"I, um... I've been busy. I kind of forgot about it." That was odd. When the teacher had given the class the assignment he'd come home incredibly excited and had started planning his project straight away.
"I thought I saw you making a volcano out of chicken wire and clay last week?" I asked. Michael scowled at me; his head slunk down until his chin nearly touched his dinner.
"That project sucked," he said. "I'm... not doing that anymore."
Luke shoveled an enormous piece of potato into his mouth and proceeded to chew, his cheeks bulging like a chipmunk stashing nuts. "You suck!" he managed to say, and he grinned, pleased with himself, chewed potato oozing out of his mouth.
"Don't be gross," I said.
"Do something Tom," said Aunt Janet. She was trying hard not to lose her temper in front of Aric. Uncle Tom tapped his fork against Luke's plate.
"If you're going to eat like an animal you can have your dinner in the barn."
Michael glared across at Luke, but remained silent. Aunt Janet threw Aric an apologetic glance. He didn't seem worried about the boys' antics; he was doing a pretty thorough job of devouring his dinner himself. Farm chores work up an appetite.
In an effort to defuse the boys' argument, I asked Michael about his project. He just shrugged, but continued to scowl at his dinner. He was lining up his peas in a double row at the side of his plate, he hadn't eaten a thing.
Uncle Tom refilled his glass with water. "You're going to have to come up with something fast. You've only got two days to do it."
"I can't think of anything..." Michael stabbed his fork into a piece of potato and swirled it around the lumpy gravy.
"What was wrong with the volcano project? I think it looked pretty cool!" I offered, hoping to cheer him up. The reaction I got was unexpected. He slammed his fork down on the table, and glared at me.
"I told you! It was a dumb idea! Why don't you all just leave me alone?!"
Pushing his chair back violently, he stalked out of the room, leaving the rest of us sitting in dumbstruck, uncomfortable silence. Uncle Tom put down his fork. "I'll see what's up."
Aric and I were washing the dishes when Michael appeared in the kitchen. He grabbed a tea towel.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you Lucy," he said sheepishly.
"No problem." I said with a grin, giving him a playful flick with my own tea towel. He flicked me back, but his answering grin quickly disappeared and he grabbed a glass from the sink and dried it gloomily.
Michael was usually bright and cheerful, enthusiastic to the point of fanatical when he was really into something. The sulking and outburst had been out of character. There was something not quite right about this science project business.
Evidently, Aric was thinking the same thing. "So if you need a hand with your project, I can help," he offered, adding more hot water to the sink full of soapy bubbles in front of him.
"I don't know what to do. Everything takes too much time, or is too hard."
"The trick is to find something you're really interested in." Aric scraped the few remaining peas from a pot and dunked it into the water. "So what kind of science do you like?"
Michael shrugged. "I don't know..."
"Biology? Chemistry? How about Physics?"
"I don't even know what all those are."
Aric placed the pot on to the dish drainer and reached for the gravy pot. As usual, I had burned the bottom, and it would be a monumental task scrubbing it clean. He threw an amused glance at me and raised an eyebrow, his eyes twinkling.
"Sorry," I said. "The stove went haywire. You've probably noticed me and technology don't get along."
Laughing, he turned back to the sink. "Maybe you could write a paper on how Lucy managed to achieve such impressive lumps in the gravy?"
"It's an exact science," I replied cheerfully. "Only us geniuses can do it."
"Oh, a genius, are you?" Aric teased. "Well, scientific genius, maybe you could devise a Nobel winning project for Michael?"
"Bring it on! Nuclear Physics, Astronomy, or is that Astrology? I can never remember which one's which. Anyway, bring it. I'm your man. I mean girl."
He was chuckling now. "How about Quantum Mechanics?"
Michael and I looked at him blankly.
"You know - String Theory? M Theory?"
He was greeted by more bewildered stares. I'd heard the terms before, but I didn't really understand what they meant.
"The theory of everything," he continued. "How everything - the universe, us, energy, other dimensions - how everything came into being, how everything... well, just is."
Michael perked up. "Did you say 'other dimensions'?"
"Well, yeah, the theory is far from perfect. They haven't got it right yet, but it's pretty cool anyway."
"Yeah, but what about the other dimensions? Do you mean like a star gate?" Michael's imagination was ignited. Aric turned back to the sink and made an inordinate show of scraping a stubborn lump off the gravy pot.
"That's what the theories propose," he said.
Michael's enthusiasm for his project returned. "I want to do my project on star gates! Tell me about this string thingy!"
"String Theory. And M Theory. It's not just about star gates you know. It's a bit complicated. You've heard of atoms right?" Aric then launched into a lecture which went right over my head. I heard words like 'quarks' and 'superstrings' and something about vibrating membranes. After a few minutes my brain felt ready to implode, but Michael seemed fascinated. I had no idea how he kept up, considering he was only ten years old. In comparison I felt kind of, well... dumb.
"Maybe this would be too much for a middle school?" I suggested.
"No, it's great!" Michael was just about jumping up and down with enthusiasm. "Tell me about the dimensions. Where are the portals?"
Aric gave a barely audible sigh, and pulled the plug out of the sink. "Lucy's right. It's probably too complicated for your class to understand. You should probably do something else."
Michael shook his head vehemently. "I want to do star gates!"
I tried to shake him off. "You've only got two days to do it. Why don't you keep going with the volcano?"
His scowl returned, and he turned on me. "I told you - that project sucked. And besides... someone else is doing it."
"There's no reason why you couldn't do yours on volcanoes too. We'll help you - yours will be the best one there."
Michael gave a sigh of exasperation. "You don't get it - I can't do the volcano! I have to do something else." He threw the dish towel on the counter and slammed the kitchen cupboard door shut. "Look, forget it. I'll do it by myself." He stomped out of the room, and I went to follow him, but Aric put a staying hand on my arm.
"Leave him," he said. "Something's bothering him. I'll go and see if I can talk to him." He looked down at me. My eyes were level with his chin. I'm sure the moment was only fleeting, but it seemed like time was suspended. I felt the warmth of his hand on my arm through my sleeve, and his eyes drew mine - I couldn't look away even if I'd wanted to.
"He'll be okay," he said quietly. "Don't worry." I felt a warm tide of tranquility sweep over me, and Aric raised his hand to graze the hair back from my temple. He smiled and it was as though a switch had been flicked to turn off my besotted gawking. I blushed and moved away awkwardly, trying hard to resume a normal disposition. I realized I'd forgotten all about Michael's dilemma for a moment.
Aric left to talk to Michael, and I finished tidying the kitchen. I was just hanging up the tea towel when Michael and Aric appeared again. Michael was in fine spirits once more, and they bustled about the kitchen collecting the things they'd need for the exhibit.
"Aric's helping me build a star gate," Michael declared as he opened a cupboard. He pulled out a big plastic bowl, dislodging the rest of the over-stuffed cupboard's contents, which clattered on to the floor. I looked at Aric in surprise. How was he going to build a star gate for a middle school science fair?
"Not a star g
ate," Aric said with a grin. "We're going to illustrate the concept of M-theory... sort of. It's going to be a watered down version of it, seeing as it's for ten year olds."
He took the dish washing liquid from under the kitchen sink, and helped Michael shove the rest of the bowls back in the cupboard.
"We'll need some wire. I think I saw some in the barn."
"I have a wire coat hanger." I offered helpfully. I still wasn't sure how he could illustrate quantum mechanics with a few kitchen things.
"Thanks, but I think the stuff in the barn will do." He threw the bottle into the plastic bowl and headed to the door.
"Don't forget paper and a pen, Michael. We've got to document what we're doing, and you'll need to be able to explain all this on the day."
With that, they went off to the barn to work on the assignment, and I barely saw either of them until Wednesday night at dinner time. Michael was so excited about the project he was just about bouncing off the walls.
"This is going to be so much better than the volcano. Everyone does volcanoes. Simon Thorpe is going to be spewin' when he sees mine." Michael didn't even frown when a couple of spoonfuls of peas were placed on his plate.
"Who's Simon Thorpe?" I asked.
Aric leaned toward my ear. "Michael's arch enemy, apparently," he said in a low voice. His warm breath tickled my ear and gave me goose bumps. I blushed and shoveled mashed potato on to my plate in an effort to cover my awkwardness.
"Hey, are you going to leave any for anyone else?" Uncle Tom eyed the mounds of potato in front of me, amusement in his eyes. I'd unthinkingly spooned eight big piles on to my plate. My blush deepened.
"Sorry," I murmured. "I wasn't really paying attention."
Uncle Tom grinned. "Evidently," was all he said.
"Anyway," Michael continued, oblivious to my discomfort, "the science fair starts at six tomorrow. You're coming, right Dad?"
"Of course."
"And Aric, you're coming too, right?"
Aric swallowed a mouthful of peas. "I wouldn't miss it!"
"What about me?!" I asked, after waiting for an invitation.
"You and Mom always come to my stuff. You don't need an invitation. It's a given you'll be there."
I was kind of pleased by his answer. It was nice to know he was under the impression I was always there for him.
"Aric's going to help me set the star gate up after school. I'll just stay after school and you can meet me there at six." He had it all worked out. He was elated, and even ate the zucchini Aunt Janet placed on his plate without complaint. It seemed, compared to the night before, Aric had produced a miracle in the form of a 'star gate', and Michael felt invincible.
* * * * *
On the day of the science fair, I decided to walk from my high school to Michael's school and see how he and Aric were getting on with setting up the project. I spotted Aric's truck in the parking lot, and, as usual, gave myself a stern talking to as my heart began to beat faster at the prospect of seeing him again soon. His affect on me was ridiculous, and Alison's words 'be cool' reverberated around my head. I wondered whether he'd even noticed all the times I'd acted like a blushing, infatuated idiot around him. He didn't seem to react or give anything away which would point to him noticing my silly antics. He was either being very polite, or was used to that reaction from women.
I followed the hand-made signs which pointed the way to the science fair; it was being held in the school auditorium, the projects set up on various tables positioned about the room. The audience was expected to go from table to table to watch the budding scientists give a short talk and demonstrate their area of 'expertise'. I noted there were no less than eight volcano displays dotted about the room. Michael had been right - 'everyone' seemed to be doing volcanoes. There was one massively tall, elaborate volcano in pride of place at the center of the room. Its six foot high clay sides were adorned with bushes, trees and plastic animals much like the ones Michael used in his model railway back at home. This was one super volcano; the kid who had made this one had put a lot of effort into it.
I found Michael and Aric at the back of the room. Aric was holding up a poster, while Michael, standing on a chair, was pinning it to a portable notice board with thumbtacks. They had tied a large string of balloons together to form a big colorful arch over the table, and it made a big improvement to the table's rather unimpressive setup: a green plastic bowl from the kitchen, some wire fashioned into a loop with a handle, a few lengths of rope, and the bottle of dish washing liquid.
"Hey, it's looking pretty cool! Love the balloons!" I ducked under the balloons beside the table, and immediately regretted it.
"Watch the string!"
I realized, too late, that fishing line, so fine it was barely visible, was strung between the balloons and the top of the notice board in a fine, interweaving mesh. My hair tangled in the web.
"Lucy! You're wrecking it!" Michael jumped down from his chair. His head cleared the mesh easily.
"I'm sorry!" I tried to untangle my hair from the fishing line, but my useless endeavors just resulted in the balloon archway listing to one side. Aric was there in an instant.
"Hold still," he said, as he proceeded to untangle my hair. "You really should be more careful around star gates." His eyes crinkled with amusement; his lopsided smile made my heart pound like bongo drums.
"Yeah, well, you could have warned me star gates are so technologically advanced they're made with invisible fishing line. What's it for anyway? Trapping evil aliens?"
For a fraction of a second, I thought I saw his face tense, but then the fleeting look was gone, and he was laughing along with Michael.
"Nothing that sinister. We're hanging stars from it." He picked up a plastic bag and handed it to me. "You can make yourself useful and help Michael hang these while I try and salvage the balloons."
The bag contained pre-cut silver cardboard stars, a roll of fishing line and a pair of scissors. Aric had thought of everything, producing a hole punch from a bag so we could make a hole in each star to tie with the fishing line. I stood at the table with Michael, preparing the stars so they could be hung from the mesh overhead, while Aric battled the sagging archway of balloons.
I feared I'd done some permanent damage to the balloons, as they refused to reform into the lovely, perfectly balanced arch they had formed before. As soon as Aric pushed one side up, the other would lurch about and buckle.
A large, heavyset boy sauntered past, and smirked at the collapsing archway.
"Holding a wedding are we, eh Cordingley?"
Michael's posture shrank, and he shuffled closer to me.
"It's a star gate, Simon" he said, his voice high pitched and thin.
The boy scoffed. "Balloons and stars? Aw, how pretty! You gonna hang fairies from there too?" He laughed at what he thought had been a hilarious joke. He leaned over the table, his weight making the folding table's legs creak.
"What exactly do you think you're doing?" I asked.
"Just looking to see if he brought along a tiara to wear. You know, to go with the fairies and stars."
Michael's face reddened, and he opened his mouth to say something, but he obviously couldn't think of a proper retort. I knew his pain. He was like me - never able to think of a scathing reply until it was too late. I felt for the poor little kid. I just wanted to deck the nasty creep.
Aric let go of the balloons, straightened and tapped the boy on the shoulder.
"Is that your display?" he asked, pointing to the massive volcano in the center of the room, which was now listing to the left at an alarming angle. "Because if it is, I think you'd better go rescue it."
The boy looked across at the volcano, threw Michael the dirtiest of looks, then raced off to save his exhibit.
"I hope it falls over all together," I said, handing Michael another star to thread.
"No! Don't say that!" Michael's outburst was unexpected.
"Why not? He's an ass and deserves it."
> Michael shrugged and looked uncomfortable. He made a show of concentrating on threading his star.
"Just... because."
Aric caught my eye and shook his head slightly. I didn't press Michael about it.
We continued hanging the stars, and Aric managed to fix the balloons. Once we'd finished, we stepped back and admired our handy work. The green plastic container may not have been very impressive, but the 'star gate' of balloons with its cardboard and fishing line galaxy looked pretty darned spectacular. Michael was beaming from ear to ear, the confrontation with Simon forgotten.
Aric shoved the various tools back into the plastic bag, and placed the bag on the floor out of sight of the prospective audience.
"So, how about some ice cream before the science fair starts?" he suggested. I checked my watch - we had an hour to kill, and there was an ice cream store just a five minute walk down the road.
Michael was all for it, so we headed for the store and bought ice cream, deciding to take it back to the school to eat in the school's playground area. Aric and I perched on the railing of a monkey bars and watched Michael scurrying all over the playground equipment, somehow managing to hang on to his half eaten ice cream. You would never know that in less than half an hour he would have to stand up in front of an audience and talk about quantum mechanics.
"Are you sure he knows what to say about that thing you guys built? I mean, it looks great and all, but if he can't say something scientific about it, well, it's all pretty useless."
Aric, having finished his ice cream, jumped down from his perch on the monkey bar, and strolled to a nearby trash can where he deposited the empty stick. "Of course. He knows a very basic version of it. He's got palm cards if he forgets." He hoisted himself gracefully back on to the metal bar and made himself comfortable.
"What did you think of that Simon kid's volcano?" he asked.
I wrinkled my nose. "I hated it. A piece of crap," I said loyally, even though I thought it was actually incredibly impressive.
Starcrossed: Perigee - A paranormal romance trilogy Page 4
