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Blue was overcome with warmth, as when Ty had called him his best friend, except this time was somehow different. This feels natural, he thought.

Over the next few weeks, more AP Gov classmates joined Blue on his adventures. Blue liked them all. He appreciated that they had intelligent discussions; all eight of them were class valedictorians (Kaloke granted valedictorian status to all students with a 4.0 GPA and a senior project). He had known Angelique for years. He was drawn to Jess, whose innocent image masked a vulgar wit, and Leilani, a laid-back surfer who happened to have one of the highest GPAs in the class. He was especially partial to Michael. Smart, ambitious, and disciplined, Michael was also a good listener. Blue grew comfortable talking to Michael about nearly anything. Once, they had a three-hour phone conversation while Blue was longboarding. As they quickly became close friends, Blue developed a crush on him, even though he had heard Michael mention his ex-girlfriend. Blue knew crushes on straight guys were futile, but he was glad for Michael’s company nonetheless.

As Blue helped the team prepare for the SCH state championships, his enthusiasm for the project grew. He thrived in the “constant intellectual environment that never seems to stop,” he said. “I can’t get enough of it. I feel good about myself when I’m in it, like it isn’t a waste of time. And people praise me for my work.”

For the SCH competition, teams split into six units that appeared before judges who grilled them about topics relating to the Constitution. While other schools had thirty to forty team members, Kaloke had only nine, the entire AP Gov class. In other words, Blue’s team had to do nearly triple the work of the other teams’ students, and each team member had to master two units. Blue’s favorite was unit six, which dealt with challenges the U.S. would face in the future. Enthralled by the topic, Blue wrote almost all of his group’s potential responses.

Blue’s teammates were under no illusion that they would win. Waipouli, a school with four times as many team members and heavy parent involvement in SCH preparations, had won states and traveled to the national competition in Washington, D.C., for twenty-five consecutive years.

When the judges called Unit Six, Blue stepped up to the judge’s table with Michael and Kaia. As the judges asked questions, Blue took over, spinning his answers into broader-reaching observations. He was able to turn the format into a dialogue with the judges, rather than a one-sided interview. He told them that the Internet was tearing communities apart, that people were “outsourcing their relationships, becoming unengaged citizens,” that misplaced priorities and increasingly insular, self-serving associations were turning the United States into a “monster.”

After the presentation, the judges spoke directly to Blue. “I’ve never heard such insightful thinking from someone at your grade level,” one of them said.

“Your answers were original and beyond graduate-level analysis,” said another.

“I think we all know who’s the wordsmith here,” said a third judge.

Ms. Collins pulled Blue aside and hugged him. “I’m so proud of you. That’s exactly what this competition is about,” she said, her eyes tearing. “I just want to let you know that you’re making this all worth it.”

Blue’s team surrounded them. “When you were talking, I seriously had goosebumps,” Jess told him.

“Everything you said was exactly what I’ve always felt deep down, but was too afraid to say,” Leilani said.

All of the schools convened at tables in the auditorium for the announcement of the winners. While most teams filled several tables, Blue liked that his team was so tiny that everyone fit at one table, “like a close-knit little family.” As the announcer listed the winners of the individual unit competitions, Kaloke slumped in disappointment. The awards were dispersed equally among Waipouli and two other schools.

Kaloke barely paid attention when the announcer prepared to reveal the overall winner. “There’s no way we got anything,