July Secret Agent #33

TITLE: The Aspen Experiments
GENRE: Young Adult

I meant to focus on the admissions counselor, but the funky paperweight on her desk kept squirming into my shoe. Shapes get under my skin, in my mouth even. Sometimes when I see a tasty shape, the empty space of a lamp shade, for instance, I roll it around in my mouth imagining the way the curves would feel on my tongue. Sometimes shapes push their way between my toes, like the paperweight. It's a little distracting.

The counselor pushed a thick booklet at me. "Please sign the back of the handbook, now that you know the rules."

I scribbled my name on the back. Who reads those anyway? My sister Carly signed in the Parent/Guardian space, even though she's neither. She checked her watch again as she handed it back.

"Alrighty," the counselor said, "We're set. Come back at three for your class schedule."

While Carly grabbed her purse I allowed myself a moment to hold the paperweight. It was a glass pyramid, full of tiny metal balls. Ball bearings, maybe. They swirled in slow motion as I turned it over, like astronauts drifting in the vacuum of space. It was a really cool paperweight.

Carly and I headed outside to unload my stuff, shivering in the icy wind. Connecticut in January was ridiculously cold. I would need a new word here, like gouge-out-my-eyeballs-with-an-icicle cold. The school buildings were simple red brick. Their shapes slid down my throat like jello squares.