The Astronomically Grand Plan by Rie Neal

Author:Rie Neal
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin
Published: 2022-07-05T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7 ROBOT JUNKYARD ON THE KITCHEN TABLE

The house smelled like garlic and spices when Mom and I got home from Shooting Stars.

I followed the smell. Dad was stirring a pot in the kitchen. I wrapped my arms around him.

“Hey there, Astrogirl.” He hugged me back. “I’m making my famous pasta sauce.” He nodded at my sister. “We’re going to need the table soon, Stella Bella.”

Robot parts covered the table.

“Mm-hmm.” Stella frowned, trying to get two pieces apart.

I plopped into the chair across from her. “Is that the robot arm?”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “I’m using fewer pieces now. But I’m still having the same problem. I keep running out of this kind.” She held up a long, skinny plastic stick. “I just need one more like this, five inches long. Ugh!” She pushed the arm away. “Hey, how was your first Astro Mission?”

Across the kitchen, Dad hummed while he stirred.

“Fine.”

Stella raised an eyebrow. “Just ‘fine’? The Astrid I know doesn’t use words like that to talk about space stuff.”

I sighed. “Hallie changed her mind. She doesn’t want to join.”

“Oh no!” Stella said. “You guys have been planning this for forever.”

“For one year and eleven months,” I said. “But I’m still trying to talk her into doing it. Once I tell her how fun it is, I’m sure she’ll quit Petite Picassos.”

“Hmm.”

“So far, I’ve been working with this other kid—Veejay. But I don’t think he wants to work with me very much.”

Stella squinted at her robot arm. “Well, what’s your backup plan?”

“What?”

She sifted through a pile of loose tiny parts. “Hallie might not change her mind, right? So, what will you do if she doesn’t?”

“It’s always been Hallie and me,” I said. “It’s in the Astronomically Grand Plan. I can’t make it through the next Astro Mission without her. Ms. Ruiz said it would be a tough one.”

“Two points?”

“Three.”

“Yikes!” Stella pushed a tiny piece into the arm. “But you’ll be fine, Astrid. Sometimes, to get what you want, you have to change.”

I thought about the ways Stella had changed. She loved robots now. She was always texting her friends. She went to a different school. And she wore her hair down instead of in a ponytail. But we were still sisters. She still loved me. Maybe that would never change.

“Think about it like a scientist,” she continued. “The problem is that you need a friend, right? Well, it’s like Ms. Ruiz always says: most problems have more than one solution.”

“Like I could make friends with Veejay instead?”

“Or both Veejay and Hallie.” Stella tried to force a different piece in. “This is never going to fit! I’m going to have to buy new parts!”

I thought about what Stella had said. I studied the robot arm, then picked up two short pieces.

“That won’t work,” she said.

But I stuck them together. Then I pulled a hair tie off Stella’s wrist. I wrapped it around them. Then I put the piece in place. “Well, maybe there’s more than one solution.”

Stella’s eyes lit up. She attached the ends.

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