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said pleasantly. ”Thanks for the repair job.”
    Trixie hesitated. ”Brian, could we stay a few more minutes? We were just talking about—”
    ”Come on, Trixie. I told Moms we’d be home by now,” Brian said irritably.
    Reluctantly Trixie and Honey said good-bye to Thea and followed Brian out to the car. Next time, I’m going to visit Thea without Brian, Trixie promised herself.
    Honey, sandwiched between the two Beldens, wore a troubled expression on the way home. She glanced over at Brian from time to time and finally spoke up. ”Is there anything wrong, Brian?” she asked. ”Trixie told me about your accident, and I know it must have been upsetting. But you seem, well, really depressed about something. Can we help?”
    ”I’m sorry for being such a grouch back at Thea’s,” he said. ”I’m just short-tempered today. That’s all.”
    ”Are you sure?” Honey persisted. ”I’ve never seen you like this before. You’re always on such an even keel.”
    ”Maybe it would help to talk about whatever’s bothering you,” said Trixie.
    ”I guess I can’t hide anything from the two schoolgirl shamuses, can I?” Brian asked dryly. ”Nope,” chorused the girls.
    ”I just—well, frankly, I found out today that I didn’t do as well on that chemistry test yesterday as I had hoped.” The headlights from an oncoming car flashed over Brian’s face, pale and drawn.
    ”Is that all?” asked Trixie. ”Jeepers, Brian, you can’t get a perfect grade all the time! If I got that upset every time I flubbed up on a test, I’d spend my entire life moping around.”
    ”It—it’s not just that,” Brian said, taking one hand off the steering wheel to rub his eyes. ”I haven’t been feeling up to par lately.”
    ”What do you mean?” Honey asked anxiously.
    ”Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing.”
    ”Please tell us,” said Trixie.
    ”Well, I just feel weak a lot of the time, kind of sluggish. Sometimes I feel sick to my stomach, and sometimes I feel like someone is squeezing my chest.”
    Trixie was aghast. ”But, Brian, that sounds really serious! Why haven’t you mentioned this before?”
    Brian shrugged. ”Didn’t seem worth mentioning. You can’t go around complaining about every little ache and pain, and I don’t want to worry anyone. The fact is, I’m having trouble deciding whether I’m really sick or if it’s just nerves.”
    ”What have you got to be nervous about?” Trixie asked.
    ”Well, that chemistry test, for starters. I’ve told you before what kind of cutthroat competition there is in the sciences. I can’t afford to get a lousy grade in anything, much less in one of my most important courses.”
    ”What else?” prompted Honey.
    ”Then there’s the ecology project that Loyola and I are working on. She’s doing an incredible amount of work for it, and I have the feeling that I’m not pulling my weight.”
    ”Oh, Brian—” Trixie started to disagree.
    He shook his head. ”There’s so much at stake on that project,” he went on, his voice cracking slightly. ”If the Conservation Committee decides our results merit it, they’re going to give the school the money to start a lab right on the river—a floating laboratory with an underwater television camera. This could open up all kinds of possibilities for kids at school, not to mention the benefits it could bring toward ultimately cleaning up the Hudson.”
    ”So, you’re feeling a lot of pressure right now,” Honey said softly.
    ”I sure am. And the very thing I don’t need these days is the kind of thing that happened last night—that stupid accident. I just can’t figure out where my mind was last night. It must have disintegrated!”
    He swung the car onto the lane leading to Honey’s’ house. ”Fortunately,” he went on, ”Moms and Dad are being great about it, what with just letting me off with a warning to be more careful from now on. But I still feel guilty, like I’ve let someone