freak.” She glared at me like I was the one who had started the rumor about her. Although I guess I
was
sort of guilty because when I had read about her, I just assumed that the story was true. Still . . .
“Hey, don’t get mad at me. I wasn’t the one who said you did it. I don’t even know you,” I said defensively. “If it makes you feel any better, everybody thinks that Mr. Arthur killed himself, too.”
“He did kill himself,” she said, giving me a look that showed she thought I was a moron. “Or he thought he did. Too bad he didn’t.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, a bit put off that she had just wished Mr. Arthur dead. “What’s going on? How did we all get here?”
“Don’t you get it?” she said with another you’re-an-idiot look. “We jumped
frequencies.
”
I was completely confused.
“Don’t stare at me like you just smelled dog poop,” she said. “Look. Each one of us was caught in an explosion. Each one of us ended up here. Our explosions knocked us into a parallel reality.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means we’re existing in the same space on the same planet as the one we knew back home, but we’re in a different frequency of it. Like when you press the button on a car stereo to change the station. The music is coming out of the same radio in the same car, but it’s completely different because it’s at a different frequency.”
I looked at her like I thought she was crazy but quickly realized that what she was saying sort of made sense. But it didn’t make it any easier to understand.
“How do you know this?” I asked, trying to use a nice tone of voice so that she wouldn’t yell at me again.
“I just know it, okay? Think about it. When you got out of your rocket, were you in the same place you were before the explosion? Were you surrounded by the same mountains and hills and stuff ?”
She was right. The dead field was still the dead field after the explosion and the mouse ears were still where they had been back home. Only the barn was gone. Although . . .
“Wait a minute. All the trees and plants and grass were different. So it wasn’t really the same place,” I said, feeling smart.
“No duh, genius,” she said sarcastically (as if you couldn’t tell). “That’s all the
living
stuff. The plants and everything evolved differently here than it did back where we’re from. But the hills and the mountains and the whole planet are the same. Like after I woke up from the explosion, I was on top of a hill. And it was the same hill that the high school is built on top of. It’s just that the school doesn’t exist in this reality. Thank God.”
I tried to take this all in but was feeling a bit overwhelmed. “What do you mean, that the living things evolved differently?”
“What grade are you in?” she asked with the same I-just-smelled-dog-poop look she had yelled at me for having on my face moments earlier.
“Seventh,” I said defensively.
“Don’t they teach you about evolution in science class?” Then she gave me a weird look. “You don’t go to some crazy private school, do you?”
“No, I go to the same junior high you went to. And I
know
about evolution.” I was suddenly kicking myself for all the alien drawings I had made while Mr. Andriasco was giving his lectures about evolution, as well as hoping that she wouldn’t ask me to explain it.
“Yeah?” she said as she arched her eyebrow at me. “Then what is it?”
Great.
“It’s . . . uh . . . it’s . . . um . . . uh . . .” Man, I should have paid more attention in class.
“You’re the reason that schools are losing funding, kid,” she said with a smirk. “Evolution means that everything develops from a really basic form. And since this is a different world, everything in it developed and evolved differently than in our world.”
“How’s that possible?”
“The only reason things look the way they do in our world is because of billions of tiny
was
sort of guilty because when I had read about her, I just assumed that the story was true. Still . . .
“Hey, don’t get mad at me. I wasn’t the one who said you did it. I don’t even know you,” I said defensively. “If it makes you feel any better, everybody thinks that Mr. Arthur killed himself, too.”
“He did kill himself,” she said, giving me a look that showed she thought I was a moron. “Or he thought he did. Too bad he didn’t.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, a bit put off that she had just wished Mr. Arthur dead. “What’s going on? How did we all get here?”
“Don’t you get it?” she said with another you’re-an-idiot look. “We jumped
frequencies.
”
I was completely confused.
“Don’t stare at me like you just smelled dog poop,” she said. “Look. Each one of us was caught in an explosion. Each one of us ended up here. Our explosions knocked us into a parallel reality.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means we’re existing in the same space on the same planet as the one we knew back home, but we’re in a different frequency of it. Like when you press the button on a car stereo to change the station. The music is coming out of the same radio in the same car, but it’s completely different because it’s at a different frequency.”
I looked at her like I thought she was crazy but quickly realized that what she was saying sort of made sense. But it didn’t make it any easier to understand.
“How do you know this?” I asked, trying to use a nice tone of voice so that she wouldn’t yell at me again.
“I just know it, okay? Think about it. When you got out of your rocket, were you in the same place you were before the explosion? Were you surrounded by the same mountains and hills and stuff ?”
She was right. The dead field was still the dead field after the explosion and the mouse ears were still where they had been back home. Only the barn was gone. Although . . .
“Wait a minute. All the trees and plants and grass were different. So it wasn’t really the same place,” I said, feeling smart.
“No duh, genius,” she said sarcastically (as if you couldn’t tell). “That’s all the
living
stuff. The plants and everything evolved differently here than it did back where we’re from. But the hills and the mountains and the whole planet are the same. Like after I woke up from the explosion, I was on top of a hill. And it was the same hill that the high school is built on top of. It’s just that the school doesn’t exist in this reality. Thank God.”
I tried to take this all in but was feeling a bit overwhelmed. “What do you mean, that the living things evolved differently?”
“What grade are you in?” she asked with the same I-just-smelled-dog-poop look she had yelled at me for having on my face moments earlier.
“Seventh,” I said defensively.
“Don’t they teach you about evolution in science class?” Then she gave me a weird look. “You don’t go to some crazy private school, do you?”
“No, I go to the same junior high you went to. And I
know
about evolution.” I was suddenly kicking myself for all the alien drawings I had made while Mr. Andriasco was giving his lectures about evolution, as well as hoping that she wouldn’t ask me to explain it.
“Yeah?” she said as she arched her eyebrow at me. “Then what is it?”
Great.
“It’s . . . uh . . . it’s . . . um . . . uh . . .” Man, I should have paid more attention in class.
“You’re the reason that schools are losing funding, kid,” she said with a smirk. “Evolution means that everything develops from a really basic form. And since this is a different world, everything in it developed and evolved differently than in our world.”
“How’s that possible?”
“The only reason things look the way they do in our world is because of billions of tiny
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