Chapter Two

Francine held Nova’s hand as they walked up the stairs to Jefferson Middle School, a rectangular two-story building with a brick façade and windows that stretched from ceiling to floor on either side of centered double doors. Nova hugged NASA Bear with her free arm. Billy led the way, talking the entire time.

“You’ll love it, Nova. All our kids went to Jefferson from fifth grade through eighth. That was back before they moved the fifth graders into the elementary school building to make way for more specials. Do you know about specials?”

Nova made her “Mm” sound, which the Wests were learning to recognize as a yes. Some of her old schools called classes specials if they were taught by teachers who were not the classroom teacher. Other schools called them electives or extras or enrichment courses.

“Here they offer all the regulars—music, art, gym—but they’ve also got home economics for the girls, and woodshop for the boys, and once a week they have X-Block.”

Nova cocked her head to the side.

“I know what you’re thinking,” said Billy. “What the heck is X-Block?”

Nova smiled. That was what she was thinking—minus “the heck.”

“X-Block is the most special of the specials. You can sign up for a fun class you want and you get to pick a new one each quarter. They started that when our son John was in sixth grade. It was his idea. He wrote up a formal proposal and presented it to the teachers during a faculty meeting. We were so proud of him…”

Billy’s voice cracked. Francine picked up where he left off.

“…for taking the initiative. Johnny was a shy, sweet boy who always wanted to learn new things but had trouble making friends. This helped him meet kids with similar interests.”

“Now he’s a recreation director,” said Billy. “Planning activities for at-risk kids!” He gave Nova’s shoulder a squeeze. She pulled away.

Francine continued the explanation.

“During X-Block, kids can decide whether they want to do band, chorus, soccer, softball, archery, book club, dance…We talked to Mrs. Pierce; she’s going to be your special education teacher, and she said kids who are more—more like you—they usually stay in the special ed room during X-Block, but we thought…well…”

“We thought you’d prefer something fun!” Billy finished. “They have a planetarium here and offer astronomy this semester, so we requested that for you. Do you know about astronomy? Have you ever been inside a planetarium?”

Nova tapped her right middle finger and her forefinger rapidly against her chin. She hadn’t been in a planetarium before, but of course she knew all about astronomy. The study of stars, planets, moons, comets, galaxies…Bridget had taught her lots about astronomy.

“Mm,” she answered finally, even though the answer was technically half yes, half no.