“I’ll have to remember that next time I’m hungry,” I said, wondering if Elliot knew about this yet. The lights flickered, signaling it was time for lights-out, and I made a mental note to tell Elliot about it at breakfast the next day.

But as it turned out, breakfast wasn’t on the agenda for the day.

“Good morning,” Elliot said the second I walked out of the dorm the next morning. I jumped in surprise, my brain not fully awake yet despite the shower I’d just taken.

“Geez,” I said, putting a hand to the cold stone wall to steady myself. “Don’t ever do that again.”

“Sorry,” he said, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waited for me to get myself together.

“What’s all this?” I asked, gesturing at the bouncing. Was he smiling? He was! And it wasn’t one of his awkward smiles that always made him look like he was trying to keep a spider in his mouth by clenching his teeth together. It was a real smile. This was getting weirder and weirder.

“I have an idea,” he said. “Come on.” Without waiting for me to respond, he turned and jogged down the hall. I watched him go, debating whether I could get away with going back into my dorm and hiding in bed. Perky Elliot was just plain bizarre. I stood there a second longer before deciding that he’d probably find me anyway, so I ran after him.

The hallway quickly opened up to the atrium and I stopped, not sure which way he’d gone. A shrill whistle came from the left, and I looked over to see Elliot already sitting in one of the simulation chairs.

“What’s going on?” I asked as I sat down.

“We are studying,” he said as he quickly helped me attach the simulation probes to my arms and legs. “I have an idea, and Callaway said I could give it a go. You hate reading, right? The words move?”

“And?” I prompted.

“And I decided we should try out something new,” he said. “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, right? You’ve tried studying the normal way your whole life, and it has never worked. What do you have to lose by trying it my way?”

“Nothing,” I said as my stomach grumbled. “I just wish you’d waited until after breakfast.”

“Stop complaining,” Elliot said, reaching over to stick the last probe onto my forehead. Apparently I still didn’t look convinced, because he rolled his eyes. “Worst-case scenario, you can always activate your cuffs and leave,” he said.

“Worst-case scenario,” I repeated, wondering what he had up his sleeve. “You know,” I said, “it’s too bad we don’t have team names, because that would have been a solid choice for us.”