"What? That whomps!"

Spinelli was furious Gordy was in the group now. T.J. kicked over a rock as he walked home with her, and sighed. "I know. At any rate he'll try and ruin our project just to show he still doesn't like me."

"If he does I'll let him meet my good friend Madame Fist!"

"Maybe I should just talk to him", T.J. reasoned.

Spinelli shot a wry look. "You already tried that, remember?"

T.J. thought stopped and thought for a while, then turned to Spinelli. "Maybe you could talk to him."

"Me? I'm no good at that speech kinda stuff. That's what you do."

"Call me crazy Spinelli, but I've been noticing some stuff and, I think Gordy likes you."

"WHAT? Teej, you are crazy. No one would try that stuff on me. They're too scared I'll knock their teeth out!"

"Well, it's worth a try. If not that, he likes you as a friend. Doesn't he ever show you his video game?"

Spinelli pondered a little and said "Oh, yeah he does actually. Ducks-something or other. Alright Teej, what do you want me to do?"

T.J. adjusted his cap, usually a sign of a great plan brewing in his mind. "You work on the poster with Gordy; I'll take the essay portion. Just pretend we aren't friends, I'll be fine" T.J. winked. "We're gonna get to the bottom of this once and for all."

T.J and Spinelli headed over to Gordy's house and rang the doorbell. Gordy's mom came to the door. She said hello and asked who they were.

"Is Gordy here? We're his partners for this project at school."

Gordy's mom looked back in the house and yelled. "Gordy! Your friends are here."

Gordy came down the stairs, and saw T.J. and Spinelli. "Sheesh, you could have called or something," he said with disdain. T.J. ignored the comment.

"We're going to go over to the library to work on the poster now. Are you ready?"

Gordy didn't say anything. He just walked past them in the direction of the library. T.J. and Spinelli looked at each other with confusion.

"What was that all about? What a jerk!" Spinelli whispered.

"It's cause I'm here. He'll open up to you" T.J. whispered back. Spinelli nodded and ran ahead to talk to Gordy, while T.J. kept his distance.

Spinelli decided to start up a conversation. "So, where'd you get your hat Gordy?"

"This? Just something I got from Sears. What about your ski cap?"

"Cabellas."

Gordy seemed impressed. "Wicked! That's really awesome! Do you ever go hunting?"

"Every June."

Gordy got more and more excited. "Oh man! Summer hunting is the best! You should go hunting with us sometime. We bring along tons of food and…"

Spinelli just smiled and nodded. She didn't go hunting, she just made that up to impress Gordy. How did she know it would? Female intuition, she said. She wasn't particularly interested and didn't understand where all his enthusiasm could come from. But, T.J. seemed to be right. For now.

Gordy and Spinelli reached the library, with T.J. following behind. He caught up to them and explained his plan.

"I was just gonna go work on the essay portion. I suck at art. You guys can work on the poster together."

"Fine with me" Gordy said.

The group went their separate ways.

Spinelli and Gordy started designing the poster. Spinelli tried her best to let Gordy make the decisions, which for her meant swallowing her pride.

"Gordy, want to use colored pencils or paint?"

"How about colored pencils?"

"Sure."

Gordy smiled as he took some colored pencils and started drawing flying cars and robots. "Hey Spinelli, I hear you're pretty good at drawing. Everyone says you're the best."

"Aw, they're just exaggerating. I'm ok at drawing."

Gordy tilted an eyebrow. "No really, I saw that drawing you did on the blacktop. That was really cool."

Spinelli looked away, half flattered and half embarrassed. "Thanks."

Spinelli started coloring with Gordy for a few minutes, then glanced up and saw T.J. on the other side of the Library give her the thumbs up. Remembering her mission, Spinelli suggested:

"Hey Gordy, let's go and see what T.J. thinks of our poster so far."

"Can't we finish up the poster now?"

"C'mon Gordy. I bet Teej has a lot of ideas for our poster. Maybe he could help us draw some…"

"NO!" Gordy's yell took Spinelli aback. He sank down in his seat.

"I mean… sorry. I just don't want to talk to T.J."

Spinelli sat down next to Gordy. "Why not? He's an ok guy once you get to know him."

Gordy sank into his seat some more.

"It's nothing. Maybe you should just take the poster and talk to him. I'll sit this one out."

As Spinelli got up to leave, she was stopped by Gordy.

"Wait." Gordy looked around to see T.J. wasn't there. "I'll tell you later. But not now."

"Ok then." Spinelli shrugged and went off on her way.

Later that day, Spinelli went over to T.J. with the poster. He was anxious for her findings.

"So?"

"So what?

"What did he say?"

"He's gonna talk to me later about it."

T.J. flashed a smirk. "Tender. Now all that's left is some spying to do."

Spinelli raised an eyebrow. "Teej, are you sure that's such a good idea?"

"Of course it is. Once I figure out why he won't like me, I'll know what to do next. Knowledge is power, my friend."

"Yeah, but he wanted this to be in confidence. And Teej you're kinda starting to act like last time. There are just some things you can't change."

"Nonsense. I went about it all wrong last time – I was just trying random junk on him. This time I'll figure it out. Besides, if it's something I can't change, I'll let go. I promise."

Spinelli sighed. "Alright Teej. But don't obsess over this, ok? Oh, how's this poster?" Spinelli showed the poster and T.J. looked at it thoughtfully.

"Pretty nice. I don't have anything to add. Did you draw it?"

"Gordy did most of it."

"You two have something in common then."

"Shut up, T.J." Spinelli stuck her tongue out. T.J. gave a quick laugh.