Page 16 of TJ Powar Has Something to Prove
What? She glances at the time. It’s quarter to four already. And she was told to block off half an hour for this appointment.Even if she races out afterwards, she’ll only catch the tail end of the meeting.
But... it sounds so useful. TJ always has trouble wrapping her head around science stuff. Having an expert explain it would be amazing.
The door opens. Lulu pokes her head in. “Ready?”
TJ rises, wrapping her robe tighter around her. As she sets down her empty teacup, she realizes she forgot to go to the bathroom like Piper had advised. Great. This is going to hurt like hell,andshe’s going to miss possibly the most important debate meeting of the season.
But does she really have to?
The thought makes her hesitate halfway to the door. She mulls it over. Is it really a big deal if she doesn’t get the Brazilian this one time?
Duh, yes it is, a voice in her head says.You’re so hairy!
She frowns. Yes, she’s hairy, but Liam can see past that, can’t he? They’ve had sex before. He’s been her boyfriend for over a year, her friend for even longer. Her hair shouldn’t really matter.
“TJ?”
TJ looks up to find Lulu staring at her with confusion. She should just go with her.
But then she imagines getting grilled with difficult scientific questions in a cross-examination. The words immediately fly from her mouth: “Cancel my appointment.”
Lulu blinks. “The Brazilian isn’tthatbad, darling—”
“I have to go.” TJ’s already hurrying back to the changingarea. “If there’s a cancellation fee, I’ll pay. There’s just somewhere I have to be right now. Sorry!”
She leaves a bemused Lulu standing there. If she’s fast, she might make it to Whitewater on time for the meeting. This could seriously up her game. Her boyfriend will understand.
FOUR
***
She’s still late.
Whitewater’s almost twenty minutes away, a sprawling building that looms over Kelowna from a hilltop. TJ parks in the lot and treks up to the archway entrance. The place is more window than concrete, with state-of-the-art sports facilities that make Whitewater the envy of every other school in the district. She scowls up at it. It was so much easier to make fun of Whitewater when they were still housed in that decrepit old building three years ago. Now Northridge looks like a barn in comparison.
She resists the urge to kick lockers on her way to the gigantic band room, where their debate club practices after-hours. Everyone else is already there when she enters. The music stands have been pushed aside, and the students sit in a semicircle of chairs around the board where a middle-aged man in jeans and a hoodie stands holding a piece of chalk. TJ hesitates slightly at his casual appearance.
Nate, sitting in the semicircle, must notice her double take because he speaks up. “You’re in the right place, don’t worry. He dresses like garbage because he’s got tenure.”
“Nate, that’senough,” the professor says with a tone of exasperation. TJ blinks and the pieces slide together; Nate’s mentioned before that his father teaches at the university, andthey share similar features. Dr. Chen offers TJ a smile. “Please, have a seat.”
TJ approaches the semicircle. It seems like everyone attending Provincials managed to make it. There are three teams each from the novice, junior, and senior categories. Simran’s there, briefly nodding at her. Yara, too; she smiles at TJ, but it wavers. TJ attempts a smile back. Yara must know her photo has become a joke. With TJ and Simran as the butt of it.
The only vacant seat is next to Charlie Rosencrantz on the edge of the semicircle, so she sits, dumping her purse behind her, as Dr. Chen goes back to drawing a strand of DNA on the board. The prepared resolution for the provincial tournament is already written on the top:This House Would endorse genome editing in Canada. A familiar sense of panic rises in her before she squashes it. The prepared resolutions are always sort of panic-inducing, but that’s the point of them being prepared. Each team will have until February to do their research and write speeches. And there will be help, like Nate’s dad; for Provincials, the local clubs pool their resources and help each other because, well, they’reallunderdogs in this tournament.
While she’s digging through her purse for a pen, Charlie mutters through the side of his mouth, “Too busy googling ‘genome’ to show up on time?”
She mutters through the side of her mouth, too. “While you were sitting here googling ‘editing’? Or maybe ‘Canada’?”
“Hey,” snaps Mr. York from the corner of the room, making them jump. “Dr. Chen is donating his time to us, and considering he’s done research in genome editing, he’s a great resource. The least you could do is pay attention.”
TJ nods silently. Curse Charlie for luring her into conversation. But Dr. Chen doesn’t look annoyed. He just smiles again before returning to the board.
TJ finally finds a pen and starts scribbling down buzzwords on her notepad. However, somewhere in the explanation between DNA and CRISPR arrays, she gets lost. She’s strongest in debates about culture or politics. She casts a look at Simran, who’s listening attentively. TJ will have to lean on her hard for this one.
“So what you’re saying,” Yara says at the end of Dr. Chen’s talk, her eyes wide, “is that you could change anything about a person by editing their DNA?”
“Theoretically, you could change things that are genetics-based,” Dr. Chen says. “You could choose which genes are turned on or off. Add desirable traits or delete ones you don’t like. What would you pick and choose from a list of traits? Dark hair, or blond? Brown eyes, or green? What if you could activate genes that enhance intelligence? Strength? Beauty? And what would you delete?”