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hehad gone, she gave Eddie a high five. Eddie, however, looked worried.
    “I still wish we hadn't told him,” she said. “Once he tells Jake and Wally that we invited practically everyone, anything could happen. But we didn't have a choice.”
    “Jake needs a science project as much as you do, remember,” Beth said.
    “That's true. I just wish I was a partner with anyone but the Hatfords,” Eddie said. “They've been bad news ever since we moved to Buckman.”
    “People can change,” said Beth.
    “And I'm going to make Wally Hatford fall in love with me,” said Caroline.
    “Oh, please!” groaned Eddie.
    “Did I hear you say you were doing a science project with the Hatfords, Eddie?” Mrs. Malloy called from the other room.
    “Yeah, it's sort of a people study, like you suggested,” Eddie said. “I'll tell you all about it later.”
    “So, what do Beth and I do tomorrow?” Caroline asked.
    Eddie lowered her voice to a whisper. “Well, Jake and Josh and I have to record the names and ages and grades of each kid, only
I
will be interested in whether they're boys or girls. I don't care about their ages.
I'm
going to prove that more boys show up than girls— that boys are more gullible. But Jake and Josh don't have to know this. You can line up the kids to go in thegarage, Beth, while Caroline takes them in one at a time to show them Josh's picture of the abaguchie.”
    “Great! The kids will take all their disappointment out on me!” said Caroline.
    “Just tell them they participated in a psychological study, and that someday, when I'm a great scientist and I publish the experiment, they'll be famous,” Eddie told her.
    “I thought you were going to be a doctor of sports medicine or a professional baseball player,” said Caroline.
    “A doctor-scientist who plays baseball,” said Eddie.
    Caroline went up to her room and lay down on the bed. Beth and Eddie were getting all the attention these days. Actresses liked to be center stage, and she wanted to get on with her career. She reached under her mattress and pulled out the valentine card she had bought for Wally Hatford. On the envelope she wrote
For My Beloved,
and on the inside she signed the verse
Achingly yours
. And
then,
after she'd admired it for a while, she put her mind on the abaguchie.

Eight

The Experiment
    B ecause it's stupid, that's why!”
    Jake and Josh faced off in their bedroom when Josh came back from the Malloys’. “Experiments are supposed to be about chemicals or electricity and stuff. They're not supposed to be about abaguchies,” Jake said.
    “It's not about abaguchies, it's about people,” Josh told him, sitting down hard on one of the beds.
    “Eddie's just luring kids over with that note about the abaguchie. She's trying to see which grade is the most gullible.”
    “I still think it's dumb,” said Jake.
    “You have a better idea? What project have
we
come up with for the science fair? Nothing. At least we could go in on this with her,” Josh argued.
    Wally was standing in the shadows outside his brothers’ room, listening to the whole thing. He hatedit when he was left out of things. “So what's happening?” he asked finally, stepping into the room.
    “What do you want, Wally?” Jake snapped, throwing a rolled-up sock at him. “Get out.” When Wally got mad, he threw words around. When Jake got mad, he threw socks.
    “If it's boys against girls, us against the Malloys, then you've got to let me in on it,” Wally said.
    “I don't have to do anything but die and pay taxes,” Jake said, repeating something he'd heard his dad say once.
    “And do a science project,” Josh reminded him. “If you're not going to help with the project, I'll take Wally. I said you'd be coming, and we've got it all worked out what each person's going to do.”
    “Oh, all right,” said Jake reluctantly. “But I don't like the way we keep getting tangled up with the girls. I wish the Bensons were back. We always thought up