Ungifted (25 page)

Authors: Gordon Korman

“Who's saying that?”

Another member of the tank crew came into view, pointing out at us. “Look, Brad, it's that kid from YouTube! The one your baby puked on!”

Noah seemed pleased to be recognized. “Nice tank. How's Afghanistan?”

“Brad, it's Donovan,” I piped up. “We've got something to show you.”

Brad squinted through the goggles. “Is Katie there? Is it happening?”

Katie leaned in front of the laptop. “Hi, Brad. It won't be long now.”

The tank commander was excited. “Turn the computer! I want to watch!”

Noah swiveled the laptop, giving Brad a view of the sterile white walls of the clinic, and also of Chloe, Abigail, Latrell, Jacey, and Kevin. At last, the image stopped on Dr. Orsini in his surgical mask.

The other soldier opened his eyes wide. “What's going on, Brad? Didn't this happen last week? Don't tell me they're going back in for the twin they missed!”

Noah made a final adjustment, providing a view of the patientâBeatrice the chow chow, fat and round, about to litter.

“Beatrice!” Brad cried, his voice choked with emotion. “It's Daddy! Hang in there, girl!”

And as his tank jounced along the Afghan terrain, Lieutenant Patterson watched, tears squeezing out from under the goggles, as his beloved pet deposited six tiny puppies onto the operating table. Compared to the four hours Katie had spent in labor, Beatrice had it easy: The whole thing was over in ninety seconds.

“They make dogs really fast,” commented Noah.

“They're beautiful, Brad,” said Katie in a husky voice. “You missed Tina being born, but I'm so glad you got to see these little guys.”

Noah spoke into the laptop's condenser mic. “Your signal is getting weaker. Are you near a mountain or something?”

“That's classified, kid,” Brad replied. “I don't know who you are, but I owe you. Anybody who can Skype a tank in action has really got it going on.”

“And I loved you in âRobots Behaving Badly,'” the other soldier added admiringly.

Then, with a burst of static, Afghanistan went dark.

“Transmission lost,” Noah reported. “Should I hack into another satellite?”

“No,” Katie decided. “Leave them alone. They're working.”

That was how our Human Growth and Development class turned into Canine Growth and Developmentâat least for one afternoon. The decision was made to keep a puppy for baby Tina, and find good homes for the others. Chloe adopted one dog. I was kind of glad about that. It gave me an excuse to stay in touch with herâyou know, just to keep an eye on how Beatrice's kid was getting along.

Noah fit in better than I expected at Hardcastle Middle School. Some of that might have been because I recruited the Daniels, and the three of us formed a bodyguard unit to keep him from being wedgied to death. Who knows what would have happened without us. We liked him, and Sanderson was convinced he was a master of “Dorkido,” a secret martial art practiced only by geniuses. But Noah
was
the biggest dweeb who'd ever walked the face of the earth. And while he insisted he could be wrong again at any moment, it hadn't happened so far.

By special request from Oz, both Noah and I traveled by minibus to the Academy three times a week for robotics. The plan was approved by Dr. Schultz himself, who was in a good mood because the insurance company had finally paid up and the gym was being repaired. What was left of Atlas had joined its celestial sphere in the administration building's subbasement. I hoped I didn't have to polish that piece too. I still had five and half hours of community service to go.

Dr. Schultz had put boxes in all the schools, soliciting suggestions for a new statue. I filled out a card for a
Titanic
memorialâa quiet nod to my ancestor and fellow survivor, James.

Noah didn't mind spending a little time back at the Academy because I was going too. And I loved the change of scenery, and the chance to hang out and ply my joystick in the lab. I never confronted Abigail about how she had cheated for me on the retest. She definitely still hated me, but I had a sense that my reading on her personal grudge-o-meter had gone down a little. Maybe she was more comfortable now that all the cards were on the table. She was still smart, and I was officially ungiftedâexcept for robotics, part-time.

We were working on Heavy Metal, our robot for next year's competition. We'd be in the high school division then, and hopefully no one would remember whose entry had busted up the middle school meet. Tin Man's rampage would live forever in infamy, but maybe the team behind him would fade into the background. Soon the riot would belong to Tin Man alone, and all that remained would be the question, What made the robot go berserk like that?

Hey, I had
that
answer. It was the same wild impulse that could make a guy whack a statue in the butt, setting off a chain of events that reshaped the worldâor at least my little corner of it. It was the part of me that ancestry.com couldn't explain. I was working to control it, but sooner or later it would show up again and get me into twice as much trouble.

You don't have to be gifted to know that.

About the Author

GORDON KORMAN
has written more than seventy middle-grade and teen novels. Favorites include the
New York Times
bestselling
THE 39 CLUES: CAHILLS VS. VESPERS BOOK ONE: THE MEDUSA PLOT; POP; SCHOOLED; NO MORE DEAD DOGS; SON OF THE MOB
; and
BORN TO ROCK
. Gordon lives with his family on Long Island, New York. You can visit him online at www.gordonkorman.com.

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Credits

Cover art Â© 2012 by Jonny Duddle
Cover design by Sarah Hoy

Copyright

Balzer + Bray is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Ungifted

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Korman, Gordon.

Ungifted / Gordon Korman. â 1st ed.

p.Â Â Â cm.

Summary: Due to an administrative mix-up, troublemaker Donovan Curtis is sent to the Academy of Scholastic Distinction, a special school for gifted and talented students, after pulling a major prank at middle school.

ISBN 978-0-06-174266-8 (trade bdg.)

ISBN 978-0-06-174268-2 (lib. bdg.)

ISBN 978-0-06-224007-1 (Scholastic ed.)

[1. BehaviorâFiction. 2. Middle schoolsâFiction. 3. SchoolsâFiction. 4. Gifted childrenâFiction. 5. RobotsâFiction. 6. RoboticsâFiction. 7. Humorous stories.] I. Title.