By the end of seventh grade, Eugene and Charlotte could easily be attributed to the kind of people who cannot stand sitting around and not doing anything. So when the last bell rang, their first thoughts were not about the luxury of free time but instead on what to do during these extra seven hours per day they were now granted. 

“I wish we could work this summer,” Charlotte sighed as they sat down next to each other on the school bus, which would first drop off Eugene and then her a few stops later. “Are you absolutely sure we can’t work until we turn fourteen?”

“Not legally,” Eugene responded. “But if you’re willing to breach the law a little –”

“No, I’m not doing that. Grandma would murder me if she found out I was getting myself in trouble with the law.”

“Same with Aunt Alice. I mean, there’s a chance they won't find out.”

“And how big is this chance, to be exact?”

It was now Eugene’s turn to sigh.

“Knowing how well Aunt Alice tries to keep track of how and where I spend my time, this chance is less than zero.”

A boy in the seat in front of theirs who was wearing a dress shirt and a tie turned to his unfortunately unemployed classmates, and said, adjusting his long but somehow still formal black bangs,

“A chance cannot be less than zero. Anything that’s a probability is always between zero, or definitely not happening, and one, or definitely happening. Although in real life, nothing can be attributed a chance of exactly zero and one.”

“And do you know the chance you’ll stay out of our business?” 

“You’re trailing off topic. We’re trying to determine the chance that you can get away with getting a job this summer. And I’d say,” the nerd held a rhetorical pause, “that considering how much the law is respected in our state, this particular chance is a lot closer to zero than it is to one.”

“Wow. What would have we done without you, our devoted mathematician Sam? Thank you.”

“Tsk-tsk-tsk, have you achieved anything besides becoming better at teasing in these last three-and-a-half years? Instead, you could’ve tried becoming smarter yourselves,” Sam suggested and then suddenly obtained a manilla folder overfilled with papers from his backpack. “Here. These are some practice problems for the SAT my mom copied from a practice book for me.”

“Practice problems for what?”

“SAT, the standardized test to get into college. I know it’s not going to arrive for the next few years, but it’s never too early to start preparing. I’ve done all of these problems in three weeks, and I bet on pure interest that two idiots like you wouldn’t finish them until the end of summer.”

“Bet accepted,” Eugene said, received the folder and turned from the stunned Sam to the nearly just as surprised Charlotte. “We won’t have time to study for the SAT during the next few summers because we will have jobs, so why not get over it now? Plus, we will make this nerd shut up for a while if we succeed,” he explained.

And that’s how the sworn siblings got their first summer activity, but they still agreed that they didn’t have enough to keep themselves busy.

The second activity was introduced to them the same afternoon, when Aunt Alice and Mrs. Rollings loaded their unemployed cohabitants with chores. 

A few days later, George asked the sworn siblings to help him and his grandma pack for the move. At the time, Eugene and Charlotte already tasked themselves with watering a neighbor’s plants and making biweekly trips to the library to participate in a book seminar for teenagers, but they still thought it wasn’t enough.

And then, the opportunity to actually get busy appeared in the face of the local gang. The sworn siblings knew that if they managed to disassemble the gang, it would be not only useful but also honorable. 

By Charlotte’s suggestion, the adventurous duo started by trying to talk common sense into Bob, Bill, and Blake. Not only did the inspirational speech about the harm in drinking, smoking, vandalism, and threats for money to children like George not have the desired effect on the listeners but also it was only due to pure luck that Eugene and Charlotte managed to run away. 

Not willing to give up on the high schoolers who were destroying their own future, Eugene came up with a novel and creative idea to stop the gang: blackmail. For more than a week, Eugene and Charlotte took their time to locate the older teenagers on the multitude of Sunshine Hills streets and then then spy on them from behind the corners and from up in the trees, tiptoeing and dashing from one location to the next and taking incriminating photos with the digital camera borrowed from Dylan. Charlotte was satisfied with the results of their endeavors soon enough, but Eugene persisted at continuing until they got at least several clear shots for each gang member taking part in an unacceptable activity. 

On Friday, July 2nd, they dropped by the library, and while Charlotte was distracting the librarian with doubts about what book she should check out next, Eugene printed several copies of every image. Some of them he folded carefully to fill his and Charlotte’s pockets (for safekeeping), some Charlotte folded into long straps and inserted into clothes’ hems (for even more reliable safekeeping), and the rest they presented to the gang along with an ultimatum which, in case conditions wouldn’t be followed, would result in the photos being shown to each member’s parents. With the exception of George who accidentally ran into the duo and decided to tag along and watch the execution from afar, the plan was supposed to go rather smoothly: every gang member was from a respected family and thus wouldn’t be thrilled to expose his summer activities to parents. Lorraine was already aware of what happened next - the fight and the arrival of a savior in the face of Bill’s father, brought to the scene by George.

“When Dylan thought that we were successful solely due to Mr. Brown’s help, he was absolutely wrong,” Charlotte, who was cutting an onion, told Lorraine who was whipping eggs and salt for ‘cottage cheese pancakes’. “If we didn’t have some of our photos left to show to Mr. Brown, I’m sure that Bob, Bill, and Blake would’ve made up good excuses to get away from the punishment. And now that they’re forced to do community service, they’re busy and overseen all day long. Hey, don’t slow down!” 

Lorraine nodded and started flicking her wrist quicker. An amazed smile has long since spread itself on her face. 

“So you can imagine our triumph,” Charlotte continued, “as we were returning home on Friday evening, covered in band aids. The summer had barely started, and we already had an extraordinary achievement behind us.”

“And then all this mood was ruined by Eugene fainting at the wrong place and at the wrong time,” Lorraine concluded. Charlotte noted to herself that Lorraine was pretty good at recognizing plot twists for her age.

“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” Charlotte said. “Even if he didn’t faint, we would still have a lot left to straighten out. You see, it turned out we weren’t the only ones to embark on a staggering project for the summer vacation.” 

“Margaret and Martha!” Lorraine guessed, and Charlotte nodded. “I completely forgot about them for a moment here! Wait, so did you use blackmail on them? And was it also for their own good?” Charlotte could hear disbelief steadily replace the thrill in Lorraine’s voice.

“Again, it’s a bit more complicated,” Charlotte said. “But if you only listen…”