Connect the Stars Read Free Page B

know Aaron is just doing what he’s good at, and he’s the whole reason we’ve gotten this far, but he answers ninety-eight percent of the questions.”
    She was right. That number was pretty much smack on the money, based on our successful run through the city, county, and regional championships. Since everything is stored so conveniently in my brain, it usually comes out really fast. So ninety-eight percent of the time, I hit the buzzer before anybody, even my own teammates. Who were actually pretty good, when they got a chance to answer.
    â€œWhat should we do, team?” asked Mrs. Dunaway, sitting back in her seat with a thoughtful look on her face. She did this kind of thing in class too. She was one of those teachers who let students have a crack at problems before she weighs in. Which I always appreciated, even though it makes more work for us.
    Andrea just shook her head. Hardy scratched his ear. Jimmy shrugged.
    â€œAaron?” said Mrs. Dunaway. “You’re the team captain.”
    See, this was the kind of question I was talking about before, when I said sometimes things are not so simple.Figuring out what to tell Andrea wasn’t like remembering nineteen digits of  or the capital of Kazakhstan. Which is Astana. I could see how she felt, but what should I say? I had no idea. Then a thought came to me. “Rafael Belliard of the Atlanta Braves,” I told Andrea, “had a batting average of .000 in the 1995 World Series, but the BRAVES STILL WON!”
    That didn’t sound quite like what I was after.
    Andrea got a funny look on her face.
    â€œScott Pollard of the Boston Celtics won an NBA championship ring in 2008, even though he didn’t play a single minute of a single game,” I tried.
    That didn’t sound right either. What I was trying to get across was—I didn’t know what I was trying to get across!
    â€œAre you saying I’m Scott Pollard?” asked Andrea a little bit stiffly. “Is that supposed to make me—”
    â€œWe’re a team, Andrea!” interrupted Jimmy. “We all worked hard this season. If we win, every one of us deserves the championship as much as the others, no matter how many questions we answer in the finals, or don’t.”
    Yep. That was it. Jimmy had hit the nail on the head. Andrea seemed to feel better. Why couldn’t I ever think of things like this?
    â€œThank you, Jimmy,” said Mrs. Dunaway, shuffling hernotecards. “And now. More geology. The pressure at the center of the Earth is—”
    Ding. “Three million six hundred thousand atmospheres,” I said.
    â€œWhile we’re on the topic of geology,” said Mrs. Dunaway, scanning through her cards, “what do you know about minerals? Just, I mean, a general overview, so we can go on to other topics?”
    â€œThe aforementioned pressure extremes have created many of the minerals valued by people of today,” I began.
    â€œAforementioned!” cried Hardy.
    â€œExamples include apatite, turquoise, gypsum, dolomite, quartz, talc, garnet, molybdenum, and moolooite,” I added.
    â€œMoolooite! Yeah!” hooted Jimmy giving me a high five.
    â€œNot to mention diamonds,” I concluded.
    â€œWe’re gonna cream those guys!” added Andrea, perking up.
    â€œYou probably are,” said Mrs. Dunaway quietly.
    â€œAwesome!” said Principal DuPlessy, who was riding up front with the driver. He turned around to address us. “That kid is smart. Two thousand eight hundred degrees!”
    â€œ Ten thousand eight hundred degrees,” I corrected. “Fahrenheit.”
    â€œWhatever,” said the principal, digging out his cell phone. “I’m calling Knotts. And this time I’m betting him a—a—a head shave!” Mr. Knotts was the principal of Philbrick Middle School. Principal DuPlessy had bet Mr. Knotts something increasingly dire every year for