Finally My Forever (7 page)

They clapped at the potential of it going that high.

"Now, it's your job to guess which one will be the highest."

I came out from behind the table and gave them each a pair of safety goggles even though they wouldn't really need them from their place several feet away. I gave them each a handout with pre-drawn bottles and a pencil to record our results.

"We have Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, root beer, Coke Zero, and orange soda. You'll see six bottles on your piece of paper. Each of them is marked with a different type of soda." I glanced at the crowd behind the students. "Parents, they might need a little assistance keeping their data straight if you don't mind."

I shifted my attention back to the students. "You can draw your results above the little bottles, or you can simply write down how high you think it was or which one was the highest. There are no rules with how to chart your results. I just wanted you to have a piece of paper so you can keep track if you want to."

"When's it gonna explode?" one of the girls said, staring at the bottles with wide-eyed timidity.

I smiled. "As soon as I add the candy, but you'll be fine, I promise."

Chapter 9

The key was to add all five candies as quickly as possible. I had a little tube shaped contraption that helped me add them all at once. I explained to them what I was doing as I loaded the tube with candy. Aside from a little traffic noise and a barking dog in the distance, you could have heard a pin drop. They watched intently as I stood poised to drop the candies into the first bottle.

"You'll notice that I emptied out some of the liquid already," I said, pointing with my free hand to the two-liter. "I emptied the same amount out of each one, so they'll all have an even chance at winning the contest."

"What's the contest," Thomas blurted out, swaying front and back with excitement.

"Well, once we're done we'll see which one has the least liquid. If it has less liquid at the end, that means more of it came out during the experiment." I used my hand to demonstrate a gushing motion, which made them all laugh and clap. "All right, so I want you to get it in your head which one you think will be the winner. You don't have to say it out loud, but I want you to think about which one will have the highest geyser."

"What's a geyser?" one of them said, raising her hand.

"It's the shape the soda takes when it spews out of the top of the bottle. It looks like water coming out of a hose. So think about which one you think will have the biggest geyser—that'll be the winner. You can write it down on your paper if you want."

I watched as they made their decisions and some of them wrote something on their paper. I gave them about 30 seconds to finish up.

"Okay, are we ready?" I asked. I couldn't help but smile at all of their reactions. Some of them stared at me with untrusting expressions, and others couldn't stand still from all the excitement.

I did the Coke first. I dropped the candy into the bottle and stepped back as the geyser erupted from the top. The students watched in awe as soda shot into the air, and then seconds later settled down. They clapped, and cheered, and nudged each other before recording the results on their paper.

I knew Coke had a middle-of-the-road reaction. That's why I did that one first. Next came root beer, which was always a bit of a disappointment. The geyser only went a few inches above the bottle and not very much soda was lost. I heard one of the parents commenting that root beer was their pick and they were surprised it performed so poorly.

One by one, I went down the line, adding candy to the bottles and watching the reaction of the soda. I always had fun watching students observe this experiment, and tonight was even better than usual. Thomas and his friends were all so expressive and sweet. It was an absolute pleasure to be there, and I smiled the entire time.

Coke, Pepsi, and Sprite all had average reactions. Root beer and orange soda were both fairly disappointing, but I saved the best for last with Coke Zero. I did this experiment when I was student teaching, and one of the students said, "Coke Zero's the hero." It was a true statement that stuck with me. It always went the highest.

I saved Coke Zero for the grand finale. I dropped the candy into the bottle and we all watched in amazement as the Coke spewed what must have been ten feet into the air. It went so high that everyone gasped and took a step back even though they were standing far enough away to be out of danger. The reaction only lasted a few seconds, and once it settled down, everyone whooped and cheered.

I just stood there and watched their reactions for the next few seconds before calling them up to inspect the bottles so we could talk about how much liquid was left in each one. They gathered around and we talked for a while about our observations and scientific experiments in general. I gave them very basic information about making scientific observations, developing a hypothesis, and carrying out experiments. I was done about thirty minutes after I started, and afterward, the students and their caregivers all thanked me before making their way back into the house or to their cars.

I thanked them all for having me and told them what a pleasure it had been. Claire and Thomas volunteered to help me clean up, but I told them I would make quick work of it and they should go say goodbye to their guests.

It took me about 10 minutes to hose everything down and wrap it up, and by the time I made it inside there was only one other family there, and they were just leaving.

"That was so much fun, Carly," Claire said sincerely when I came inside. "Thank you for taking time out of your week to come do that." She gestured to the door. "Vanessa was just telling me how much she and Mark enjoyed it."

Thomas came to stand next to me. He stood close enough where our shoulders were touching and put his hand in mine, interlacing our fingers.

"You have some pretty cool friends, Thomas," I said. "I'm sure glad you let me come meet them today."

"Oh, you can come back tomorrow too," Thomas assured me, nodding his head as he stared at me seriously.

I smiled.

"She has a job, Thomas," Claire said. "It's a lot to ask for her to come do that for you guys—even once."

"You're not coming back?" he asked with real, true fear in his eyes.

"Of course I'll be back," I promised. I glanced at Claire. "Maybe we can set up something for a weekly or biweekly basis. Would that work for you?"

"That would be amazing!" she said.

Thomas continued to hold my hand, snuggling closer to me.

"I won't always need to be outside," I said.

"That'll be fine. You can just take over the art room if you want. Amanda's done in there at 5."

"Are we gonna do the Cokes again?" Thomas asked staring at me.

"Maybe sometime," I said, "but I have some other cool experiments for you guys to check out first."

He held my hand to his chest and gave me a huge smile. I returned it before looking at Claire. "Wednesday nights should be fine, but I'll get in touch with you about setting up a regular time."

"That sounds wonderful!" She reached out to hug me, and I hugged her back with one arm since Thomas still had a grip on me.

"I'm gonna go home and eat some dinner," I said, looking at Thomas. "I guess I'll see you next time. Thanks again for having me."

"You can eat dinner at our house," he said.

I smiled at Claire, hoping that hadn't made her feel uncomfortable. "Oh, thanks for the offer, but my little dog's waiting for me at home. If I took too long, he would wonder where I was."

"You have a dog?"

"I sure do. His name's Roscoe. He's a scruffy, brown mutt."

"Can he come next time?" Thomas asked, looking out of the corner of his eyes at his mom.

"Carly can bring her dog if she wants to," Claire said. "I'm sure everyone would love to meet Roscoe… as long as he doesn't bite or anything."

"He's really friendly."

Thomas pumped his fist before raising his hand above his head in the famous Thomas pose. "Yessss!" he said.

Claire turned off the overhead light, and we started making our way to the door. "Are you sure you can't come for dinner?" she asked.

She seemed sincere with the invitation, but I instantly shook my head in refusal. "Thanks so much for the offer, but I have to get home."

"Micah's coming to eat, isn't he, Mom?"

"As far as I know," she said.

We were walking when Thomas said that, and I seriously almost tripped. I had to concentrate on each step to keep from losing my balance.
Man, why hadn't I just agreed to go eat?
There was no way I could change my mind now, though. That would be totally obvious.

Thomas was still holding my hand as we walked out together. "Micah's my baby brother," he said, as his mom locked the door.

"He's not really a baby anymore, though, is he?" Claire asked, adjusting her purse.

"He's younger than me," Thomas reminded her.

"I met him," I said, smiling. "I think he was here the day when I came to help paint." I had to bite my own cheek to keep from laughing at myself for saying "I thought" he was there.
Who was I kidding?

"He was?" Thomas asked with a doubtful expression.

"She probably did meet him," Claire agreed. "I'm sure he came up for the weekend to help."

"Is he coming over to eat tonight?" Thomas asked again, rubbing salt in an open wound.

"As far as I know, baby," she said, patiently.

I wanted desperately to ask the unaskable questions.
How's Micah? What's he look like now? What's he doing? And the most important question of all… Is he single?
I could never ask any of these questions, especially since I'd just acted like I wasn't even sure if I'd met him in the first place. What a dork.

"I guess you have to get home to your dog," Thomas said as we parted ways in the driveway.

"Yep," I said. "I'll tell him he gets to come up here sometime. He'll be excited."

"Maybe you can bring him to the fall festival too," Thomas said. "I think it's tomorrow."

I glanced at Claire, and she smiled at me. "You are welcome to come to the fall festival he's talking about. One of the members of our church has a big farm, and he has us out there every year. There's always a big turn out, and Roscoe's welcome to come too…" she smirked at Thomas. "But it's
not
tomorrow, silly. It's in a few weeks—the third Saturday of the month, whatever the date is."

"There's a corn maze, and a bonfire, and a hayride. Everybody plays football and capture the flag, and roasts weenies and marshmallows. And there's a hayride. Did I already say that?"

"That sounds like a lot of fun." I said.

"So you're coming?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'll come if you're sure it's okay."

"Oh sure, it's open to everybody," Claire said.

But it was overshadowed by Thomas throwing his hands in the air. "Yessss! Carly's coming with us to the fall-all-all festival!"

We hugged goodbye as we started toward our respective vehicles. "I'll see you before then, though," I promised. "I'll come back and do some more science with you next week."

"We're looking forward to it," Claire said, waving at me with her keys in her hand.

I was relatively sure that fall festival was the same weekend I'd be moving into my new place, but there was no way I was missing it, especially after botching the dinner invitation.

I knew better than to get my heart set on seeing Micah there, though, since a young, hot rockstar like him probably had better things to do than attend a church festival. I tried to tell myself I was going for Thomas and I really didn't care whether or not I saw his brother, but that was untrue. I loved Thomas, and would be happy to go to the festival even if I knew for sure Micah wouldn't be there, but wow, what a bonus it would be if he was there. I didn't even care if he was married. I just wanted to see what he looked like—how he'd changed over the past five years.

Did I just have the thought that I didn't care if he was married? Of course I cared if he was married. It would be a super-wonderful day if I went to the festival, saw him, and he was not married, engaged, or otherwise taken. It would be the best day ever if he scooped me into his arms and we rode off into the sunset together. I could be married into this amazing family and live happily ever after with no more nightmares or scary crap happening to me. The end.

I was having all these thoughts as I dug for my keys and opened the door to my car, and I was smiling the whole time, well aware of how silly I was being.

"Bye Carly!" Thomas yelled, drawing me from my daydream. "I'll see you soon!"

"Bye Thomas!" I yelled back.

"I love you!" he yelled.

There was absolutely no way I would leave him hanging, so without hesitation, I yelled, "I love you too!"

I drove off wondering what it would have been like if I would have accepted their dinner invitation.
Would we have eaten and then curled up on the couch together for a little television and dessert? Maybe Thomas would have told Micah all about the experiment we did and Micah would think I was really awesome for being a science teacher. Maybe he was still gorgeous and this time he was unattached, and he'd walk me out to my car and kiss me at the end of the glorious, fun-filled evening.

I had to laugh at myself yet again. I should have been a writer with this kind of imagination.