“No!” said Héctor. “If you think fruit is nothing but alien eggs, why haven’t we seen any aliens yet? Fruit has been around for like . . . a million years or something.”

Taylor narrowed his eyes. “Maybe they already are among us.”

“Sometimes, I don’t think you are from planet Earth,” said Aishah, pointing a colored pencil at Taylor. “How do you think of these things?”

“Maybe you should write them down,” said Héctor. He cleared his throat. “I have a . . . a friend. Who really likes science fiction stories. Maybe they would read them.”

“Well, my stories wouldn’t be science fiction,” said Taylor, hesitant. “They would be history books.”

“Sure,” said Héctor, nodding sympathetically. “They’d still read them, though.”

Taylor smiled and pulled out a notebook from his backpack, then furiously began to scribble things down on the page.

“Who’s your friend?” asked Aishah, as she continued to work on her drawing. “Someone we know?”

When Jackson locked eyes with Héctor, Héctor felt a flash of panic jolt through him. “Oh, someone from my old school,” he lied.

Jackson nodded. “Dope.”

Héctor quickly changed the subject. “Are you working on the project that’s due today, Aishah? Can I see?”

“The artist is not ready to display her work,” she said dramatically. “The artist thinks she needs more time.”

Héctor laughed. “So we’re referring to ourselves in the third person now?”

Aishah raised her chin up. “The artist shall not respond to such rude questions.”

Jackson cackled. “Well, then we must respect the artist.”

She smiled, then passed her sketchbook over to Héctor.

He was not ashamed of the gasp that escaped from him. Aishah was . . . whoa, she was really good. She’d drawn a river scene that looked almost like a photo. There were two kids in the center of it, clearly frolicking in the water, and he could even see tiny droplets on their skin.

“Aishah!” he said. “This is . . . this is what you think needs more time?”

She shrugged. “I dunno. I don’t think my shading techniques are that good.” She pointed to some pine trees on the far side of the river. “See how these look too bright? It makes it seem like the sun is shining from the wrong direction.”

Both Jackson and Taylor were now huddled around the drawing, and all three of them slowly looked up at Aishah.

“Yo, this is . . . ,” Héctor said, then shook his head. “I don’t even know what to say.”

“Seriously,” said Taylor. “Can I hire you to illustrate my alien invasion history book? I can pay you in Capri Sun.”

Aishah couldn’t help but laugh at that. “We’ll talk, Taylor,” she said. “Y’all really think this is good?”

“Yes!” Héctor cried out. “You’re amazing.”