Adopted by my teacher

Chapter 27 The Science Fair

SOPHIE

"Settle down, class. I've got an announcement to make," Mrs. Holloway waited before continuing, "As you might've already known, our school's annual science fair is coming up. Now that you're ninth graders your projects will actually be judged for quality. There will be awards for first, second, and third place. You've got two weeks to perform your experiment and make a poster, and then you'll present your results to the judges at the fair."

After the bell sounded off, the girls and I filed out of the classroom, leaving behind the trail of Mrs. Holloway's voice: "Don't forget to finish your Pythagorean theorem homework – it's due on Friday!"

Upon entering the buzzing scene of the cafeteria, Alicia couldn't contain her excitement.

"So what d'you think you'll study? I was thinking maybe something to do with magnetic fields. Or surface waves! Did you know that if you fill a bowl with a viscous fluid and then oscillate it up and down at a certain frequency, it creates a certain resonance which causes the waves at the top to become unstable! And then you can–" Alicia rambled in the middle of the lunch line.

"Hey, Alicia?" said Emma with a distressed look on her face.

"Yeah?"

"Speaka da English. It's like I'm in Spanish class, listening to another foreign rant from Mr. González."

"Why exactly are we taking part in this?" Chelsea asked, scooting forward in the line. "I hate science."

"Whatever happened to wanting to participate in more school functions?" I hinted from over her shoulder.

There was a nod of agreement from Bri, who was in front of me in line. "Soph's right, Chels."

"Yeah, but you haven't heard me parading about joining the science club."

"Science fairs are supposed to be fun," Charlotte reminded us. "Remember?"

"That was before there was grading and judges involved," I told her, sitting at our normal table with the others.

"I want to build a rocket," said Brett.

"Can we take it to the moon?" Cole asked as he drew stick figures in his applesauce.

"No," Brett answered.

"Then what's the point?" Cole replied.

"Scientific exploration, the bettering of humanity, finding life out there in the vastness of the Universe," Reuben answered, looking out of the window like he could see the Universe itself.

"You do realize that I'm just going to put wings on a bottle rocket, right?" Brett asked, waving a hand in front of Reuben's face.

"We need to come up with a project for the science fair," Calley said to both Macy and Britney.

"Why?" Britney replied while examining her appearance in the small compact mirror.

"Because,'" Calley mimicked the girl's voice. "We have to. It's worth half of our grade."

"Well that's a given," Britney shrugged.

"I'm going to go see a movie, who wants to come with me?" Macy asked.

"You're not going to the science fair?" Veronica asked her, a frown creasing her face.

"There are so many things wrong with that question, I can't even begin," Macy answered, shaking her head dramatically.

"Brett's making a rocket, so I must create a BLACKHOLE!" Marty shouted the last part and shook his fist in the air. The distraction gave enough time for Kieron, who was on the other side of him, to hit him with a roll, right in the face.