Izzy Newton and the S.M.A.R.T. Squad No. 2: Newton's Flaw
Now it was October It was the first sunny day in a week and the girls had rushed up after lunch to enjoy a few minutes of sunshine before their afternoon classes Izzy felt on top of the world or at least the part of it that mattered to her She sighed Isn’t this place The Best It’s great said Marie Great doesn’t touch it corrected Allie Einstein The roof is great multiplied by googolplex You can see the whole wide world from up here Charlie Darwin didn’t say anything She was doing a series of warm-up exercises raising her arms high over her head taking deep breaths of the warm October air The girls had transformed a protected corner into a private hangout Pooling their talents they’d created a habitat that was part jungle part greenscape Charlie who was really into biology had transplanted pumpkin vines into long wooden boxes Marie crazy for chemistry had used compost to concoct an organic fertilizer so potent the pumpkin vines went bonkers overflowing the boxes Physicist Izzy had made pinwheels that stopped the birds from pecking at the tiny pumpkins And Allie the math whiz had written a 8
atom middle school's pop up science fair the countdown has begun atom middle school's pop up science fair blasts off in ten days be ready to launch your project ignite your imaginations get your brains fired up computer program to measure hours of sunlight and their effect on the pumpkins growth Just then their friend Gina Carver burst through the door She was wearing her backpack which like her locker pockets room at home and brain was overstuffed and overflowing with a crazy collection of things and ideas for her potential engineering projects Gina knelt beside the contraption she’d invented to collect rainwater and automatically sprinkle it on the pumpkin plants on dry days How’s it working she asked It’s dripping beautifully said Izzy Suddenly a piece of paper flew out of Gina’s backpack Allie caught it just as it swirled up into the sky As she read the paper Allie shouted Guess what guess what guess what There’s going to be a pop up science fair 9
The Countdown Has Begun Atom Middle School’s pop up Science Fair blasts off in ten days Be ready to launch your project Ignite your imaginations Get your brains fired up Allie read from the paper Say again said Charlie upside down in a headstand What’s that asked Marie A pop up science fair Allie repeated impatiently waving the paper above her head Her bright blond hair stood up as if electrified looking as excited as Allie sounded It’s only the coolest thing ever Never heard of it said Marie Where have you been living Marie asked Allie Under a rock years remember rolling her eyes No said Marie tartly I lived in Paris the last two As if you would ever let us forget it said Allie Izzy leapt in to keep the peace My brothers told me about pop-ups They’re sort of like a combination race and contest and exhibition I don’t get it said Charlie 10
Allie explained Instead of the same old same old science fair experiments that drag on forever the idea is that you get only 10 days from start to finish to do your project Bing bang bong More like the way it is for working scientists said Izzy who have to produce under time pressure Or think of the astronauts on Apollo 13 where they had a do or die deadline to fix the module or be lost in space When does the countdown to this pop up thing start asked ever practical Gina Now cheered Allie raising both arms Fabuloso said Charlie still upside down Get a load of us excited about a time sensitive science fair laughed Marie Are we geeks or what She pointed to the rooftop pumpkin patch Any normal person would say that up here the science fair has already begun You’ve got a head start Gina You can enter your rain catcher No no no Allie contradicted We should do a project together The five of us one project right Savage said Gina The other girls were used to Gina’s hipster way of flipping words so that they meant 11
