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“I’ve got something to tell you....” he began.
“I just don’tunderstand,” Cassidy fussed. “He’s been there less than a week. What could he have done in just a couple of days?”
Wisely, Ty kept his opinion to himself. “Beats me” seemed a safe response.
“I mean, he’s only ten. How bad can it be?”
Considering how well his answer had worked last time, he decided to try it again. “Beats me,” he repeated.
“And they want to see you, too?”
“Beats me.”
“What?”
“Oh. Imean, yeah, they want to see me, too.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “I assume we’ll find out when we get there.”
The minute they stepped into the office, they were ushered into a conference room. From the amount of gawking going on, Ty had a really bad feeling about what had happened. Afew minutes later, the principal walked in with a woman he introduced as Mrs. Lopez, the seventh-grade science teacher.
“Thank you for coming so promptly,” the principal said, offering his hand first to Cassidy and then to Ty. “I’m Kyle Peters.”
“Has Hutch done something wrong?” Cassidy burst out, clearly unable to contain herself a minute longer. The principal and Mrs. Lopez exchanged troubled glances and she groaned. “I know that look. What is it this time? Did he blow up the lab? I’ll replace the equipment, Ipromise. It’s just that he’s so smart and so curious—”
“The lab’s fine, Ms. Lonigan,” Mrs. Lopez hastened to assureher.
“And... uh...all the school’s computers work? They don’t do anything...odd?”
Alarmed, they stared at Cassidy. “Not as far as we’re aware.”
“Oh, okay, then.” She beamed in relief. “Well. Iguess that just leaves the snake.”
The principal’s hands tightened around the folder he was holding. “What snake is that?”
“That coral snake he picked up the other day. Ican explain. You see—”
“Er, no.” Mr. Peters blanched. “This has nothing to do with snakes.”
“Honey, why don’t you let them tell us what the problem is instead of scaring these nice people by guessing?” Ty suggested.
“Oh. All right. But if it’s about that time he turned everyone blue—”
“Cassidy!”
With a weak smile, she subsided. “Sorry.”
“It’s about his science project,” Mrs. Lopez hastened to say. “His former school told us he’d been assigned one and since it fit in with our current curriculum, Iasked to see it.”
Cassidy looked blank. “A science project? That’s it?” She offered a huge, relieved grin. “What’s he want to do this year? Gene splicing? Level five viruses? Cure cancer?”
“Not exactly.” Mr. Peters frowned. “I’ve sent someone to bring Hutch to the office so we can discuss this with him, as well. But first I thought we’d fill you in. Idon’t quite know how to say this other than to come right out and tell you. He wants to marry you off to Mr. Merrick. It’s a... alove experiment, Iguess you’d call it.”
Ty cursed beneath his breath. Of course. That explained all the cute little stunts. Love... logic-style. “I’m gonna kill that kid.”
“I gather you don’t approve,” Mr. Peterssaid.
