Penny had disappeared. The judges evaporated into the background.
Students milled about, tearing down their projects, oblivious that something horribly, terribly wrong had happened.
“Why, Peter?”
He turned. Katie's face was a mask of pain. Except for her eyes. They burned
and sparked.
“Why did you tell them that?”
“I…I couldn't lie, Katie.” It was all he had.
She cocked her head. Normally it was cute, but now it was an ugly gesture
of bitterness. “No, you just threw me under the bus. Was it Penny's idea or yours? Heaven forbid an artist would win the big prize.”
“What? No, that's not it at all. I don't care about the prize.”
She nodded furiously. “Right. Why would you? You don't need this
scholarship. You can get a dozen scholarships for science. Every school offers them. They practically hand them out to anyone.” She stopped, standing, fuming.
“That's not fair, Katie.”
She put her hands on her hips and took a step towards him. “Not fair? That's funny, Peter, really funny. I'll tell you what's not fair. It's not fair you guys with the stupid rockets and tadpoles get the scholarship every year, just because stupid Nitrovex is a stupid chemical company.” She took another step towards him, finger pointing at his chest. “For once, just once, I had a chance, and you
blew it for me.”
Peter stepped back, surprised at the fury in Katie's eyes, his hands reaching
for a table, trying to steady himself. Instead, his heel landed on something hard.
His foot rolled forwards and he fell backward. He'd stepped on the stupid metal
pipe he'd knocked off earlier.
Arms flailing, he grabbed for the edge of his table and twirled clumsily into
his experiment. Pieces crashed together. He swung an arm in a last attempt at balance, glancing off a red lever. Pipes hissed and hoses snaked as the largest tube fell forward and pressure released.
It was slow-motion in his brain but over in a horrible instant. A heavy white
pipe hissed and shot from the table, wobbling directly towards Katie's sculpture.
Peter fell backward onto the floor, face down, but the sound of the
destruction was worse than actually seeing it. Clashing and tinkling glass, metal
dropping, objects clattering to the floor.
And above it all, Katie's high-pitched wail of disbelief. “My mobile! You destroy my life and now my art too!”
* * *
Present Day
The Mustang's tires squealed as he took a turn too tightly onto Park Road which
led to the high school. The new high school. Not the old one where everything
had gone so wrong with Katie.
No, Kate. That was twelve years ago. And things seemed to have worked out
well for her. It looked like she loved her job, and she must be good at if they were giving her a shot at this Nitrovex deal. His online snooping of her company
a year or so ago had shown a pretty big organization.
Yes, he nodded to himself. Kate Brady was fine. More than fine, now. Doing
well in Chicago, nice clothes, nice watch, Armani sunglasses. He wouldn't have
pegged her for that, but, whatever.
None the worse for wear. Better, even, successful. She looked good, she sounded good. She looked good. He pushed some hair out of his face. He could
still smell some of her perfume on his hand. Must be from the handle when he opened her door.
