High school freshman Joe McKinnon loves pizza, hates public speaking, and has fallen hard for a girl. Pretty typical. Not so typical is Joe’s prosthetic leg, which he’s had since the car crash two years ago that killed his father and left him with a burning desire to rid the world of automobiles.

The object of Joe’s affections, Jun Song, is a year behind Joe in school, yet way ahead of him in smarts. When Jun is brutally attacked on her way home one day, her already-protective mother shifts into overdrive, making it virtually impossible for Jun and Joe to see each other.

But Joe’s into Jun in a big way, and he needs her ginormous brain to make his dream a reality.

Giving up is not an option.

Joe signs up for the “Science Team ExtreMe” competition, which, as luck would have it, is the perfect way to be with Jun while progressing his ideas for an automated, planet-wide monorail system. Joe enlists former enemy Praveen and new friends Sam and Zoey to begin the design until Jun comes on board and the work really gets started.

Now the only things standing between Joe and his dream are Jun’s mom, team drama, PTSD, archaic competition rules, seemingly impossible feats of engineering, and a plague of self-doubts.

No problem.

Danielle Peterson is a graphic designer, orchestral flutist, and open/champion level Irish dancer who lives in Arizona.