CHAPTER 23

"Is this what you were talking about?"

John looked at the hulking black box, sitting in the corner of the Student Union bas.e.m.e.nt, next to the eight-lane bowling alley. He peered into the hooded display. A square ball moved slowly across the screen. Grace spun a dial to move her line to hit it, bouncing it against a stack of blocks that disappeared when hit.

"It's Breakout," John said.

"No, it's Electrux," Grace said. "It's got a ball, like you said, and a flipper, paddle thing like you said. So I figured this is what you were talking about."

In his universe, this type of video game would have been laughed out of any arcade. It seemed to have come from the seventies. An arcade and any decent bar would have a bunch of complex video games and pinball machines.

"Nope, this is definitely not pinball. Pinball is mechanical, not electronic."

Henry grunted. He reached out as the ball went past Grace's flipper. She jumped out of the way.

"You play it then!" she cried.

Henry did, racking up a high score. John wasn't too impressed.

"So," Grace said. "It's mechanical. Henry can't find it in the literature."

"Yeah," Henry said.

"It's not like we don't believe you," Grace began.

"I don't care if you believe me," John said, suddenly hot.

"Right," Grace said. "But we want to see one. How it works."

"So, it was some one-of-a-kind thing," John said.

"I think we should do it," Henry said.

"Do what?" John cried.

Grace rolled her eyes at him. "Build a pinball machine, of course."

"What? No!"

"It's not like you can stop us," Grace said. "You already explained it to us. We'll just do it without you if you don't want to do it."

"But-"

They were almost to Benchley Hall. Grace stopped suddenly. "You're going the wrong way," she said. "You live over on the other side of campus."

"I'm meeting... someone," John said. It was his and Casey's first date in a week, since the dance. She'd been busy with a project, and every time he'd called he'd gotten her roommate, and finally he'd just stopped calling, until Casey called him. He felt so... stupid with the emotions running through him.

"Who?" Grace said.

"My... friend," John said. He wasn't even sure how to refer to her. What were they? Friends? A couple, after just three dates?

"Your friend who?" Grace said.

"Casey," John said.

"Oh, Casey," Grace said.

"What does that mean?" John asked.

"Nothing."

John glanced at Henry, who was staring off into the trees.

"John!"

He turned to see Casey walking down the sidewalk behind him. She lunged at him, wrapping her arms around him and kissing his cheek. He felt suddenly embarra.s.sed.

"Hey, Casey," Grace said. "So..."

"Let's go," John said.

"So, what?"

"So, you two dating, I guess? Going steady?"

Casey said nothing, and John felt himself color.

Casey finally said, "Oh, I don't know. He's just a rebound boy, so I doubt there's any hope."

"I'm standing right here!" John cried.

"Well, you should know these things," Casey said with a smile. She kissed him again. "What are you guys doing?"

"Nothing," John said.

"Discussing our pinball project," Grace said.

"Oh, yeah, pinball," Casey said. "That sounds interesting." She looked at John. "Let's go get something to eat. I'm so done with dorm food."

"Right," John said, happy to lead her away from Grace and Henry.

A few dozen meters away, Casey asked, "Explain this pinball thing again?"

John groaned.

They sat across from each other in Giovanni's, sipping milk shakes.

"You perplex me, John Rayburn," Casey said after a few moments of silence.

"Me?"

"Yes. You can dance, which I like. You're smart, which I also like. You have a cool car, which is a small plus. Yet..."

"Yet?"

"Your reaction to the police."

"It's no big deal-"

"Hold on. The police show up, and the worst that would happen is a ticket, and you run us out the door, where we hide in the shadows, then drive off out of there. What gives?"

John shrugged, searching for something to say. "I just don't like that kind of attention."

"What kind? Police kind?"

"Yeah, I don't want to be ha.s.sled by the police."

"Why?"

"I just don't. I had some run-ins with the law, and it's better if I don't have any more," John said, the lie coming off his lips too easily.

" 'Run-ins with the law,' " Casey repeated.

"Yeah."

"That's so Glitzdale, Glitzdale," Casey said with a laugh.

"Glitzdale?"

"Didn't you ever watch that? It was on in the nineties. 'What evil lies in the heart of suburbia?' Olena and Magdelene? You never watched that?"

"I must have missed it," John said. The TV show didn't ring any bells with him at all.

"Did you live in a cave?" Casey asked.

"While I was running from the law," John replied, trying to take a light tone.

Casey laughed.

"No, really?" she said.

John realized she wasn't going to let it go.

"I was a bad boy, you know," John said. "I brewed my own black powder. I wired my own detonators."

"You didn't!"

"I did," John said. He had. Everything up to that point was true, and what he was about to say was almost true. "But I made too much."

"How much?"

"Enough to blow up my dad's barn."

"You didn't!"

"I blew it up. Completely."

"Were there animals inside?"

"No, it was empty, and mostly ruined. I got arrested. And my dad was so mad, he wouldn't bail me out. The local FBI agents investigated, and I got booked for terrorism."

"Terrorism?"

"Yeah, it was a mess. I'm on probation," John said. "For another couple years. So I can't get in trouble, at all."

"Oh," Casey said. "Well, that makes sense."

"Yeah."

"I shouldn't have taken you to the dance," Casey said. "But you didn't tell me!"

"It's embarra.s.sing," John said. "And we were only on our first date."

Casey nodded, grinning. "It's dangerous for you to be out anywhere," she said. "We need to get you to a safe place."

"Like what? Canada?"

"No, I bet Grace would hide you in her closet."

"Stop it!"

"Oh, you've been dealing with this all your life, I bet. Handsome farm boy, a bit of a rebel, explosives expert, smart. You must have to beat the girls away with a stick."

John blushed. "Not really. Not like you."

"A few girls, but mostly boys," Casey said with a grin.

John blushed deeper. "I meant-"

"I know," Casey said. "Now that she knows about us, maybe she can focus on Henry."