Scientific Actress

Voice-A-Rooney

"All right, scientists! You've reached the final four of Mars Madness!"

My dream. Our dream. It was finally happening. Excitement rattled my bones.

"Welcome to BOOMS." Parker faced the two other teams. "My name is Parker."

"I'm (Y/n). We are the West team." I looked around, noticing a team was missing. "Where's the team from the Midwest?"

A keytar playing a fanfare rang through the room. Artie Smalls walked into the room like he was the king. "Hello. I am Artie Smalls, and welcome to my coronation, soon to be losing teams. Ready for a scientific beat down, Parker and (Y/n)?"

"A blonde in a jumpsuit could beat you, loofa head," I snapped.

"So, Artie, which one of your minions is your partner?" Parker asked.x

"Ms. Karsch, announce my partner!" Artie demanded, snapping to add more sass.

"You did not just snap at me."

"Sorry, please announce my partner," Artie almost whimpered.

"Our final participant, Evan Poulos."

Evan skipped into the room. Parker and I looked at him in disbelief.

"Evan?"

"Hey!"

"You're with Artie?" I questioned.

"You left me. And having my besties move away limited my social options," Evan explained.

"I've kept this translucent-skinned boy out of the sun and in my shadow," Artie added.

"I'm a minion now."

"We're gonna win this contest and go to the red planet, where our hair provides natural camouflage."

"Team Ginger for the win burn!" the two exclaimed.

"Okay." Ms. Karsch composed herself. "Who's ready for an ice cream sundae bar?"

"Dibs on Tutti-Frutti!" Artie shouted before running out.

"To achieve my dream, I have to beat my best friend," Parker realized as everyone left.

I cupped his face in my hands. "Our dream is far closer to us than to them. We are two of the smartest people in Wisconsin and California. We got this."

Evan ran into the room. "Parker, (Y/n)! They have rainbow sprinkles! This party's gonna be bananas! Which they also have!" He ran out.

Parker and I looked at each other again. "We still got this."

We held hands as we walked out of the room.

~~~

We stood at our table. The contest was going to start in minutes.

"This is it. If we win this event, we're going to the bio-dome!" Parker said excitedly.

I smiled at how eager he was. Science made him really happy, and I was glad I could share the experiences we had together. I hugged him, knowing we needed to know we could do this together. We could.

"Listen up, junior geniuses!" Ms. Karsch announced. "Imagine you're on Mars, and suddenly, you lose contact with Earth."

"Oh. Artie, pretend your crew abandoned you," Parker remarked. "That should be easy."

"Nothing's easy for me. I have issues," Artie admitted.

"Are you two done?" Ms. Karsch asked. "I've got a whole thing here. In order to survive, you must send a message to Earth by building a transmitter using the spare parts in your box. When it's received, your light bulb will light up. What will you do? What will you do? First message received wins. Let the madness begin!"

Parker opened the box. "What do you want to work on?"

"Antenna." I held out my hand for the parts.

He smiled and kissed my hand quickly and gave me the parts. I rolled my eyes at the cheering section for Artie's team, even ignoring Evan. I got concerned when Parker started to get itchy.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Itchy," Parker said, itching his neck.

I held in my gasp. "You are covered in hives! What happened?"

"Feeling scratchy, Parker?"

We turned our attention to Artie and Evan. "Artie invented a cream that causes itching. And I secretly applied it to your neck. Boo-ya!"

Parker walked over to him. "Evan, I thought you were my friend."

"And he thought you were his! But then you two left! And I taught him that it is better to be feared than loved!"

~~~

"I'm almost done with the transmitter," I told Parker. "How are you doing with the trans-" I stopped when I saw him itching like crazy against a locker. "Come here."

"No. I'm not giving it to you too, even if it means suffering," Parker argued. "That's it. I give up."

"Parker is giving up! Victory is ours!" Artie announced.

"Oh, yeah?" I questioned. "I would love to hear the organization's response to you winning after I tell them that an itching cream was applied to the competitor's neck to cheat by one of the members of your team."

I sighed and walked back to my station, trying to finish the antenna. Evan ran over.

"Get back to work, Dr. P. You build, I'll scratch," Evan instructed.

"What are you doing?" Parker questioned.

"Righting a wrong. I'm sorry I betrayed you. Now connect that motherboard!"

Parker finally got to connect the motherboard. He let me hit the switch. Our bulb lit up, making me grin. Artie looked shocked and betrayed. Exactly how Evan wanted him to feel. I was almost proud of the boy.

"Parker and (Y/n) win Mars Madness!"

"We're going to the biodome!" Parker exclaimed.

He kissed me. Short, but sweet. Ms. Karsch handed me the award. Parker and I were going to fulfill a dream we've had for a long time. After all our hard work, we finally got to where we were. I was so proud of him. Of us.

We were going to the biodome!