’t work for me either,” Erik said. “I only got a few words. That’s really weird. You two think about something right now. Sam and I will try again with you next to us.”