Izzy Newton and the S.M.A.R.T. Squad Read online

  “The school should hand out free hot chocolate,” said Charlie, “to defrost us.”

  “Yeah, and, Izzy, you can play ice hockey right here in the hallway,” joked Allie as she shut her locker door. “These puddles’ll freeze any second now.”

  As she and Charlie laughed at Allie’s joke, Izzy saw that Gina was passing their lockers. Gina was walking very quickly, bent forward as if she were eager to be the first student to reach the stairs. Suddenly, right by Allie’s locker, Gina slid on the treacherous wet floor and lost her balance.

  “Careful!” cried Allie. She reached out to steady Gina, but when she grabbed Gina’s arm, Gina’s water bottle fell out of her hand and onto the floor with a clang. Then it rolled away down the hall and was kicked, tripped over, and soon hopelessly lost in the tangle of students’ feet.

  Gina wrenched her arm free and frowned at Allie. “Thanks,” she said sarcastically.

  “Sorry,” Allie apologized. “It was an accident.”

  “I bet,” said Gina. “No wonder Marie told me your nickname is Allie Oops.”

  “Not ‘oops,’ ” Allie began. “Just one ‘oop.’ And I said I was sorry! You—”

  But Gina rushed away before Allie finished.

  Izzy, Charlie, and Allie looked at each other in dismay.

  “That went well,” said Allie, obviously meaning the opposite.

  Suddenly, a deafening roar rocked the school. Students were clapping, stamping their feet, and cheering:

  Cool!

  Oh, man!

  Wow!

  Rad!

  Totally, totally cool!

  “What is it?” asked Izzy.

  She and Charlie and Allie followed the crowd, and then they saw why everyone was cheering: The entire stairwell was ablaze with lights. Someone had taped strings of icicle lights to the wall. On the staircase to the left, the tiny bulbs lit one after another in a series that dripped down. Behind the lights, there were huge arrows pointing down that were painted on long sheets of poster paper. On the staircase to the right, huge painted arrows pointed up, and icicle lights lit one after another in a series going up.

  Izzy beamed. “An ‘Up’ staircase and a ‘Down’ staircase, with lights and arrows to remind us without words,” she said. “Oh, this is The Best.”

  “Somebody beat us to fixing the stair problem,” said Allie.

  “Yeah, but I’ve never been gladder to be beaten in a race,” said Charlie. “Whoever did this is brilliant.”

  “I know who did it,” said Izzy.

  “Who?” gasped Charlie and Allie. “How do you know?”

  Izzy pointed toward the painted arrows. “That’s phosphorescent paint,” she said.

  “Like on Marie’s shoes!” said Allie.

  Izzy nodded.

  “Ahhh, so that’s what the principal was saying to Marie and Gina,” said Charlie. “He was giving them permission, but just one chance, to solve the staircase problem.”

  “Their plan’s really working, too,” said Izzy. “Everyone is going up one staircase and down the other. Come on! Let’s follow the lights!”

  Going up the illuminated stairs was fun, even though when she reached the top, Izzy had to go to Forensics. Luckily, Ms. Martinez asked students to stand and state their speech topics in alphabetical order according to the first letter of their last names. They got only as far as Amin Farud. Izzy figured if the recitations continued at that pace, she’d be able to slide under the radar on Thursday, too. She’d have all weekend and next Monday to think up a topic before they got as far as “N.”

  Later at lunch, Izzy said, “Marie is a genius, isn’t she? We should ask her to help us with the cold school problem.”

  “Why bother?” said Charlie, pouring kombucha tea—a green liquid that looked like algae—out of her thermos and into her cup. “It’s not like you to ignore all the evidence, Izzy. And all the evidence indicates that she’ll say no. Asking her will be a flop.”

  “Speaking of flops,” said Allie. “It looks—and feels—like our hypothesis about the thermostat is a flop, too.” She turned on her tablet to show Izzy and Charlie her results. “I put a wireless thermometer in my locker and connected it to the Wi-Fi. Then I made up a program—”

  “Way to go, Allie!” Izzy interrupted happily. “Looks like all that practice with computer games paid off!”

  “Totally,” said Allie. “As I was saying, I made up a program to track the temperature of the school building, and my data show that the problem doesn’t go away when it’s dark, rainy, cloudy, and sunless like it is today. So heat from the sun shining on the thermostat is NOT the cause of the air-conditioning problem.”

  “Who needs a computer program?” asked Charlie. “My numb fingers tell me the same thing.” She used her homemade pretzel stick to point first to her eyes and then to her free hand. “I can see that it’s gray and rainy and I can feel that the air-conditioning is on. That means the sun isn’t fooling the thermostat. Something else must be making it all wonky.” She bit off the end of her pretzel and sighed with discouragement as she concluded, “That shoots our hypothesis down.”

  “It’s only our first hypothesis,” said Izzy. “I’ll record our results.” She completed the entry:

  Make an Observation: The school is too cold.

  Form a Question: Why is the air-conditioning/heating system malfunctioning?

  Form a Hypothesis: The thermostat registers high temperatures because it is located in direct sunlight.

  Conduct an Experiment: Observe what happens when there is no sunlight shining on the thermostat.

  Analyze the Data and Draw a Conclusion: Even on a gray, rainy day with no sunshine, the air conditioner is on, so the sun is NOT fooling the thermostat.

  Allie looked over her shoulder and heaved a big sigh.

  “Never mind,” said Izzy. “Don’t get all bummed out yet. I’ve already thought of another hypothesis.”

  Allie and Charlie burst out laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” asked Izzy.

  “You are!” said Allie. “Once you get going, you’re like a steam engine or something. You’re unstoppable.”

  “Well,” said Izzy, laughing now, too. “I’m just like Newton’s first law: ‘An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion.’ So here’s what I need you to do, Allie. Can you look online for some aerial photos of the school building? Then we can see what section of the roof the air-conditioner condenser and exhaust fans are on.”

  It took Allie only a second to find satellite photos of the school on her tablet and zoom in on the condensers and fans on the roof above the auditorium.

  “But I don’t get it,” said Charlie. “What good does this photo do us?”

  “The air-conditioning units could be broken and the reason for all these problems,” Izzy replied.

  “But wouldn’t the repair people have figured that out already?” Charlie asked.

  “Well, if they did figure it out, they obviously didn’t fix it because it’s still freezing in this building,” said Allie.

  “We can’t get to the AC stuff on the roof!” said Charlie. Izzy tilted her head and raised her eyebrows.

  “Oh no,” said Charlie, “you’re not thinking that we’ll somehow climb out onto the roof?”

  “You’re the athlete,” said Allie. “Why are you being such a wimp?”

  “I’m not,” said Charlie. “I’m just being safe and sensible, like my mom told us to be.”

  “Well, don’t worry. We don’t exactly have to climb out onto the roof,” reassured Izzy. “When we had our assembly in the auditorium, I noticed that there was a metal staircase at the back of the stage. I think it leads up to the catwalks. I bet from there we could find stairs up to the roof.”

  “Let’s go!” said Allie, leaping to her feet.

  “No!” said Charlie, thumping her thermos on the table.

  Izzy and Allie both jumped at the noise.

  “Charlie is right,” said Izz
y. “We’d better wait until we have more time and also wait until the school is empty.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” said Charlie. “I meant that this is not a good idea! But what’s the use?” She shook her head and said, half-joking, “Izzy Newton’s in motion and there’s no stopping her.”

  * * *

  A businesslike wind had blown the rain and clouds away later that afternoon. After the last late bus had left, Izzy, Allie, and Charlie met at their lockers. They headed to the auditorium and, looking back to make sure they weren’t seen, slipped backstage.

  “Follow me,” whispered Izzy. The three girls walked past the dressing rooms and up a dark, winding staircase, their footsteps clanging on the metal. They inched their way, heel-toe-heel-toe, along the catwalks high above the stage, climbed up a steep wooden ladder, and found a small room. There was a skylight, but it was so dirt-encrusted that only a little sun came through, so the room was dark until Charlie flicked the light switch to ON. The girls saw some dusty, old-looking boxes slumped against each other in the corners.

  “Look,” said Izzy, pointing. “I bet that door leads out to the roof.”

  “Careful! It’ll be slippery out there,” warned Charlie as Izzy groped in the dark for the door handle.

  With a whoosh, Izzy pushed the door open and stepped outside.

  “Holy moly!” exclaimed Allie, right behind her. “Wow!”

  “Isn’t this The Best?” breathed Izzy.

  “It sure is,” said Charlie, joining them, “especially on such a gorgeous, windy day.”

  The wind whistled through the girls’ clothes, swirled their hair, and made their eyes water. “The wind’s so strong it feels as though it could lift me up into the sky,” said Izzy, enraptured.

  “Sweet,” said Charlie.

  The girls were so exhilarated to be up high that they explored the roof and looked at the view from every direction, forgetting momentarily to inspect the air-conditioner condenser and fans. The roof was flat, covered in tar paper, and there were puddles clogged with clumps of leaves here and there where the roof had sunk in a bit. Izzy saw some collapsed wooden boxes and what looked like abandoned tools. Altogether, the roof looked rather neglected, as if no one went up there very often.

  “You know,” said Izzy eagerly. “I think we’ve discovered something. I think we’ve found a secret hangout for ourselves to go to when we want to get away from the noise and the crowds.”

  “Yes!” agreed Allie. “If it’s raining, we could hang out in that little room we came through just now. We could decorate it—or at least bring pillows to sit on, and maybe some lamps.”

  “We could keep a supply of snacks there!” said Charlie. “And when the weather is nice, we could meet out here on the roof and have picnics. We could have bird feeders and plant grass out here, and have a little garden to grow carrots, or maybe strawberries.”

  “It looks like someone already HAD a garden up here a long time ago,” said Allie, pointing to plant boxes with old, dead stems and leaves in them. “Am I paranoid after the lake, or is that poison ivy? And look! Bees! They’re just lying there, but some of them are still alive.”

  “Bees don’t die until their body temperature is forty-one degrees,” said Charlie. “I know, because my moms keep beehives. But bees can’t fly when the air temperature is below fifty-five degrees, and it’s definitely colder than that today. This is such weird weather for September!”

  “Okay, okay! Enough bee facts!” said Allie. She shuddered. “Even these zombie bees scare me. What if they wake up mad? Come on. Let’s get to work. Let’s look at the air conditioners and stuff.”

  As they walked across the roof, Izzy enthused, “We could have wind turbines, and maybe a telescope for stargazing, and a weather tracking station, and—”

  All of a sudden, there was a huge gust of wind.

  BAM!

  The one door that led back inside slammed shut so hard that it seemed like it would never open again.

  “Oh, no!” cried Izzy. She, Allie, and Charlie tugged on the door handle while the wind whipped their hair into their eyes. But the door was stuck shut. It would not open, no matter how hard the girls pulled.

  “Help!” all three girls yelled—at the door, at the sky, over the edge of the building—even though they knew that yelling was useless. The wind blew their words away, and besides, everyone had left for the day. There was no one around to hear their cries for help.

  The girls huddled in the shelter of the doorway, out of the wind.

  “What are we going to do?” asked Allie, panic rising in her voice. “We could be stuck here all night!”

  “We’ll starve to death,” moaned Charlie. She was always calm unless food-deprived. “Maybe those bees made a honeycomb somewhere up here. I’m already getting weak from hunger.”

  “I’m sure there’s a way down,” said Izzy, with more hope than certainty. “Let’s look for a ladder.”

  The girls fanned out and searched the rooftop. When they met up again, no one had located a ladder, but Charlie had found a hose. “We can loop this around one of the air-conditioner condensers,” she said. “And I’ll shimmy down to the ground.”

  “Wait!” said Izzy. Her heart was thumping, and she could hardly believe what she heard her own voice saying, “I’m the littlest and lightest, so I think I should be the one to shimmy down.”

  “Are you sure?” asked Charlie.

  Izzy grinned. “No, I’m not at all sure,” she admitted. “I’m scared stiff. But you are by far the strongest one of us, so it’ll be best for you to stay here and hold on to the end of the hose, right?”

  Charlie only nodded, but Allie said helpfully, “Pretend it’s the rope swing at the lake. Just remember you’re over land and not water.”

  All three girls burst out into nervous laughter. Then they got to work. And it was hard work, too: The hose was very dirty and very heavy, so it was cumbersome work to haul it over to the air-conditioner condenser, uncoil part of it, wind a few loops around the condenser, and then drag and drop the rest of it over the edge of the roof.

  Charlie and Allie braced their feet against the condenser and took a firm hold on their end of the hose. Izzy, whose arms were already tired and achy from wrestling with the hose, went to the edge of the roof and turned to face Charlie and Allie. She straddled the hose, grabbed it in both trembling hands, and called out, “Bye!”

  “Be careful, Izzy,” cautioned Charlie.

  “Hold on tight,” added Allie.

  Tentatively, Izzy lowered herself over the edge of the roof. This is the stupidest thing I have ever done, she thought. But she had no choice.

  The hose was slick and cold, so she squeezed it between her knees and twisted it around her feet for extra grip. The wind blew her so hard against the bricks of the building that she bounced against them, as if she were rappelling down a rock face. Inch by inch at first, she slid down the hose. She soon realized that she was holding on with too much tension and that if she relaxed her grip her shoulders and legs wouldn’t cramp up and she’d slide more easily. Her pants and jacket were already streaked with dirt, and her hands and face were, too, because she was hugging the hose so closely. A sudden gust thrust her hard against the building, and the impact made her shoulder hurt so much that she yelped. But there was no going back and no stopping. There was only one thing to do: keep going. Izzy grinned to herself, thinking, A body in motion stays in motion, right?

  Gingerly, Izzy lowered herself down the dangling rope past the windows of a second-floor classroom, hoping the wind wouldn’t smack her against the glass hard enough to shatter it. She made it past safely. But there was no relief, because she was instantly dangling in front of the windows of a first-floor classroom.

  Then the weirdest thing of all happened. Izzy looked in the windows and realized she was staring into the science lab—and staring back at her was Marie.

  Izzy was so surprised that she lost her grip for a second and slid sickeningly out
of control till she found a foothold on the outdoor windowsill. Marie, bundled up in her jacket in the cold classroom, was gaping at her, slack-jawed. All Izzy could do was smile a watery smile as she dropped the last few feet to the ground. Her hands were so clenched that it hurt to straighten her fingers. But the pain was nothing in comparison to the worry and confusion: Marie isn’t my friend anymore, so will she tell on me? What was Marie doing in the chemistry lab after school anyway? Why hadn’t she gone home like everyone else?

  Izzy was certainly in no position to wait and wonder. She had to hit the ground running and race to free Allie and Charlie. She flew through the chilly school building and up the dark, twisty path to the little room that led to the roof. Izzy hurled herself at the door, and with all her strength, she forced it open.

  Charlie and Allie had pulled the hose back up onto the roof, coiled it neatly, and put it back where they’d found it. Now they tumbled breathlessly inside. “Thank you,” they gasped, hugging Izzy hard.

  “Are you okay?” asked Charlie.

  “How’d it go?” asked Allie.

  “Fine,” Izzy answered both questions quickly. “But we may be in trouble.”

  “Now what?” asked Charlie.

  Izzy struggled to catch her breath. “Marie saw me,” she said.

  “What?” gasped Charlie in disbelief.

  “Oh, noooo,” swooned Allie. “How?”

  “Marie was in the science lab,” Izzy explained. “And she saw me slide down the hose past the window.”