PrologueThe sleek blue helicopter swooped in low overthe top of McNair Elementary School. Fromthe helicopter''s window, Jordan Waters couldclearly see a partially deflated volleyball near one edgeof the roof."Do you see that?" he asked."Yeah, I bet that''s the one Dylan kicked up there duringrecess last week," Justin Grant said.Jordan started to ask if the pilot could land on the roofso they could retrieve the ball but thought better about it."Is that Vivie and Ally on the playground?" CatherineDuchesne asked. The two sisters were twins and neverwent anywhere without the other."I think so," Stephanie Lewis said.
She waved her handfrantically as the two girls looked up. The twins wavedback and stared as the helicopter settled gently onto thegrassy soccer field."Thanks so much for the helicopter ride!" Jordan saidenthusiastically with an ear-to-ear grin on his face."Don''t mention it, Jordan," Willard Howell said with asmile almost as wide. "It was the least I could do."The four friends had helped the eccentric billionaireout of a tricky situation. To return the favor, Howell hadagreed to grant Jordan''s wish of a ride in his helicopter.Once the rotors had spun down, Howell hopped out ofthe helicopter and helped the four to the ground.
"You''re okay making it home from here?" he asked."Sure, Mr. Howell," Justin answered. "It''s only a coupleof blocks.""Well, I want to thank each of you again," he said,solemnly shaking each of their hands. "You know I stillowe you one, right?""We''ll keep that in mind, Mr. Howell," Jordan said."I mean it.
I''m only a phone call away," Howell said.He glanced down at his watch. "I''ve got to get going now.Thanks again!"Howell climbed back into the helicopter. The pilotwaited until the kids were a safe distance away beforespinning up the rotors. The helicopter rose gracefully inthe air, pivoted into the wind, and then sped away. Thefour stared after it until it was just a blue speck in thedistance."Is that your helicopter?" Vivie asked.
She and her sisterhad come up behind them as the helicopter flew away.Stephanie laughed. "No, Ally, that''s not ours.""I''m Vivie.""Are you sure?" Stephanie asked. She was convincedshe had finally figured out how to tell the twins apart."I''m pretty sure," Vivie said."Yeah," Ally added, "she''s definitely Vivie.
""Sorry about that," Stephanie said."It''s okay. It happens all the time," Ally said. "Even ourparents get it wrong sometimes.""Are you sure that''s not your helicopter?" Vivie askedagain."I''m afraid not," Jordan said. "Maybe someday, butnot today.""If you ever get one, will you take us for a ride?" Allyasked.
"Sure," Jordan answered."Okay," Ally said. "We''ve got to go." She and her sisterturned and walked away."I''ve got to get home myself," Justin said."Me too," Stephanie agreed."Okay, but we''re still meeting on Saturday afterStephanie''s soccer game, right?" Jordan asked. "Thedistrict math competition is coming up and we need tobe prepared.
""Oh, we''ll be ready," Catherine said. "Nothing canstand in our way this year."She smiled, not knowing their team and their veryfriendships would soon be tested to the breaking point.Chapter 1Stephanie used her right foot to settle a sharpcross field pass from Riley Clark, quickly shiftedthe soccer ball to her left foot to keep it awayfrom the nearest defender, then drilled a shot into theupper left-hand corner of the goal. She smiled as sheheard a squeal of delight from the sideline. She recognizedthe voice of Catherine, her best friend, and gave a smallnod of recognition in her direction."Great shot, Stephanie!" Riley said as she caught upto her teammate. The two exchanged a high five.
"It wouldn''t have happened without your amazingpass," Stephanie replied."True," Riley said. "That was an amazing pass."Stephanie grinned and put an arm over Riley''sshoulders as they walked toward midfield. "The onlything more amazing than that pass is your modesty."Riley nodded solemnly. "You''re right, Stephanie. Whenyou get past my incredible soccer skills, good looks, andgreat sense of humor, I think it''s my modesty that reallystands out.
"Stephanie burst into laughter while Riley tried to keepa straight face."You two want to join us?" the ref called out."Oh, sorry!" Stephanie yelled and hustled to midfieldfor the kickoff.Two minutes later, the ref blew his whistle to signal theend of the game. Stephanie glanced over at the scoreboard. Her team had won eight to zero in a game thatsaw her score four times and assist on two other goals.Her teammates swarmed around her as she walked offthe field."Great game, Stephanie!""Way to go, Steph!""Amazing game, Stephanie!"Her face turned a bright red in embarrassment.
Sheshrugged her shoulders in response to the compliments."Good game, Stephanie," said Logan Clark, her coachand Riley''s dad. "I hope you saved some of that fancyfootwork for the state tournament.""It was a great team effort," Stephanie said."Like my amazing pass," Riley chimed in, drawing alook from her dad which quickly turned to a grin as hesaw her earnest expression."There''s not much to talk about," the coach addressedthe team. "Great passing, and a lot of good shots. Let''shear it for the offense.
"The girls all applauded and several clapped Stephanieon the back."And let''s not forget the defense. Shutting out a goodteam like this isn''t easy. Good job of sticking to youropponents and clogging up the passing lanes. Let''s hearit for the defense."The team clapped again."And finally, let''s not forget about a couple of reallynice saves by Sydney!"Sydney Maine took a dramatic deep bow while herteammates cheered."So a great game across the board," Coach Clark said.
"I guess you already know, but this win assures us a spotin the state tournament. Pick up one of the packets withall the details and make sure it gets into your parents''hands. Okay, that does it for me. Get out of here andenjoy the rest of your weekend."Stephanie gathered her stuff and walked over towhere Catherine was folding up her lawn chair."Great game, Stephanie!" Catherine said. "That lastgoal happened so fast I almost missed it.""It was fun.
That may have been one of the best gamesI''ve ever played," Stephanie admitted. "I hope I can playthat well in the state tournament."She glanced down at the stack of papers in her hands.The color drained from her face."What''s wrong?" asked Catherine with concern."It''s the tournament.""What about it?""It''s on the same weekend as the district mathtournament," Stephanie said."Oh, no! Are you sure?"Stephanie handed the papers to Catherine.
Her friend''sface fell as she confirmed the date."Justin is going to go through the roof," Stephaniesaid. "All that work we''ve done is going to be wasted."The Math Kids had won the school math contest infourth grade but lost in the finals of the districtcompetition. When they advanced from fourth to fifthgrade, they found that Mr. Miller, their new teacher, hatedmath. But after the four helped keep Mr. Miller''s son fromgoing to jail, he had allowed them to form their own mathgroup to continue working toward avenging their loss inthe district math competition.
Now all the studying, all the weekends working onincreasingly difficult math problems, all the dreams ofholding up that trophy looked like they were all fornothing."You''re right," Catherine said glumly, "Justin is goingto go through the roof.""You''ve got one to your left!" Justin cried out."Got him," Jordan replied. "You cover the right sideand I''ll move up along this ridge." He grimaced andscanned left and right as he inched his way forward."Incoming!"There was a thunderous boom as an alien grenadeblew up near Jordan''s character. His health points wentquickly to zero and Jordan dropped his controller infrustration.
"That''s the third time I''ve fallen for that trap," he said."It looks completely clear and then bam, I''m dead. Maybenext time I''ll just plow right down the middle of the valleyinstead.""Nah, you tried that too," Justin said. "Next time let''stry hugging the right side and double-teaming the aliensentries."Jordan and Justin both loved to play video games,although Justin was hands down the better of the two.Both Justin and Jordan got a weekly allowance for doingchores around their houses. While Jordan spent hismoney as soon as he received it, Justin carefully savedevery cent until he had enough money to buy the latestgame.
This new one was the toughest they had played."I''m actually glad this one is going to take a while tobeat," Justin said. "Andromeda Attack was way too easy.""You think maybe we should try an easier setting?"Jordan asked."No way," his best friend protested. "We can beat this,I know it.""Okay, let''s restart and give it another shot then.""I''ve got a better idea," Justin said.
"Let''s take a breakand tackle that problem Mr. Miller gave us.""You don''t want to wait for Stephanie and Catherine?""I think they''re still at Stephanie''s soccer game. Wecan at least get a start on it."For Jordan and Justin, shooting aliens was one of thebest ways to spend a Saturday afternoon. The other wassolving math problems, the more difficult the better.Justin dug into his overloaded backpack. Jordanwatched in amusement as his friend pulled out threegolf balls, a realistic rubber snake, four books, a handfulof rubber bands, a roll of cellophane tape, and a pair ofbroken sunglasses before he finally retrieved a pile ofpapers.
"Why do you always have so much stuff in yourbackpack?" Jordan asked."I like to be prepared.""Prepared for what?""Anything," Justin replied.Jordan looked skeptical. "It looks like random junkto me.""Random?" Justin asked. "No way. This is all carefullyplanned out.
""Okay, so what are the golf balls for?" Jordan asked."Defense against rabid animals," Justin replied. "Youjust peg the animal in the head, and it will take off.""Why three balls?""I''m not that good a shot."Jordan laughed. "Okay, and what about the snake?""That''s easy," Justin replied. "That''s to keep mice fromsneaking.