Clark sat across from the pizza, its oily pepperoni pools gleaming up at him. His black brows drew down into a thoughtful frown. Something about the pepperoni seemed...off. Out of place.

  His mom dropped her bag of groceries on the kitchen counter, temporarily starting him out of his reverie.

  “Clark, since you’re home, I wanted to ask you about something…” she started, but her voice instantly faded into the background as Clark stared at the pizza. He picked up a piece of the pepperoni and moved it to a different spot.

  Still not right.

  He grabbed another gleaming round, moving it to some other spot that felt more appropriate. And then another, and another. Then he took a piece of pepperoni and removed it entirely. Now it’s right. It’s the way it’s supposed to be.

  In Clark’s mind, an invisible line had traced itself from one piece of pepperoni to another, until all of the pepperoni pieces were connected, creating an image something like a spiral. There was something important about this image. Something essential. What is it? he wondered. Why does this seem so familiar?

  “…Sadie Samuels?” His mom sat down opposite him. That name, Sadie Samuels, suddenly snapped Clark back to reality. He looked up at his mom, who looked back, obviously waiting for an answer.

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  “Umm… sorry, did you say Sadie Samuels?”

  She frowned.

  “I did,” she said, with an edge of impatience. “Did you hear anything I said? I was asking what you think about taking her to the Founder’s Dance?”

  “What? The dance? But… why?” The question seemed incomprehensible.

  “She’s always sitting by herself. I just feel bad for her,” she said, pulling off a slice of pizza.

  “She’s always sitting by herself because she wants to. She’s weird like that,” said Clark, stiffly. He knew he wouldn’t be able to enjoy the pizza until Sadie Samuels was no longer the topic of conversation.

  “Clark. Ask her to the dance,” she said. Clark realized with horror, that she was dead serious. Panic filled him.

  “But I already have somebody I want to ask!” Penny Weimar was the girl he had in mind—the girl next door he’d known since he was a kid. He’d been waiting for weeks to ask her.

  “No one’s saying you have to marry her, Clark. I’m sure whoever you have in mind will have three other boys asking her out too. Just give Sadie a nice evening. Every girl deserves that.”

  Clark made a deep sigh, bordering on a painful groan.

  “Besides,” she added, biting into her pizza, “She’s a pretty girl. You two would look cute together.”

  She actually wasn’t wrong about that. Sadie was a pretty girl, despite her oddness. “Cute together,” though, he wasn’t so sure.

  Still, he knew from experience when his mom wasn’t going to let something go. This was a battle he couldn’t win. He sighed, picked up a piece of pizza, the spiral now forgotten. He bit into it with a heavy sigh.

  “Okay, fine…I’ll ask her.”

  His mom smiled. “See,” she said, “I knew you were a gentleman.”