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  The Crimson Five:

  Be Curious, Be Creative, Be Collaborative,

  Be Colorful, Be Courageous.

  I look down at my wrist. “That’s the same message that’s written on our wrist bands.”

  “That’s right, Kia,” says Seraphina. “These are the very words I had engraved on them. As you think of ways to solve your task, be mindful of what those words really mean because each one will lead you to achieve something amazing.”

  “What does collaborative mean?” asks Mare.

  “To collaborate means to work together.”

  “To use teamwork, right?” I say, sitting up straighter.

  “That’s right,” Seraphina answers.

  “Then what about colorful?” asks Jillian.

  “That’s my favorite one,” says Seraphina.

  Ander points to Seraphina’s shoes. “Obviously, it means to wear your favorite color. You wear purple all the time.”

  Seraphina laughs. “Good guess—but no.”

  “You want us to pick a color to identify ourselves?” he continues.

  “Not exactly. When I say be colorful, it means that I want you to be memorable.”

  “What does that mean?” asks Mare.

  “I want you to make yourselves known. You’re extraordinary kids. Don’t stay in the background. Make the judges remember you.”

  Make the judges remember you.

  “I think Curious, Creative, and Courageous are pretty self-explanatory, but I think we should talk about them anyway. First, when you think of being curious, I want you to think of the word ‘wonder.’ It’s good to wonder what something is about or what something would be like if you used it in a different way. It’s good to be curious about any part of the task in front of you; it’s good to wonder. It’s good to ask questions too, and Gregor and I will always encourage you to do so. Does that make sense?”

  I nod, and my teammates do too.

  “Next, when you think about what it takes to be creative, think of making something new or unique. Think of finding a special way of doing something you’ve done hundreds of times before. The key to achieving greatness is being creative—in other words, creating something only you can, something special.”

  “Lastly, let’s talk about what it means to have courage.”

  “Well, courage means to be brave,” says Ander.

  “It does,” says Seraphina. “There will be times during this competition when you need to be courageous or brave, like when you’re competing for the judges. But there’s another way you need to be courageous, and it will happen when you’re working on your solution to the Piedmont Task.”

  “What do you mean?” I ask.

  “In the weeks to come, when you’re working, trying to create something special and unique, it will get difficult. There will be times when you want to give up or at least conform—do things the way they’ve always been done, take the easy way out. But that’s when you need to be at your most courageous—have courage to push yourselves to create something special and unique. Being courageous is the opposite of what it means to conform.”

  Courageous is the opposite of conform.

  “Do you have any questions so far?”

  None of us do so she continues. “Okay, so now you know why the skills on your wristbands are important to use when solving the task.”

  She presses a button on the wall, and a red screen rolls down. She speaks the word, “BRAINSTORMING.” White letters pop onto the screen. “Now that we’ve talked about your wristbands, I want to move on to something else . . . Brainstorming. Have any of you tried this before?”

  We shake our heads.

  “Okay. Let me explain. Brainstorming is a great tool for a group to use when they have a problem to solve together. Remember the game of tag you just invented using the yellow pole? That was great collaboration and very creative. Now, I want your entire team to come up with ideas for solving the Piedmont task in the same way. No idea is bad—in fact, all ideas are important. Something you say may turn out to be the idea that’s chosen by the team, or it may be something that reminds your teammate of another idea—an even better one. It doesn’t matter whose ideas are chosen. You’re a team now. Your idea is the team’s idea. The important thing during a brainstorming session is to keep the ideas flowing and also to include everyone. So, please be respectful of your teammate’s right to speak. When you have an idea, simply say it and the brainstorm board will record it.”

  “I have an idea,” Jillian calls out, but then leans back in her chair. “Wait. Never mind.”

  “It’s okay, Jillian. All ideas are worth sharing.”

  “I don’t want everyone to think it’s stupid.”

  “We won’t,” says Ander.

  Wow. Ander is really nice.

  Jillian looks down. “No, it’s okay.”

  “Okay,” says Seraphina. “Maybe you can tell the group later—when you’re ready. Anyone else?”

  “For the object that rotates, what if we use a giant hockey puck?” asks Ander.

  His idea is recorded on the screen.

  I tuck both my feet under me. “Can we add the idea about doing a play?”

  The word play is recorded.

  We continue calling ideas out and before long we have a screen full of words and phrases.

  “This is a good start,” Seraphina says, staring at the screen for a second. “Now, I want you to read through your list silently. See if anything there leads you to think of another idea, something you can add.”

  Jillian spins her wristband. “I remember my idea. It’s about the original language. Maybe we could make up a handshake or way of moving or something.”

  “Nice,” says Seraphina.

  The screen records her idea.

  Mare snaps her gum. “Can we talk about the play idea? I don’t want to do one.”

  I lean my head back. Here we go again.

  Jillian turns to her. “But Mare, I bet no one else will do a play. And we can even make really amazing costumes.”

  “And write a script,” I say.

  Ander jumps out of his bean bag. “We could build sets and scenery too. Couldn’t we, Jax?”

  “Yes. I’m sure we could figure out how to do that. We’d use math for measuring.”

  “Oh, right,” says Ander. “We have to use skills from each of the six categories to solve this thing, so at least math would be covered. Good thinking, Buddy.”

  Jax turns red. Of course.

  “I don’t care about any of that,” Mare says. “I’m not going to get up in front of a bunch of people and make a fool of myself.”

  I shake my head. “Why not?”

  Mare scowls. “Because.”

  “What difference does it make?”

  “I’m terrible in front of crowds. I don’t see why we have to anyway.”

  I jump out of my bean bag too. “That’s what will help us win! If we can perform our task like a play, we’ll get extra points for sure.”

  “How do you know?”

  “My Grandma Kitty won the Piedmont Challenge when she was in sixth grade. She’s always telling me that to win this competition you have to give the judges something they won’t expect. If we read about our solution in a report like everyone else, we’ll get average points, but if we can turn our solution into a play, the judges will see we’re extra creative.”

  “Yeah,” says Ander. “We can wear crazy costumes if we want to, too.”

  “Yes!” At least someone here thinks like I do. “We can act like creatures from another galaxy, with flowers growing out of our skin or something.”

  Mare looks at me like I’m the one from another galaxy. “I don’t want to wear some embarrassing, ugly costume, say stupid lines, and make a fool of myself.”

  Mare just doesn’t get it. �
�You don’t want flowers growing out of your skin?” I ask her. Now I don’t even care if she gets annoyed at me.

  Ander shrugs. “I’d want flowers growing out of my skin. Especially dandelions. You can eat those.”

  Mare glares at both of us.

  I realize making her mad is not going to convince her. “Mare, you don’t have to wear a weird costume or say embarrassing lines. We’ll write our own script. We can give each other lines we really want to say.”

  Ander picks up his bean bag chair. “And I can say all the stupid stuff. I don’t mind making a fool of myself—especially if I get most of the lines.”

  Mare does not look convinced.

  “Come on, Mare, please,” I beg.

  “Yeah,” says Jillian. “It’ll be fun. I promise.”

  Mare sits there stone-faced. “Nope. I guess we better brainstorm more ideas.”

  I look at Seraphina. She doesn’t say anything; she just shrugs.

  Are you kidding me? Why isn’t she making Mare agree with us? I hate this. Brainstorming stinks.

  RED BOARD

  After the best sleep ever in my star bed, we go to the top floor of Piedmont Chamber for a workshop called Re-imagine It. We learn ways to take garbage items like candy wrappers and turn them into something new. We clean them up, rub a gel over them, cut, glue, sew, and tape them together, and soon we’ve made baby clothes and blankets! The Twix and Hershey bars become blankets and M&M wrappers become colorful skirts. I never thought of using wrappers to make clothes. I definitely would have added that to my invention list.

  We finish and walk down to Meeting Room Twelve wearing our matching white T-shirts. I like wearing the same shirts. It makes me feel like my teammates and I belong to a special club. Except maybe Mare. If she wore a different color, like black or something, I wouldn’t really mind.

  Seraphina sits at the table with us as we brainstorm again. Gregor listens in the corner.

  “I know how we can agree on this,” says Ander.

  “How?” asks Mare.

  “Well, since four of us want to do a play for the judges but you really don’t want to, maybe you don’t have to act in it.”

  “But we all have to be part of solving the problem.”

  “We will be. What if you worked behind the scenes? You could move the sets around. You wouldn’t have to say anything in front of anyone.”

  Mare scowls. “But I could design the sets and paint them?”

  “Yup,” says Ander.

  “And I could help make the costumes and write the script?”

  “Sure,” he says.

  “But I wouldn’t perform?”

  “Nope.”

  “So I’d do all the work and then just sit around like a loser while all of you get the credit? No thanks. Your idea stinks.”

  “Mare!” I shout.

  “What? It does. I’m not doing that.”

  “Why are you being such a jerk?” I ask.

  “Kia,” says Seraphina. Her face tells me I crossed a line of some sort.

  Everyone stares at me and my face feels hot. “I’m sorry. I just think Ander came up with a good compromise.”

  “Well, he didn’t, because I already told you I won’t do it.”

  I let out a breath.

  “I guess we have to come up with another idea, right Seraphina?”

  I watch her. I’m sure this time she’s going to tell Mare she has to go along with our idea.

  “That’s right, Mare. If you need more brainstorming time then you may have it.”

  “What?” I shout.

  “That’s not fair!” says Ander. “It’s four to one. Majority rules.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” says Seraphina. “The team rules.”

  “Are you kidding me?” I say. “This is impossible. There’s no way we’re all going to agree on a way to solve this task. We’re just wasting time. If we have any chance of winning, we have to start working!”

  “She’s right,” says Ander.

  “Well, Mare’s right too,” says Jillian. “Her opinion matters as much as ours does. We have to come up with an idea we all agree on.”

  “Thanks a lot, Jillian,” I mumble. I bite my pointer finger and then my thumb. I hate Mare.

  Gregor paces the room with his hands folded behind him. I can’t tell if he’s bored or ready to explode.

  “Okay then,” says Seraphina. “How else can you present your solution? Does anyone have another suggestion?”

  I prop my elbows on the table. Ander slumps in his seat.

  “What if we write a documentary?” asks Jax.

  “A what?” asks Jillian. “We could make a movie, only none of us has to act in front of the camera. We could write a report and then take turns narrating pages. That way none of us has to say anything in front of the judges. We just play the video.”

  The red board records his idea.

  “It might work,” says Jillian. “The judges would see our technology skills.”

  I shrug. I don’t even want to acknowledge his idea. I feel like falling asleep just thinking about it. Mare doesn’t say anything either. Maybe I just don’t want to like this idea because I really want to do a play . . . but that’s not it. A documentary won’t get us to the Global Championships. No way.

  “Okay, what else?” asks Seraphina.

  Jillian taps her pencil. “This idea is sort of like Jax’s, but what if we wrote a book? We could tell our solution like a story and then take turns reading it to the judges.”

  “Or we could make a picture album,” says Mare. “We could take pictures of all the parts of our solution—or even draw them and then display them in a giant album.”

  My teammates nod their heads. But none of us are smiling. None of us are jumping out of our seats. The ideas appear on the red board anyway.

  “Anything else?” No one answers. Seraphina looks at her nails. Her once perfect purple nail polish is starting to chip.

  Ander jumps from his seat and walks around the table. “Okay, guys. Obviously none of us are excited about these other ideas. A play is the only way to surprise the judges. We want to be memorable, don’t we? Isn’t that what Seraphina said about being colorful? Mare, can’t you just agree to do it? You won’t look like a loser. I promise. We’ll write our script however you want us to so you don’t hate your lines and don’t look like an idiot.”

  I plead with Mare inside my head.

  She stares at Ander. He stares back. His big blue eyes don’t blink. He’s pleading inside his head too. I can tell.

  I chew on my pinky.

  She waves her hand at him. “Whatever, I’ll do it.”

  Yes!

  “You will?” asks Ander.

  “But only because the other ideas are stupid. I’m getting bored talking about it.”

  Ander shrugs. “Okay then. Cool. We’re doing a play!”

  Finally, we’re getting somewhere.

  “As long as you all promise we’ll have enough time to rehearse.”

  We agree, and Seraphina jots down notes. Mare and Jillian get up from the table to talk about costumes. Ander and Jax get ready to talk about what object can transform. I stare at the table. I realize that before we can figure out what sets and costumes to make, we need to know what the play is going to be about.

  “Hold on a second,” I say. “The task states we have to answer a question that all of mankind has been asking but, before now, has not been answered. So, don’t we have to decide on the question before we decide the rest?”

  Ander comes back to the table. “Oh yeah, that would help.”

  Again, we call out suggestions while the red board records what we say. After about twenty ideas, we come up with our top three questions.

  “Okay,” Seraphina says. “This is what we have so far.”
>
  Three questions appear on the screen.

  1. Is there life on Jupiter?

  2. What happens to us after we die?

  3. When will the world end?

  “Let’s start with number one. Would any of you like to choose, Is there life on Jupiter?”

  None of us raise our hands.

  “Then how about number two? What happens after we die?”

  All of us, except Ander, raise our hands.

  Mare smiles. “Majority rules. Number two wins!”

  “Hold on,” says Jillian. “Ander still hasn’t voted.”

  “Well, obviously he wants number three,” says Mare.

  “Well, can’t he at least vote?”

  Mare shrugs. Ander grins.

  Seraphina waves her pointer. “Okay, then onto number three. Would anyone like to do, When will the world end?”

  Ander raises his hand, but then pulls it back down. “I want to do that one, but I don’t mind if we do number two. That one would be cool too.”

  “Okay, good!” I exclaim. “Our question is: “What happens to humans after they die?”

  Gregor walks over to the table. “That’s the question you’ve decided on?”

  I sit up straight. “Yes, isn’t it a great one?”

  Gregor doesn’t smile. He presses his lips together instead. Doesn’t he like our idea? Oh, who cares—we’ve decided, and it’s a good one, so that’s all I care about.

  BUTTERFLY BRAINS

  The next morning, I sit in the dining hall, shaping my scrambled apples into a circle. My teammates are talking about something, but all I can think about is how unfair it is that we have to solve this task using all six categories.

  “Kia, what’s wrong?” asks Jillian. “Why are you so quiet?” Her hair is pulled over one shoulder into a fishtail braid.

  “The teams who competed all the other years only had to use skills from one category to solve their task. Like Colorado, the team who made the floating air purification sparkles. They had to use what they knew about Earth and Space to solve that problem and I’m pretty sure the team from Tennessee who built Mabel only had to use information from their New Technology class. It stinks that we have to use all six.”