broccoli in her hair.
She looked again. The dress was totally unique. There was an unusual texture to the fabric.
It had to be. She looked again. This was not a standard fairy tale princess. The dress, as she looked closer, was definitely made from lettuce leaves. What she first took for pearl earrings she now saw were peas.
A vegetable princess. She gasped. The goddess of salad! She thought of Inky right away. Hadn’t he said he always loved to draw? And that first day, he wouldn’t let his friend Rungs write on a page from his sketchbook. She could see why. His work was amazing.
No one had ever done anything like this for her. No one had paid that much attention to her. She was not sure what to make of it, but she was definitely enticed by the thoughtful, complex boy behind this game.
The cursor blinked. She’d been ignoring the text box while she took the image in.
Megaland: Do you like it?
Megaland: Is it too odd? Too green? Tell me what you think.
Justagirl: I love it. It’s perfect. My very own Green Goddess.
Chapter 21
Conjecture and Proof
I NKY HADN’T SEEN HER COMING . The conversation lasted for only a moment, but he shuddered from the impact. Amanda, with a shy-girl flush on her cheeks, walked up to his table at the cafeteria, held up a piece of broccoli from her plate and said, “I’ll wear this on my date, along with green pea earrings. Like a Green Goddess.” Then she smiled and walked away.
Inky watched her walk to the center of the cafeteria, his mouth open in disbelief. It was all so deliberate, so awkward, so rehearsed.
He looked at Rungs. “WTF?”
“WTG,” Rungs said slowly, pronouncing each letter. “I think she just asked you out. Way to go.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“Heard it with my own ears. She broke free from her buddy, Hawk, and as good as asked you out.”
“That’s not it,” Inky said.
“I heard her say date.”
“She did not say anything about a date with me,” Inky said to Rungs. “And it’s the other stuff that was really weird.”
“That she’s planning her outfit?”
“I don’t know a lot about fashion, but I’m pretty sure that wearing vegetables is not a thing this year. There is no magazine that’s showing that.” Inky banged the table. “The green pea earrings, the broccoli flower. She got that from one of my drawings.”
“For real?”
“Absolutely. Look.”
Inky opened his notebook, thumbing through the pages so quickly he almost tore one. He stopped at some of the sketches he’d done for the Green Goddess drawing the previous week. Rungs stared at it for awhile.
“OTH, dude, this is off the hook good. But the vegetable dress thing. What’s that about? The core project or something?”
“Or something,” Inky said. “Someone, like Hawk, must’ve got hold of my drawing and shown Amanda. The question is how.”
“Ask Amanda.”
Inky shook his head no. “It’s probably some trap. Hawk put her up to it. And I’m not falling for it.”
“She seems to like you. Ask her.”
“I can’t,” Inky said, lowering his head so his chin was almost to his chest. Talking to girls, being with girls, talking with anyone, in fact, that was normal stuff. But not for him. The grief he felt had turned him to stone. He hated it, but accepted it. That was the way it was now. “I just can’t ask her, all right?”
Rungs was quiet for a moment, then asked, “So how do you think she got the picture?”
“I don’t know. I don’t do that kind of thing. I never even cheated on a math test. But I know that the only time I don’t have my sketchbook is gym.”
“If Hawk cut gym, she coulda gotten into your locker and copied the picture for Amanda.”
Inky nodded.
“But,” Rungs said, “why would she bother?”
“Hawk never forgave me for the cartoon I did of her in middle school. She was all into riding horses out in the Hamptons. I drew her like Lady Godiva, but with a crown and a whip. In a bank vault. It didn’t have
She looked again. The dress was totally unique. There was an unusual texture to the fabric.
It had to be. She looked again. This was not a standard fairy tale princess. The dress, as she looked closer, was definitely made from lettuce leaves. What she first took for pearl earrings she now saw were peas.
A vegetable princess. She gasped. The goddess of salad! She thought of Inky right away. Hadn’t he said he always loved to draw? And that first day, he wouldn’t let his friend Rungs write on a page from his sketchbook. She could see why. His work was amazing.
No one had ever done anything like this for her. No one had paid that much attention to her. She was not sure what to make of it, but she was definitely enticed by the thoughtful, complex boy behind this game.
The cursor blinked. She’d been ignoring the text box while she took the image in.
Megaland: Do you like it?
Megaland: Is it too odd? Too green? Tell me what you think.
Justagirl: I love it. It’s perfect. My very own Green Goddess.
Chapter 21
Conjecture and Proof
I NKY HADN’T SEEN HER COMING . The conversation lasted for only a moment, but he shuddered from the impact. Amanda, with a shy-girl flush on her cheeks, walked up to his table at the cafeteria, held up a piece of broccoli from her plate and said, “I’ll wear this on my date, along with green pea earrings. Like a Green Goddess.” Then she smiled and walked away.
Inky watched her walk to the center of the cafeteria, his mouth open in disbelief. It was all so deliberate, so awkward, so rehearsed.
He looked at Rungs. “WTF?”
“WTG,” Rungs said slowly, pronouncing each letter. “I think she just asked you out. Way to go.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“Heard it with my own ears. She broke free from her buddy, Hawk, and as good as asked you out.”
“That’s not it,” Inky said.
“I heard her say date.”
“She did not say anything about a date with me,” Inky said to Rungs. “And it’s the other stuff that was really weird.”
“That she’s planning her outfit?”
“I don’t know a lot about fashion, but I’m pretty sure that wearing vegetables is not a thing this year. There is no magazine that’s showing that.” Inky banged the table. “The green pea earrings, the broccoli flower. She got that from one of my drawings.”
“For real?”
“Absolutely. Look.”
Inky opened his notebook, thumbing through the pages so quickly he almost tore one. He stopped at some of the sketches he’d done for the Green Goddess drawing the previous week. Rungs stared at it for awhile.
“OTH, dude, this is off the hook good. But the vegetable dress thing. What’s that about? The core project or something?”
“Or something,” Inky said. “Someone, like Hawk, must’ve got hold of my drawing and shown Amanda. The question is how.”
“Ask Amanda.”
Inky shook his head no. “It’s probably some trap. Hawk put her up to it. And I’m not falling for it.”
“She seems to like you. Ask her.”
“I can’t,” Inky said, lowering his head so his chin was almost to his chest. Talking to girls, being with girls, talking with anyone, in fact, that was normal stuff. But not for him. The grief he felt had turned him to stone. He hated it, but accepted it. That was the way it was now. “I just can’t ask her, all right?”
Rungs was quiet for a moment, then asked, “So how do you think she got the picture?”
“I don’t know. I don’t do that kind of thing. I never even cheated on a math test. But I know that the only time I don’t have my sketchbook is gym.”
“If Hawk cut gym, she coulda gotten into your locker and copied the picture for Amanda.”
Inky nodded.
“But,” Rungs said, “why would she bother?”
“Hawk never forgave me for the cartoon I did of her in middle school. She was all into riding horses out in the Hamptons. I drew her like Lady Godiva, but with a crown and a whip. In a bank vault. It didn’t have
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