Science Fair Read Free

knowledgeable about their own projects. But they always won.
    It was widely believed among the rest of the Hubble students that the kids from Manor Estates cheated. The teachers had their suspicions as wel . In fact, six years ago, a veteran science teacher named Mrs. Feeney had gone so far as to reject a project brought in by an ME student, Taylor Niles, who happened to be the older brother of Jason Niles. Taylor claimed that he had made, al by himself, a powerful handheld laser. Mrs. Feeney doubted this, because—among other things—Taylor didn’t know how to spel “laser.” Taylor’s father, as it happened, was a very important man in Washington. Within a week, Mrs. Feeney had been transferred to another school. On her last day at Hubble, she went out to the parking lot to discover that somebody had burned twenty-seven smal circular holes through the steel body of her car. She was replaced at Hubble by Mr. Neckstrom, who never questioned anybody’s science-fair project.
    “Five thousand dol ars,” said Micah, as Mr. Neckstrom walked around the classroom, passing out the science-fair entry forms. “If I had that kind of money, I could—”
    “You could wake up,” said Tamara, “because you’d be dreaming. You’re not gonna win. One of them is gonna win.” She nodded toward the ME kids.
    “She’s right,” said Toby. “We don’t have a chance.” As he spoke, Jason Niles turned around and looked at him.
    “Hey, Hardbonger,” he cal ed. “When I win the five grand, maybe I’l buy you some decent shoes.”
    “If you win,” answered Toby, “maybe I’l explain your project to you.”
    A bunch of kids laughed, including even some ME kids. Jason reddened, giving Toby a look that said: You’ll be sorry you said that .

    Toby knew he should have kept his mouth shut. But he was angry. Five thousand dol ars meant nothing to Jason Niles’s family, but it would mean the world to Toby’s.
    Especial y now.
    “I got an idea,” said Micah.
    “Uh-oh,” said Tamara.
    “No, real y,” said Micah. “I’m gonna win it this year.”
    “How?” said Toby.
    Micah lowered his voice. “I’m gonna levitate a frog,” he said.
    Tamara shook her head sadly. “So young,” she said, “and already on drugs.”
    “No, real y,” said Micah. “I read about it in Wikipedia. These Dutch scientists made a frog float in the air. It’s cal ed dia…diamagnetism. You just need a frog and a magnet.”
    “He’s insane, right?” Tamara asked.
    “Actual y, no,” said Toby. “Some guys did levitate a frog. But you need, like, a superpowerful magnet.”
    “So, Micah,” said Tamara, “do you have a superpowerful magnet?”
    “No,” said Micah.
    “I see,” said Tamara.
    “But I have a frog,” said Micah. “His name is Fester.”
    Tamara turned to Toby and said, “He has a frog.”
    “Wel , then,” said Toby. “He’s halfway there.”

    I T WAS LUNCHTIME in the Hubble Middle School cafeteria, and Toby, Tamara, and Micah were sitting at the same table they always sat at, with the same kids they always sat with. At tables al around them several hundred other students were doing the same thing.
    Tamara examined the cafeteria’s featured lunch entrée, which consisted of yel owish brown lumps.
    “The menu says they’re nuggets,” she said. “But it doesn’t say what kind of nuggets.”
    “Chicken,” said Micah. He bit into one. “I think.”
    “Then why doesn’t the menu say chicken?” said Tamara. “For al we know it’s squirrel nuggets.”
    “If it’s squirrel,” said Micah, chewing, “it’s not bad.”
    “Maybe,” said David Wemplemeyer, whose nickname was Brad Pitt Wemplemeyer because he looked absolutely nothing whatsoever like Brad Pitt, “they don’t say what kind of nugget because there’s no meat at al . Maybe it’s just a blob of fried grease, a pure nugget, uncontaminated by food of any kind.”
    “Or maybe,” said Jennifer “Pencil” Wenzel—known as Pencil Wenzel,