Friday Barnes 2 by R. A. Spratt

Author:R. A. Spratt
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Random House Australia
Published: 2015-09-05T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

A Secret in the Woods

It was mandatory for students at Highcrest Academy to join at least one extracurricular club. Friday had pointed out to the Headmaster that by making an activity compulsory, it therefore was no longer extracurricular but, rather, curricular. The Headmaster simply told her to ‘be quiet and go back to class’.

Naturally the first club Friday joined was the science club. It was run by one of Friday’s favourite teachers, Mr Davies. There was very little he could teach Friday that she didn’t already know. But what she liked about Mr Davies was his enthusiasm. The delight he took in explaining the process of osmosis, the genuine wonder with which he held the periodic table and the excitement he felt for Newtonian physics was contagious. For Mr Davies, every day spent exploring science was as fun as a day at Disney land, something Mr Davies also highly recommended, because there is no better place to study gravity, momentum and centrifugal force than in the loop-da-loop of a rollercoaster.

The science club had spent the previous two weeks observing oral bacteria, by spitting into petri dishes then watching what grew. It was a disgusting but educational exercise. This week’s meeting was promising to be even more exciting. They were going to explore aeronautical physics by building rockets. The student whose rocket flew the highest would get a bar of chocolate.

Friday was pouring all her knowledge of physics into building the most aerodynamically pure and chemically potent rocket she possibly could.

Melanie helped, of course. It was her job to sit at the desk so that she blocked Ian’s view of what Friday was doing.

‘Are we all ready?’ asked Mr Davies. He was holding his own bright red rocket, which was about the size of a postal tube and had flickering flames painted on the side. He was practically dancing from foot to foot with excitement. ‘Then let’s go.’

The students got up from their desks and made their way with their rockets to the door. The rockets were going to be fired from the school cricket pitch. A vertical measure had been erected, and a high-speed camera was being used so that the flights could be accurately gauged.

‘I don’t know why you’re bothering, Barnes,’ said Ian as the bottleneck of the doorway drew him and Friday together. ‘This is a real practical experiment, not a hypothetical mind game like you usually play.’

‘I’m perfectly capable of transferring my intellectual knowledge to real-world scenarios,’ said Friday.

‘Really?’ said Ian. ‘But you apparently can’t manage the simple real-world task of tying your shoelaces.’

Friday looked down. ‘What are you talking about?’ she asked. ‘They’re tied.’

‘Yes, but you doubted yourself enough that you had to check, didn’t you?’ said Ian. ‘Let’s see if you have the same faith in your rocket.’

‘Oooh,’ said Melanie. ‘You should write down some of this witty byplay so you can read the transcripts to your grandchildren one day.’

‘I didn’t know Barnes and Wainscott were planning to start a family,’ said Christopher.

Friday blushed. She didn’t realise that Christopher was standing close by.

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