XXVIII. Light(ning)

"Because death is the only thing that could have ever kept him from you." Ally Carter, Out of Sight, Out of Time ---- Chapter XXVIII – Light(ning) Four Years Earlier Mom pulled up out front of John Adams Junior High School. There was a huge banner strung across the front of the building welcoming everyone to the science fair that was being held today in the gym. I sat, completely nervous, with a cardboard box filled with my materials to present my energy project. I had rehearsed my project over and over. I had made Mom buy about twenty back up light globes from Walmart as a precaution in case nineteen of them didn't work. My posters were decorated with enough glitter to land an airplane. I just didn't want to embarrass myself. "You'll be fine, Sara," Mom assured me, tucking a piece of my hair behind my ear. "You know this project backwards and forwards. And so what if you don't win, you still learned something, and we need more girls in the science fields." I knew I wasn't going to win, although a five-thousand-dollar bond from the state for a college fund was a wonderful prize. I just wanted to get through my presentation without barfing. Mom leaned over and kissed my temple. "I wish I could be there," she said regretfully, "but I've got to get to work. Text me when you're finished and tell me how you went. I love you." I swallowed. "Love you, too, Mom," I rasped, lisping over my words thanks to my retainer. I carefully got out the car in the drop off line and juggled my bag and my box of materials. I turned around and smiled as Mom drove away. As soon as she was out of sight, I put my box on the floor and quickly took out my retainer and popped it in its case and slipped it inside my pocket, ready to be put back in when she picked me up. No way was I facing seventh graders talking like my mouth was full. I picked up my box again and made my way to the gym, which had been set up with hundreds of tables and chairs. Students were already setting up their projects, some of which I knew would be winning contenders. I found my science teacher to ask where my table was. Mrs Brady directed me to a dozen sheets that had been taped to the wall of the gym. I, along with several other students, studied the sheets to find where my table was. Bryant, Saraphine – 18 I found Table 18 on the map that was also taped to the wall and found my table a few minutes later. Setting my box down, I pulled out my project posters and began to organise them. My project was to study how chemical energy can convert into electrical energy by way of powering a light globe with a potato. My posters described the flow of electrical energy through a simple circuit. They explained why sometimes a light globe needed more than one battery to light up. I also studied into the history of electricity and electrical engineers and how they have developed the technology that we use today. I assembled three different electrical circuits, all exhibiting different voltages, inserting the zinc nails and the pennies into the potatoes, before testing the globes. When I was confident that all three globes were working, I took the wire off to save it for my presentation. Once I was set up, I took out my notes, and rehearsed what I was going to say in my head. Our teachers stopped us all as the first bell went, announcing that the judges would be starting to move around the fair, and that once we had been assessed, we would be free to roam around and check out other experiments. I had seen a few of my friends earlier, but due to our names being on opposite ends of the alphabet, their tables were far from mine. I wanted to check theirs out at some point. The fair was open to parents, and so many of them were wandering around, and the super-competitive ones were hyping up their kids' projects. I had a few linger over mine before moving on to a project where someone had built a freakin' robot. One of the dads did stop at my table though, lingering hesitantly as he looked at me, and then at the information over my shoulder. I didn't recognise him, but then with three hundred kids in the gym and their six hundred parents, why would I? He was younger than a lot of dads here, with fashionably unkempt dark hair, and a five o'clock shadow. He was very tall, and very fit, as though he enjoyed going to the gym. The idea made me shudder. He was dressed very smartly, with a button-down blue shirt, and black fitted pants. The sticky label on his chest told me his name was Ronan. "Saraphine?" he asked, reading off the label on my table. His voice was deep, and it had a slight Southern twang to it. He kind of reminded me of my mom's accent. "Sara," I corrected. Ronan smiled. "Ah, well I have a little rule I go by where I call people by the names their parents gave them." Okay then. "Saraphine is kind of a mouthful," I replied. "I'm sure it means something really pretty, though," he offered, shrugging. He approached my table and started to read my project, looking thoroughly intrigued. "Are you here seeing your kid's project?" I asked. He nodded, while reading, before meeting my eyes. "Yes, I'm here to see my daughter." My phone buzzed as he was reading, and I saw that my Mom had sent me a picture of her. She was sitting in traffic but was giving me a cheesy smile while giving me a thumbs up. She'd captioned it, "Cheering my girl on in traffic!" I smiled, letting out a soft chuckle. Ronan furrowed his brows. "Something funny?" I nodded. "Just my mom," I said, spinning my phone around to show him the picture. He reacted quite strangely, tensing and swallowing hard. Before I had the chance to ask him if he was okay, he said, "I bet she's real proud of you." "Yeah," I agreed. My mom was my biggest cheerleader. I knew she was very proud of me. The judges then rolled around to me, seeing as my name was at the beginning of the alphabet. Ronan hung back but stayed to watch my presentation. Taking a deep breath, I began the speech that I had rehearsed so many times. Thankfully, the light globes didn't falter, and all three lit up like they were supposed to. I was able to successfully demonstrate how chemical energy turned into electrical energy using a potato battery. I also didn't stumble over any words thanks to sneakily removing my retainer. "Well done, Sara," commended Mrs Brady, as the judges made intimidating notes on their clipboards. "I can see you've put a lot of time and effort into this project. You can now go around and have a look at other projects if you like." I let out a sigh of relief as I disconnected the wires from my potatoes. "You're a very smart girl, Saraphine," Ronan commended. "I'm sure both of your parents are very proud of you." He offered me a prideful smile before turning away and moving off, no doubt to look at his own child's project. Hmm, I thought, he was friendly. ---- Did anyone else do that or was it just me? I had a retainer when I got my braces off and as much as they all said I would get used to it, I didn't! I couldn't talk and I salivated like crazy. Gross. Mum would drop me off as school and I would quickly take it out and carry on with my day. Then when I was leaving school I'd pop it back in. I only recently told her this and she was not happy hahahaha. But I'm seeing the Lion King in t minus 3 hours woooo. I've seen reviews saying "Oh, it's the same as the original!" and I'm thinking that's a bad thing? The Lion King was perfect. Elton John (WHO I AM FREAKING SEEING IN CONCERT IN FEBRUARY WOOOOOO) did the friggin music! I don't want the Lion King changed hahaha. Whereas with Aladdin, I appreciated that they updated the sexist things, like making Jasmine the sultan rather than Aladdin which I always thought was strange. The UK only just changed those laws recently too