SCIENCE FAIR

Peter Haarmann

Chapter I

“All right, all right, that’s enough. I need you to take your seats. I have something important to discuss with you. That’s it. Theresa, place that back on the parts table. Jimmy, do me a favor and set up the smart board, please.”

Mr. Ruiz looks serious so we take our seats and pay close attention. He attaches his computer to the smart board, types a few words and a document appears on the board.

“ As you can see I have received an email from the science department. It concerns this year’s Middle School Science Fair. Terry, dim the lights, will you?” I step to the light switches on the wall and they dim, making the words on the smart board clearer. “Thanks, Terry, now read along as I read to you.”

Twenty-five sets of eyes are drawn to the image plastered on the board. In front of us are the rules and regulations for this year’s science fair at Knollwood Middle School. I sneak a look at Jack two rows over and one seat up. Sure enough, he’s riveted to the words on the screen. He’s been waiting an entire year for this to avenge last year’s “defeat” as he calls it. Reminding him over and over that third place cannot really be called a “defeat” hasn’t changed his mind one bit. He wants first, the gold, the top prize. I watch as he takes out his notebook and begins writing all the information from the board. Luke taps me on the shoulder and points at Jack. He pokes me again and when I turn he points to Pep in the row next to the windows and starts quietly laughing. Pep’s balancing a pencil on his nose and twirling his fingers around his ears. For a second I wonder if this is Pep’s science fair experiment, but, hey, it’s Pep, so I chalk it up to the other one hundred things I will never understand about my buddy. If I ask him later what he was doing he’ll just go into some long explanation about the perfect symmetry of a No. 2 pencil and that to test the symmetry he wanted to see if he could balance the pencil on his nose for a period of time. Making believe I’ve accepted his explanation, I would ask about the circling fingers. To provide an equal amount of air and pressure from either side so the pencil doesn’t tilt too strongly to one side and therefore fall off, or something similar would be the response. I’ve learned to merely accept whatever Pep says. “You may want to take out your notebooks and copy down what you see here. Jack, I see you’ve beaten me to it. Looks like someone has his eyes on first prize this year, doesn’t it.

The letter begins: