Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind Read online

I chuckled. “Why Bob?”

  “It makes him sound less scary.”

  That made sense. “Okay. So who are all the others you’re with?” I asked Vera.

  “They are my class,” Vera stated simply.

  “Wait, you’re a teacher?” I asked.

  She opened another drawer and peered inside. “Yes, and I had students with me.”

  “So the other aliens here in town are kids?” Charlie asked.

  “Yes, that is correct. And this particular class is … mischievous. They would not listen to me when we arrived on Earth. They all ran off to make trouble.”

  Uh-oh. That didn’t sound good. I still didn’t understand why, out of all the aliens on her planet, my cell phone teleported her class. “Were you in school when it happened?”

  She pulled my training bra out of the drawer and held it up in the air. “What is this?”

  I dashed over and grabbed the bra, stuffing it back in the drawer. Charlie was trying so hard not to laugh, I thought he’d explode.

  “Can we just focus here, Vera?” I said, closing all my dresser drawers. “Where were you when you got teleported?”

  She clasped her four-fingered hands in front of her in a move that looked very teacher-like. “We were on a field trip to a local observatory.”

  Charlie and I shared a look. That sounded familiar.

  Vera continued, “We were playing with some equipment when we were involuntarily brought to this planet by you.”

  Again with the blame. It was an accident! But this was a bigger mess than I’d thought. A group of mischievous alien kids were loose in town, unsupervised, and running around on the greatest field trip of all time.

  “How many kids were with you?” Charlie asked.

  “Six,” she said. “And we call ourselves … ” A bunch of dolphin sounds came from her mouth hole. Apparently the word did not translate.

  Hmm, I thought. We’d need another name for these kids from Vega. “We will call the rest of the kids Vegans.” But as soon as I said it, I realized my mistake. “Oh, wait. That has a meaning in our language.”

  “That is okay,” Vera said. “It translates correctly. We also don’t eat other live beings or their by-products.”

  “Um, okay. We’ll go with that, then.”

  Charlie fidgeted as he sat. “Was the bad alien—er, Bob—part of your class?”

  Vera’s pale blue skin darkened just a tad. “No. But I did see him the night of the field trip. He was skulking around the observatory, looking suspicious.”

  “That was why he got zapped, too,” I said. “He was close by.”

  Charlie scratched at his chin, deep in thought. “Do you have any idea why he’d be hanging around there?”

  Vera bowed her head, which I think was her way of nodding. “His species is known for hating science and all that it stands for.”

  Charlie gasped, as if she’d said someone didn’t like candy.

  Vera continued, “His species has been known to destroy instruments of science.”

  “So he might have been there to ruin the observatory?” I asked.

  “That is my thought, yes,” Vera said.

  “He’d better stay away from our observatory,” said Charlie, with fire in his eyes.

  I thought about the beautiful building and how nice the astronomer, Dr. Maria, had been. I straightened my shoulders. “We have to warn them.”

  After a quick brainstorming session, we decided to tell my parents that Charlie had “forgotten” a notebook in the observatory on the field trip. And it couldn’t wait because we needed it to study together for a test this weekend. We only needed a ride there and back. We’d be super quick. Thankfully, Dad bought our story and agreed to be our chauffeur.

  So I jumped in the shower and quickly got dressed. Then I snuck back into my room and eased open the closet door. Vera was sitting crossed legged on the floor with one of my textbooks open on her lap.

  I tapped on the Alien Invasion app so we’d be able to talk.

  “This one is the same,” Vera said, pointing at the book excitedly. “I need no translation.”

  I looked down and smiled. Math. The universal language.

  “You can read it all you want while I’m gone. I brought you a glass of water.” I pointed to the glass sitting on my desk. “Is there any food you would like?” I mean, I was craving tacos, but I didn’t know if that would be up an alien’s alley.

  “I only require water and citrus-based vitamin C.”

  I paused. “Like oranges?”

  She paused a moment. “Yes, that translates into something I would enjoy eating.”

  “Okay, I think we have some downstairs. I’ll be back.”

  I darted down the stairs and into the kitchen. Mom always kept a big bowl of fresh fruit on the counter. I usually ignored it but was glad to find it full now. I grabbed an orange from the top.

  “You made a quick recovery,” Mom said.

  I spun around. “I think I was just tired and needed some extra sleep. I’m growing and all that.”

  Mom balanced an empty laundry basket on her hip. “Okay, well, I’m glad you’re up and about. While Dad drives you to the observatory, I’m going to do some laundry.”

  Panic gripped me. “Not mine!”

  Mom looked at me like I’d grown an extra head. “Why not?”

  “My room is too messy right now,” I said, trying my best to seem nonchalant. Nope, not hiding an alien in there. “I don’t have all my dirty clothes in the hamper yet. I’ll organize this afternoon.”

  “Oh, well, okay,” Mom said, but she still looked at me weirdly.

  Dad sauntered into the kitchen and grabbed his keys from the counter. “Ready to go?”

  “Yeah, I just have to”— bring this orange to the alien in my room —“get my phone. I left it upstairs.”

  I quickly gave Vera the orange and closed my door, wishing it had a lock. I could only hope that Mom stayed out of there and Vera stayed hidden.

  Charlie was waiting for us in the driveway. “Thanks for the ride, Mr. Grayson!”

  “No problem,” my dad said, starting the engine. “How was your game this morning?”

  “We were winning,” Charlie began. “And then we weren’t.”

  The way he stared down at his shoes made me think that things took a turn for the worse when Robbie had to leave the game and Charlie was put in. I really wished I’d been there for him. But, you know, aliens in town and all that.

  Dad and Charlie talked about football for most of the ride. It was so strange for Charlie to be this sports dude now. At least my dad seemed to be enjoying it. I did my best to smile and try to act like I wasn’t completely bored by the conversation. Luckily, it wasn’t too long before we were pulling into the parking lot of the observatory.

  “We’ll be quick!” I called, practically jumping out of my dad’s car.

  Charlie followed, catching up with me as I reached the main door and found it locked. “What are we going to do?”

  I frowned. “There are other cars here. It must be closed to the public today but open for work. Let’s knock.”

  I rapped my knuckles on the door, gently at first. When I got no answer, I ramped it up, banging on the glass with my fist.

  Finally, a shadow came toward us. I tensed, worried for a split second that it could be Bob, his hands full of alien dynamite, ready to destroy the place. But I let out a breath when I saw that it was Dr. Maria, the exact person we’d wanted to see.

  But she didn’t seem as happy to see us.

  She turned the lock on the door and opened it, just enough for her face to peek out. “What are you doing here?”

  “Um,” Charlie began. “We need to come inside and talk to you.”

  Dr. Maria shook her head. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

  “Why not?” I asked.

  Dr. Maria looked surprised. “You didn’t hear? Wolcott Middle School is banned from the observatory. You’re not allowed through this door e
ver again.”

  “Why?” I asked again. “I know some kids pushed each other there at the end, but—”

  Dr. Maria cut in. “There was pushing and shoving. Our multi-million dollar telescope got banged around. Someone stomped on the planetary weight scale and broke it.” Her face turned down in disgust. “And there were strange-looking boogers smeared on our meteorite.”

  Wow, I had no idea my class had been that bad. But still, it wasn’t Charlie and me. “But we weren’t the kids who misbehaved!” I argued.

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “You bumped into the telescope and nearly wrecked my device with your phone.”

  Okay, point taken. Though that wasn’t my fault. I was pushed.

  “Listen,” Charlie tried. “This is important. We need to talk to you about your machine and real aliens here on Earth. There’s a bad—”

  Dr. Maria put up a hand and shook her head. “I’m really sorry, kids. I truly am. I’m glad you’re so interested, but I simply can’t speak with you. It’s a liability issue. I could lose my job.”

  I looked at Charlie and shook my head. We had to back off. I’d already accidentally summoned aliens to town. I didn’t need to get Dr. Maria fired, too. I started to walk away, shoulders sagging.

  “One quick question,” Charlie said, pleading. “Please?”

  Dr. Maria heaved a sigh and glanced over her shoulder. “Okay, but hurry.”

  “Have you seen anyone or anything hanging around since last night? Acting suspicious?”

  She smirked, like we were two crazy kids with overactive imaginations. “No. Only you two. Now go home.”

  With mixed feelings, I walked back to the car. I was frustrated that Dr. Maria wouldn’t help us or even talk to us, really. But the good news was that Bob hadn’t been spotted. And since I’d seen him in my backyard last night, he was probably nowhere near the observatory. He was closer to home.

  My stomach turned as I realized that probably wasn’t good news after all.

  We got back to the car, notebook-less, and told my dad that it wasn’t there. Then Charlie “remembered” leaving it in a drawer at home. I hated lying to my dad, who was being really cool about everything. But there are levels of cool, and allowing me to keep an alien in my closet was probably one level above what my dad would put up with.

  Dad parked the car and went into the house while Charlie and I stayed outside to game-plan.

  “So what now?” Charlie asked.

  “I have no idea,” I said, frustration leaking into my voice. “All I know is that I brought those aliens here, so it’s my responsibility to see them home.”

  “See them … ” Charlie repeated slowly. “I wonder if everyone can see them? Or just people who play Alien Invasion?”

  “Hmm. I don’t know.” It was a good question. When Monsters Unleashed had accidentally unleashed monsters into town, only people who’d played the game could see them. But things seemed different this time. These weren’t video-game aliens. They were real aliens who’d been living real lives before they were teleported here.

  Charlie’s older brother, Jason, came out of their house and started pacing the front yard. Jason was only two years older, but he was double our size. He had a buzz cut and shoulders as wide as a doorway, which together made him look pretty intimidating. But I’d watched him nearly pee himself as a monster held him six feet in the air, so that took some of the fear away.

  Now, he walked toward us, running his fingers along the back of his head like he was searching for buried treasure.

  “Um, what are you doing?” Charlie asked.

  “Looking for a bump on my head,” Jason answered.

  “Did you hit your head?” I asked.

  “Not that I can remember, but I think I have a concussion. Maybe there was a play in practice that was rougher than I remember.”

  Charlie frowned. “If you don’t remember getting hurt, why do you think you have a concussion?”

  Jason stopped rubbing his head and stared at us. “You have to promise not to tell Mom. She’ll just freak out and make me get another MRI, and I’ve had, like, twelve of those this year. It’s getting boring.”

  Charlie nodded. “I promise.”

  Jason took a deep breath. “I thought I saw an alien in our backyard.”

  My heart skipped a beat in my chest. Had Vera run away? Or had my mom found her? Oh, gosh, what happened?

  “An alien?” Charlie repeated, keeping his voice level.

  “Yeah. It was blue and had three legs and a really bad haircut.”

  All the breath I’d been holding came out in a whoosh. Vera was still safely inside. Jason had seen Bob. Which was both good and bad.

  Charlie’s finger shot into the air. “I think I have it figured out!”

  “You do?” Jason said.

  “You do?” I said, even louder. I didn’t want him to tell Jason about our little alien problem quite yet. I didn’t want anyone to know until we had the situation under control.

  “Who are we playing against next week?” Charlie said. “Runswick, right?”

  Jason’s eyes lit up. “The Runswick Martians!” He shook his head. “Those jerks. They’re dressing up and trying to scare our best players.” He pointed at himself, in case the implication wasn’t clear.

  I had to hold back a giggle. I’d always thought that Runswick had the dumbest team name ever. Though, as the Wolcott Devils, we didn’t exactly get points for creativity. But Charlie’s quick thinking had saved us in the moment. It was a relief to know he and I were on the same page about telling Jason—that we were still on the same page about something.

  Jason took off, grumbling about revenge.

  “We’ll get our revenge on the field next week!” Charlie called.

  When we were alone again, I turned to Charlie. “Well, now we know two things.”

  “One,” Charlie said. “Anyone can see the aliens.”

  “And two,” I added. “Bob isn’t interested in the observatory. Whatever he wants is around here.”

  Charlie nodded somberly. Then he glanced at the time on his phone. “I have to go.”

  “Really?” I said, surprised. “You don’t want to come see Vera again?” I mean, for a science geek like Charlie, having a real life alien next door must have felt like opportunity of a lifetime.

  “I would, but I have an appointment.” He smiled huge. “My braces are coming off.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know that was happening.” Poor Charlie had had braces on his teeth for nearly three years, so I should’ve been delighted for him to finally get them off. But instead I felt strange. Like this was yet another change coming at me too quickly. And I’d noticed he’d grown a bit, too. He was finally taller than I was. Charlie was changing inside and out.

  “Text me later,” he said, running off.

  “Hey!” I called out. “Got any science jokes for me before you go?”

  He stopped and shrugged. “I don’t really think those up anymore.”

  I sulked back into my house and upstairs to my room. Vera was safely in my closet, on the last page of my math book, orange peels littering the floor. I opened the Alien Invasion app and asked, “Everything good here?”

  “Yes,” Vera’s robotic translation said. “No problems. But I would like another math textbook.”

  I sank onto the end of my bed. “Okay, I’ll put that on the list with more oranges and a bigger brain to figure out how to help you get home.”

  Vera frowned and climbed out of the closet, flinging a shoe out of her way. “Bex, my friend. You seem sad. Did Bob destroy your favorite observatory?”

  “No. He wasn’t there. Charlie’s brother actually saw him skulking around the backyard again.”

  Vera’s face darkened. “He is planning something. He is no good.”

  A knock came on the door. My dad’s voice called, “Can I come in?”

  Vera’s neck eyes bulged in fear.

  “No!” I cried. “Not right now.”

  �
�Why not?” Dad asked, suspicion in his voice.

  Because I have an alien in my room really wasn’t a non-suspicious answer. But a thought occurred to me. Something he would understand.

  “I need to ‘decompress’ from our trip to the observatory,” I said, using his favorite word.

  “Oh.” He sounded kind of stunned. “Sure. Of course.”

  Vera nodded at me, impressed, then headed back to her spot in the closet.

  I smiled huge. It worked! But I couldn’t keep my parents out of my room forever. And this problem seemed to be lasting longer than I’d originally thought it would. Vera couldn’t stay here too much longer. I’d have to figure out another solution.

  A shoe that had apparently gotten in Vera’s way launched past my head and hit the wall behind me.

  And that solution had to come soon.

  After I had dinner with my parents and snuck Vera a couple more oranges, I spent the rest of the night in my room with her, playing with the Alien Invasion game, trying to find any way that it could send her home. The game functions still worked normally. It was strange to show Vera, an actual alien, how the point of the game was to shoot fictional aliens, though I think she understood that it wasn’t real, and I’d never hurt her.

  I tossed and turned overnight as nightmare after nightmare tortured my brain. Vera in danger from people. Bob trying to kill me again. The little Vegans getting hurt. I woke up the next morning covered in sweat.

  After my shower and a quick breakfast, I heard a knock on the front door. The last person I expected to see stood there, arms crossed, foot tapping, an expectant look on her face.

  “Good morning, Willa,” I said sarcastically. “How are you on this lovely day?”

  “What did you and Charlie do now?” she snapped. “And why didn’t you tell me?”

  I coughed into my hand. “Wh-what are you talking about?”

  She threw her arms up into the air. “You let the monsters out again! I thought we all agreed that we wouldn’t play that game anymore.”

  Thankfully my parents were at the grocery store. I opened the door wide and let Willa in. She followed me to the kitchen.

  “Monsters?” I asked, legitimately confused. “What monsters? They’re not loose again.”