He didn't look up from the screen. "My sister named her. I wanted to call her Darth.
Actually, technically speaking, her full name is Darth Daisy, but we never really called
her that."
"Darth Daisy! That's funny! Hi, Darth Daisy!" I said to the dog, who rolled onto her back
again for me to rub her tummy.
"Okay, this one is the one," said August, pointing to a picture on the screen of a bunch
of potatoes with wires poking out of them. "How to build an organic battery made of
potatoes. Now, that's cool. It says here you could power a lamp with it. We could call it
the Spud Lamp or something. What do you think?"
"Dude, that sounds way too hard. You know I suck at science."
"Shut up, you do not."
"Yeah I do! I got a fifty-four on my last test. I suck at science!"
"No you don't! And that was only because we were still fighting and I wasn't helping
you. I can help you now. This is a good project, Jack. We've got to do it."
"Fine, whatever." I shrugged.
Just then there was a knock on the door. A teenage girl with long dark wavy hair poked
her head inside the door. She wasn't expecting to see me.
"Oh, hey," she said to both of us.
"Hey, Via," said August, looking back at the computer screen. "Via, this is Jack. Jack,
that's Via."
"Hey," I said, nodding hello.
"Hey," she said, looking at me carefully. I knew the second Auggie said my name that
he had told her about the stuff I had said about him. I could tell from the way she
looked at me. In fact, the way she looked at me made me think she remembered me
from that day at Carvel on Amesfort Avenue all those years ago.
"Auggie, I have a friend I want you to meet, okay?" she said. "He's coming over in a few
minutes."
"Is he your new boyfriend ?" August teased.
Via kicked the bottom of his chair. "Just be nice," she said, and left the room.
"Dude, your sister's hot," I said.