The Invisible Enemy by Marthe Jocelyn Page A

his new friend. Or maybe he wanted to protect me from beingembarrassed. Or maybe J. P. had it all wrong because he didn’t know Hubert like I did. Or maybe—oh, make my brain stop! I couldn’t think about this on the subway!
    “Where are we going anyway?” asked Jean-Pierre as the train left Seventy-second Street.
    “We’re going to a bookstore to do research.” Well, it was sort of true. I stood up. Ours was the next stop.
    “Research?”
    “For our project,” said Hubert, catching on.
    “Our science project,” I said. “For extra credit.”
    “What is the topic?” asked Jean-Pierre.
    “It’s a study of the—ah—” Hubert was stumped.
    “Particle Evaporation,” I said. “The Dynamics of Disappearing Particles and Other Phenomenons of Altering the Boundaries of Perception.”
    Alyssa snorted. I leaned on her.
    The boys stared at me in bewilderment.
    “Right, Hubert?”
    “Uh, yeah, uh-huh.”
    I heard a quiet
snap and a
shuffle close by.It sounded exactly as though Alyssa was putting on the latex gloves.
    “Don’t you dare,” I whispered.
    “Lighten up,” she whispered back. “It’s research.”

20 • Jody’s
New Recipe
    A ll the way to Barnes & Noble, I tried to walk tall, taking deep breaths. First things first. We had to fix Alyssa before she churned up more trouble.
    “Hubert,” I said in a hurried whisper. “Go to the science section. Write down titles and stuff, just to keep J. P. busy. We’ll meet you by the doors in twenty minutes. And keep chewing!”
    Alyssa trailed after me up the escalator.
    “I don’t like this, Billie,” she said, barely lowering her voice. “Does all that disgusting gum that Hubert is chewing have anything to do with me? And what about J. P. asking you out? You said—”
    I buried my face in my bag. One thing I was definitely not discussing with Alyssa was boys. “Alyssa, in five minutes we’re meeting Jody. She’s the Powder inventor. She’ll make everything normal so you can go home. Until then, keep your hands in your pockets and shut up. We’re in a bookstore. It’s practically a library!”
    In the junior section, they have a little story-time stage draped with baby-blue curtains, as if Mother Goose is going to turn up any minute to put on a show.
    Jody was sitting cross-legged on her jacket in the middle of the platform, reading
Curious George Gets a Job.
I hadn’t seen her for months, but she looked just the same, like an overgrown elf with big ears and floppy hair and braces and an odd, orange shirt with RODNEY embroidered on the pocket. She comes across as way younger than sixteen, but she doesn’t seem to care.
    “Hey!” she said, looking up as we arrived. “Don’t you love Curious George? I always loved him. I wanted to marry the Man in the Yellow Hat and live with Curious George and have escapades.
Escapades
is such a good word, don’tyou think? I thought it would be much more exciting than living with my parents.”
    “This
is the person who’s supposed to save my life?” said Alyssa. “I should have known. With Billie running the show, the most I could expect was a freak.”
    “Alyssa! Shh! Jody is the smartest person you’ll ever meet.”
    Jody’s eyes locked with mine and then danced over to where Alyssa’s voice had come from. I checked behind me quickly, making sure no shoppers were nearby.
    “Hmm,” said Jody. “A nervous subject, eh? I guess we’d better get on with it. We don’t want this situation to linger any longer than necessary! Did you bring the gum, Billie?”
    “Hubert has it. He’s meeting us downstairs.”
    Jody pulled on a fuzzy plaid jacket, making her look like an elfin lumberjack. She herded us toward the escalators.
    “I’ve checked out the ladies’ room here, but I don’t think it’s going to work. The sinks are tiny, and the toilets would clog up in a second. We really do need a bathtub. Got any ideas?”
    She didn’t wait for an answer.
    “Full immersion is always most