The Avery Shaw Experiment - By Kelly Oram Page 0,2

speaking together last semester. She asked me to fill Miles’s spot. She said I have charisma and a natural talent for persuasion.”

I couldn’t talk for a full sixty seconds. He was speaking English, but I still couldn’t make sense of his words. “You joined the debate team?”

He nodded.

“But they meet at the same time as science club.”

“I know.” Aiden’s gaze dropped to his lap as if he could no longer stand to look at me. “I quit science club. I already emailed Mr. Walden about it.”

“You quit?” My voice jumped so many octaves that it broke halfway through the word quit. It had the unpleasant effect of making me sound like a mouse. “But you’re my co-president!”

“You’re better with all the science stuff than me anyway.”

“Yeah, but I’m not like, a leader. That’s why the gang voted us both. Together. I need you.”

Aiden winced and then forcefully shook his head. “You don’t.”

“Fine,” I said, even though it felt very, very not fine. “But even if you quit, you could still do the science fair with me. Everyone’s already partnered up. I’ll have to do it alone.”

Aiden finally met my eyes. He looked even guiltier now. “I won’t have time. Mindy said debate gets pretty intense. Plus with all the honors courses we have this semester? The science fair is a lot of work.”

“I know! And we’ve already waited until January to get started. I won’t be able to do it by myself. I’ll have to drop out.”

“No, you won’t,” Aiden insisted. “You’re amazing, Avery. You’ll find a way. You always do. And hey, without me bringing you down, you’ll probably win first place for once.”

“Shut up! I will not! I will fall apart without you!”

Aiden sighed and took my hand in his. “Aves,” he said slowly. “That’s also sort of why I said yes to Mindy. I think I need a little space for awhile.”

For just a brief moment, time stopped . . . like a heart that skipped a beat. When it started back up, my life had been forever altered.

“Space? What do you mean?” I knew what he meant. I was just praying I was wrong because, otherwise, he’d just ripped my heart in two and I couldn’t deal. “Are you saying you don’t want to be my friend anymore?”

Aiden quickly shook his head. “Of course not. We’ll always be friends. You know we will. But, Aves, we spend more time together than conjoined twins. I think it would be good for us both to maybe start hanging out with other people sometimes, you know? Like, separately. And . . .” Another shrug, and painful swallow. “I don’t want to celebrate our birthdays together this year. I kind of want to do my own thing.”

At that last request there was a gasp and the sound of shattering glass in the kitchen. I was grateful for the distraction until I realized that Cheryl was standing there practically comatose staring at us with a hand over her mouth and tears in her eyes. The gasp had been hers, and the glass of water she’d been holding was now on the ground around her bare feet in as many tiny pieces as my heart was.

“Mom!” Aiden jumped up and started picking up the larger pieces of glass.

I went to get a dish towel and the broom, but my movements were robotic. My body was on autopilot because my brain was pretty much dead from shock.

I simply couldn’t understand how this had happened. Was the earth suddenly tilted off its axis? Were the boundaries of space and time blurring, causing reality to splinter off into alternate universes? Was Park City, Utah, secretly the Devil’s Gate and I’d fallen into hell without knowing it?

I handed Aiden the towel and then swept up the remaining glass, but when I went to dump the dustpan, I accidentally ran into a wall of solid, sweaty muscles. “Sorry,” I muttered to Grayson.

He was standing there shifting his eyes between his brother and me, with unswallowed chocolate-chip cookie bits threatening to fall out of his gaping mouth.

“Can you get out of the way? You’re blocking the trash can.”

This made him jump into action. “Oh, right. Sorry.” He stepped aside and fled the kitchen muttering something about needing to take a shower.

I watched him go because it was easier than facing his brother.

Form behind me, Aiden’s fingers gently grabbed onto mine. “Aves.”

His soft voice made my eyes burn. He tugged lightly on my hand, but I couldn’t turn around