The Science Fair

Chapter Two: Fair Day

~Marie-One Week Later~

     "You have everything right? The poster, table, research, exam-" Pierre cuts me off. "Yes don't worry I have everything that's why we packed it up in my dad's car last night. You can calm down our project is amazing." Calm down! I will not calm down until this whole event is over let alone before he's even here. Speaking of which, "Um...Pierre I'm trying to be more calm, but... where in the world are you? We have five minutes before they let us in to set up and I want us to get a good spot, not somewhere in the back where the judges won't see us." I could hear him sigh as soon as I said that.

     "Marie I am literally pulling into the school now. I can see you standing out from with your cellphone. Everything is going to be fi-" Everything goes dead silent on his end and my nerves somehow intensify. "PIERRE!" I practically yell into the phone. There's silence for about two more seconds then "Hey sorry about that I dropped my phone as I was parking. No big deal as I was saying everything is going to be fine. Now do you want to come help me unload?" I hang up my phone and walk over to him.

Since we are the first and only ones here, other than a few teachers, we are able to set up very quickly and choose a perfect spot. About five minutes into us setting up JJ arrives. He sets his booth up right next to ours and I can tell that he's just as nervous as I am. About an hour later is when most of everyone else shows up, including the judges.

The time flies by though and before I know it the judges start walking towards our booth. "Good morning Mr. Curie and Ms....Marie." I am one of three other girls who entered this year, but last year I was the only girl, I've been the only girl entering at my schools for the past seven years and every year I get that same stink eye from the judges. They refuse to say my last name claiming that they don't know how to, but I'm pretty positive that it goes deeper than that.

I'm about to say something about my last name like I do every year, but I'm cut off by Pierre which shocks me. "Not to be rude or anything gentlemen, but my partner's last name is Sklodowska not Marie, that's just her first name as mine is Pierre." The judges look a bit taken back at first but quickly recover not wanting to show that he affected them in anyway. I need to remember to thank when they leave. "Well, yes of course, we're very sorry about that, sometimes we mess up and say the wrong thing. Now let's see this project of yours." One of the judges says probably trying to change the subject as quickly as possible. "Marie would you do the honors?" Pierre asks giving the stand to me.

     "Why of course Pierre. So to begin we did all of our research on radioactivity. We both saw it as an ire resting and open topic to explore, so after loads of research we found that it may be possible that there are other radioactive elements in the world that no one has found yet. With this hypothesis in mind we focused the rest of our research on radioactive elements and compounds. We not only found that uranium and thorium are radioactive, but we also discovered two new elements; and we call them polonium and radium. We have some examples here of how uranium and thorium are radioactive and here we have explanations of how we found polonium and radium. If you have any questions feel free to ask either me or my partner as we both worked diligently together on this project."

     With that Pierre and I stand back and let them look at our project. After what feels like forever they finally stop looking, ask us a few questions which we easily answer, and then off they go to the next person. I am so glad that's over with, but now I'm going to be nervous until the results come back. Now, wasn't there something I was supposed to remember? Oh right. "Pierre?" "Yeah Marie?" "Thanks for that, you know, sticking up for me to those judges. I really appreciate it." Whew glad that's off my chest. "Of course, they shouldn't treat you any differently just because your a girl. Your a great person Marie and I'm glad that you asked me to be you partner." I turn to side and blush a little before turning back to Pierre with a smile. "Thanks. So do you want to go get a look at the competition?" He nods and we step over to JJ's first.

     "Hey JJ! So how'd the experiment turn out?" I ask very interested in his work. "Well I found that cathode-rays are composed of particles, they're composed of negatively charged particles, electrons! Isn't that amazing?" He looks so happy and proud as he speaks. I walk around his booth and give home a huge hug. "You did great, I bet you'll get second place!" His smile drops for a second. "What? You expect me to not want first over you!" I say sarcastically and all three of us laugh.

     After JJ we start walking towards Max's booth. He came in a little later so we have to walk a bit further to get to his. When we're about have way to Max I feel Pierre slip his fingers through mine sending chills of happiness up my spine. I know I'm blushing by the time we reach Max, but I've had years of practice on controlling my emotions so I quickly jump into my more serious face as I speak to Max.

"Hey Max how's the fair going for you? Have the judges come by yet?"

"No, not yet, but it looks like they're getting closer so it shouldn't be that much longer."

"Well do you mind explaining to us what it is you have going on here?"

"Sure thing. So as you both know from the school news I conducted an experiment called Quanta where I measured wavelengths well, from that experiment I was able to create the Quantum theory!"

"That's amazing! Congrats! See you're a natural scientist, there's no need to worry about being a professor like your dad, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Well we better get going, the judges are almost here. I'll see you later."

"See you later, bye."

     I wave goodbye and walk of to more booths and all the while with Pierre's hand still linked with mine.