But then her phone pings, and she scrambles to take it out of her handbag because she’s waiting for the results. Laura came third, I came eighth, and Pete came twenty-second. The top ten kids get to compete in the next round to go to sectionals, but we did well enough so we can compete as a team, too. Ms. Kaminski looks very excited. Laura is there; she puts her book down to find out the results but doesn’t really respond in any way except to nod, and after a minute she starts reading again. But we can’t find Pete—I can’t see Mabley, either.

I say, “I’ll go look for him.”

The afternoon Number Sense test is at one o’clock, which is in twenty minutes.

“Okay,” Ms. Kaminski says. “You’ve got a watch, right? Meet me back here at ten to one,” and she wanders off, too, with her head going from side to side. She has to keep adjusting her clothes when she walks.

There are some emergency exit double doors at the back of the gym, but they haven’t been properly closed, so I figure the alarm probably won’t go off. Anyway, Pete is just outside, having lunch with Mabley. He’s lying on his back in the grass and Mabley is sitting cross-legged and picking bits of grass and throwing them at him, which he doesn’t seem to notice.

“We’re not supposed to be outside.”

That’s the first thing I tell them, which makes me feel stupid—like a teacher’s pet or something.

“Oh my God.” Pete pretends to be scared or not even pretends really, but just enough to make me feel dumb. He sits up suddenly.

“Ms. Kaminski is looking for you. The next test is at one o’clock.”

“I don’t really feel like taking any more tests.” He sweeps some of the pieces of grass off his shirt. “I’m not a calculator.”

“We got the results back from this morning.”

“So how’d you do?” It’s like he thinks that’s why I told him, so I can brag.

“Not great. Like I told you, I didn’t even answer all the questions.”

“So how’d you do?” He’s looking at me properly now.

“I came eighth.”

He’s still looking at me, smiling a little. “How’d I do?”

“You can ask Ms. Kaminski.”

“But I bet you know.”

I feel embarrassed in front of Mabley. I feel like—I want her to know that I did better than Pete, but I’m annoyed that Laura did better than me, and I also feel like there’s something not nice about the fact that I want to tell Pete how he did, which makes me look bad.

“She told all of us. Laura came third.”

“And what about me?” He’s still smiling.

“I don’t remember.”

“Yes, you do,” Pete says.

“I don’t know. Something like twenty, but I don’t know.” It’s hard not to sound like I’m rubbing it in. There’s this thing my voice does, which even I can hear. The best thing is just to keep talking. “The next test is at one o’clock. We have to go. Ms. Kaminski is looking for you.”