Read Online The Mysterious Case of the Allbright Academy by Diane Stanley - Free Book Online Page A

sunlight coming in through the window at the end of the hall had just the slightest tinge of blue—crystal blue. And everything was sharp and clear, the way distant mountains look out west, where the air is dry.
    As I pushed the DOWN button and waited for theelevator, a sudden surge of pride and well-being washed over me. I had built a robot from scratch. What other surprising things might I be capable of?
    I knocked on the door of Room 117 and heard Henry Chow rushing to open it. Judging by the crash, he was in such a hurry that he’d knocked over a chair.
    â€œHenry, meet Tin Man,” I said, and lifted my robot out of the box.
    â€œYou get instructions?” he asked in his heavy accent.
    â€œNo,” I said, making a mental note to go find Jenny and tell her she could stop her search. “I built it myself.”
    His eyes went wide. “Awesome!” he said. “Very awesome!”
    â€œYes,” I agreed, “it is. And Henry—if I can build a robot, you can make him talk.”

8
    W ednesday night, after the robot show was over, I slipped into one of the common-room phone booths to call Mom and Dad. The booths are very cozy and atmospheric inside, all paneled in wood (except for glass in the folding doors), and there’s a cushioned bench for you to sit on. The phones are the old-fashioned kind, with a dial instead of buttons. I had never actually seen one in real life before, only in the movies.
    I dropped some coins into the slot and dialed. It made a satisfying brrrrr with each spin of the dial, shorter for the low numbers, longer for the high ones. So much nicer than the beep , beep of pushbutton phones.
    Dad answered, and when he heard my voice, he yelled for Mom to pick up the other line. They were wildly excited that I’d called—you’d think I’d been gone for a year instead of two days.
    â€œHow are you?” Mom asked, her voice high and squeaky with enthusiasm.
    â€œGreat,” I said. “I built a robot yesterday!”
    â€œYou what?”
    â€œI built a robot. From scratch.” And I told them about the assignment and how Jenny hadn’t found the instructions on the Internet, so I’d had to figure it out myself.
    â€œHoney, that’s amazing!” Dad said.
    â€œAnd we won the contest. The other robot wasn’t built right and it rolled off the stage— smash , into the orchestra pit! It was pretty horrible, actually. I felt sorry for the other team.”
    â€œIt must have been awful,” Mom said. “But what an interesting exercise—having everyone work against their strong suits. Clever, actually.”
    â€œYou know, I didn’t think so at first, but now I realize that if they’d assigned me to write the robot’s story or something like that, I wouldn’t have learned anything new. I mean, I already knew I could do that. But who knew I could build a robot? I still can’t get over it.”
    â€œWell, we’re just as proud as all get-out,” Mom said. “And you should be proud of yourself too.”
    â€œThat’s what Ms. Lollyheart said. Actually, she gave a whole speech about it after the show was over.”
    It was amazing how perfectly I remembered that speech, like I’d had a tape recorder bolted into the back of my head too. I swear I could have given it to my parents word for word if I’d wanted to. I didn’t though. That would have been a little too weird.
    â€œA whole speech about you?”
    â€œPretty much. She said I shouldn’t put myself down.”
    â€œWhen have you ever done that?” said Dad, laughing.
    â€œWhen I got to Allbright and was surrounded by geniuses.”
    â€œOh, come on, Franny. You’re every bit as smart as—”
    â€œDon’t worry, Dad. I was just trying to be funny. And after today my self-esteem is in really, really great shape. Ms. Lollyheart told us that they’d been doing the robot