Small Town Girl (Farkle Minkus)

Chapter Thirty-Two: Girl Meets Don't Think I Can

That's just what we did. We watched movies, talked, played games, until by the end of the night we settled into our sleeping bags. I stared up at the ceiling.

"Is anyone else awake?"

"I'm pretty sure we all are." Maya answered.

"I've missed this. All of us just hanging out, laughing without a care in the world." Riley said. "Thank you for making us do this, Skipper."

"You're welcome. I can't say it wasn't a bit selfish though."

"How so?" Lucas asked.

"You guys are the only family I have left." I whispered. Farkle's hand found mine, intertwining our fingers. "I love you guys."

"We love you too."

~~~

So, we went back to school, and mostly everything was returned back to normal.

"Boo, this class." Maya said, walking into the chemistry lab.

"Do you even know which one it is?"

"I'm gonna need a clue." She said, picking up a beaker full of water.

"Doo dah, doo dah, doo doo dah, da-da-dah- da-da dah ." MY boyfriend sang, strolling into the room.

"Science."

"Morning, Farkle. What's new?" Our teacher asked.

"I'm reading this great book on anti-gravity. I can't put it down."

"Ha!"

"Ha!"

"Why? Why are you like this?" I asked, laughing.  

"I hate this class." Maya took her seat next to Lucas, me next to Farkle, and Riley next to Toby. (A made up kid)

"Ladies and Gentleman. I invite you to join me on a journey of discovery. Your midterm experiment."  We all groaned.

"Yay!" Farkle said.

"In front of you, each team will find a beaker of a clear, liquid solution. And next to that, and here's where it gets exciting, a mystery marble. Right after school, precisely at 3:15, one member of each team will drop the marble into the beaker. the elements in the marble will break down over night and turn into sludge. Then the other team member sill discover what that sludge is and what it takes to turn the beaker back to clear. "

"Which one does what?" I asked.

"That's up to you. You're a team. Divide the responsibilities as you see fit. I've been conducting this experiment for thirty-five years. I've kept thorough notes.  Very few have cracked it."

"Well, you could add my name to your journal right now, sir."

"I hope so, Farkle. Let the games begin!"

"Ok, Skipper. You drop the marble, I'll figure out the sludge, and earn us yet another A."

"Well, why don't we both try to figure out the sludge?"

"Because he said one person does one job." I nodded.

"He also said that we could divide up responsibilities as we see fit."

"Let's just stick with one person per job."

"Ok, you drop the marble then."

"I am the scientist around here."

"Well, why can't-"

"You do want an 'A' don't you?" I raised my eyebrows.

~~~

When I walked back into the science room after school, it was full of girls. Maya and Riley came in.

"Now I see it."

"I see nothing unusual." Maya told her.

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" I asked.

"Social Injustice." We said together.

"Drop your marbles and go." Maya said.

"If you drop these marbles you are buying into a system where the women, what? Buy shoes? While the men learn the science."

"Shoes. Let's go."

"The system works." The girls dropped their marbles and left.

"No. Maya, I am very disappointed in our sisters. They don't believe we can do what boys can do?"

"Chi. Mi. Chan. Ga." She went to drop her marble when Riley stopped her.

"You are not going to drop your marble."

"Oh, I'm gonna drop my marble, but to make you feel better, I'm gonna drop it like a dude. Maya, hoo, takes the inbound pass, she dribbles down the court three seconds left on the clock. Her opponent's a tall useless girl, Maya fakes left, turns right, she shoots, scores! Nothing but beaker!Your turn, goose."

"Nope. I'm not doing it. You with me?"

"Yes." I nodded.

~~~

The next day, Farkle came in singing again. He stopped when he saw a clear beaker. I crossed my arms, holding up my marble. He pointed between them, and fainted.

"What happened? Science is my favorite time of day. What happened? I'm gonna retrace my steps." He left, coming back in. "Oh. That's the reason right there." He fainted again. I looked down at him.

"You had one job to do."

"And I tried to tell you that I wanted to equally distribute the work. You wouldn't listen, so here we are. I'm not dropping the marble, despite how adorable you look in that shirt."

"How could you let her do this?" He asked Riley and Maya. Riley's partner switched with her easily.

"Have you met her? What're we gonna do?" Maya asked.

"Skipper, you don't actually think Farkle had you drop the marble because you're a girl, do you?" Lucas threw in.

"Why not? I mean, look at them. Aside from Toby, who is clearly more open to things, all the marble-droppers were girls."

"That's interesting, isn't it?" The teacher asked.

"What is that, anyways?"

"It's a redo. She failed, I didn't. I want a redo! I want a redo, man!'

"No redo. Equal responsibility. One shared grade. "

"Hear that, Farkle? Equal."

"Why are you doing this?" He asked.

"Because you don't think I can."

"That's not true." I raised my eyebrows.

"You want an A, don't you?" I repeated. "You don't believe I can do it..." I trailed off, a realization hitting me. "Not only that, you don't want me to."

"What?"

"You said that you didn't want me to be genius because you wanted to be with someone different. But what if you don't want me to be a genius because you don't want me to overshadow you."

"Come on, Skipper. That's ridiculous." Lucas tried.

"Is it thought?" I asked. Farkle didn't reply. "If that's true, then...I don't know if this relationship can continue."

"Skipper..."Farkle said. I just shook my head, leaving the classroom.