Science Fair Read Free Page A

because she was very skinny, a redhead, and always wore yel ow—“food scientists have created a new genetic mutant species of animal that’s actual y cal ed a ‘nugget.’ It’s this little hairless blob of meat that has no head or feet or anything, so it’s real easy to prepare. You just hit it with a hammer and pop it into the fryer.”
    Everyone laughed except Tamara.
    “I hear,” said Brad Pitt Wemplemeyer, “that they’re working on an improved nugget species that you don’t even have to hit with a hammer. You just whistle, and it rol s into the fryer on its own.”
    “That’s disgusting,” said Tamara.
    “Wel , you’re the one who’s eating it,” said Brad Pitt Wemplemeyer.
    “Speaking of disgusting,” said Micah, “what’s your lunch today, Toby?”
    Toby was peering into a paper bag. His mom always packed his lunch. His parents believed cafeteria food was unhealthy. In fact, as a general rule they believed that any food humans enjoyed was unhealthy. On Hal oween, they gave out carrot sticks. The day after Hal oween, there were discarded carrot sticks al over their lawn and usual y toilet paper on their house.
    Toby reached into the bag and pul ed out something wrapped in a paper towel. He unwrapped it and, sighing, set it in front of him.
    Micah leaned over to have a look.
    “Toby,” he said, “did your mom send the wrong bag? Because that looks like a stool sample for the vet.”
    “It’s a tofu enchilada,” said Toby. Toby’s mom believed that tofu had a near-miraculous ability to masquerade as any other kind of food—that if a lump of tofu was shaped like something, it would also taste like that thing. Thanksgiving in Toby’s house was a nightmare.
    He was about to attempt to eat his tofu enchilada when he felt something cold and slimy land on his neck, fol owed by laughter from the Manor Estates kids’ table.
    He did not turn around.
    “What is it?” he said.
    The others examined his neck.
    “Yogurt,” said Pencil Wenzel. “Peach, I think.”
    Toby tore off a piece of the paper towel that held his tofu enchilada and wiped his neck.
    “Who threw it?” he said.
    Brad Pitt Wemplemeyer looked over at the ME table and said, “Judging from how hard he’s laughing, it’s The Ferret again.” The Ferret was Farrel Plinkett, who lately had begun amusing himself by flinging food at Toby’s table. The Ferret was also one of the few ME kids not physical y capable of beating Toby up.
    “Okay then,” said Toby. He picked up his tofu enchilada and walked to the line of garbage and recycling cans at the end of the cafeteria. Then, staying by the wal , he walked al the way around to the other side of the cafeteria, so he could approach the ME kids’ table from the opposite direction. The ME kids didn’t see him coming; they were deep in conversation, hunched forward over the table, heads close together. The Ferret had his back to Toby. As Toby approached, Jason Niles was talking, sounding angry. Toby stopped as he heard:
    “Fifty dollars ?” Jason was saying.
    “That’s what was in the note,” said Haley Hess. “Cash, put the envelope in the regular place, get your plans tomorrow.”
    “But fifty,” said Jason. “Last year it was twenty-five.”
    “Like you don’t have fifty dol ars,” said Harmonee Prescott, who was considered to be almost as hot overal as Haley Hess, and hotter in some specific areas. “You just get the money from your dad anyway.”
    “I know,” said Jason, “but…”
    “Hey!” said Haley, noticing Toby. “What’s he doing here?”
    As the ME kids turned, Toby stepped forward and grabbed the back of The Ferret’s pants. The Ferret liked his pants loose and baggy, so there was plenty of room for Toby to pul the waistband out, deposit his tofu enchilada, and let go.
    “Hey!” shouted The Ferret, scrambling to his feet, hands groping his buttular area. “Hey!”
    The rest of the ME kids were also on their feet, with the boys, especial y the