the new girl-gmw

Girl Meets Stem pt. 2

"I don't like this." Riley says frowning.

    

"I don't like this either," Maya says also frowning.

    

"Something's wrong," Riley says.

 

"Why do we have to drop the marble while Farkle and Lucas do the science?" I ask.

    

"Why is school over and I don't got a chimichanga?" Maya asks angrily.

    

"Maya, something's wrong." I tell her.

 

"I feel like there's a real problem here but I just can't see what it is yet." Riley says.

    

Riley pushes the door to the science lab open and we walk in. I look around the room and see that there are only girls in the lab.

    

"Now I see it," I say, narrowing my eyes.

    

"I see nothing unusual," Maya says.

    

"Social injustice." Riley proclaims as we walk towards our station.

    

"Drop your marble and go," Maya tells us.

    

"If you drop these marbles, you are buying into a system where the women, what? Buy shoes? While the men learn the science." I ask Yindra, Haley, Darby, and Sarah.

    

"Shoes. Let's go." Yindra says enthusiastically.

    

"The system works," Haley says.

    

Every girl except Riley, Maya, and I drop their marbles into their respective beakers and head towards the exit.

    

"No," Rileys says indignantly, turning to look at the girls leaving.

    

"Maya, I am very disappointed in our sisters. They don't believe we can do what the boys can do?" I say

    

"Chi, mi, chan, ga!" Maya shouts while insistently motioning towards her mouth

    

Riley and I glare at Maya. Maya glares back for a moment, then starts to move past us towards her station. Riley stops her.

    

"You are not going to drop your marble," Riley says sternly

    

"Oh, I'm going to drop my marble," Maya says.

    

I shake my head.

    

"But, to make you feel better, I'm gonna drop it like a dude," Maya says.

    

Maya moves backward, to Riley and I's confusion.

    

"Maya!" Maya shouts jumping as if catching the marble from a fellow teammate, "Takes the bounce pass!" Maya starts dribbling the marble around another station back towards Riley and me. "She dribbles down the court, three seconds left on the clock! Her opponents are tall, useless goofs! Maya fakes left, turns right -

    

Covering her ears desperately Riley shouts, "Just stop, tell me which way you're going!"

    

Throwing the marble towards her beaker Maya says, "She shoots" The marble lands in the beaker. "Scores! Nothing but beaker."

 

I laugh as Riley cautiously lowers her arms from her ears. Maya motions towards Riley and I's beaker.

    

"Your turn, goose."

    

Riley and I walk towards our station, holding the marbles up and examining it thoughtfully.

    

The next day in science, most of the class has assembled at the respective stations. I watch as Farkle decides to dance enthusiastically through the doorway.

    

"Doo dah, doo dah doo dah da da" Farkle sings and points enthusiastically at the beaker of sludge on Sarah and Zay's station, "dah da da dah da da dah da da dah dah-"

    

Farkle turns around at our station and spots the clear beaker on the station. He looks in confusion at us. Riley and I each hold up a marble in one hand with an apologetic expression.

    

"I -" Riley starts but Farkle looks in disbelief at her marble, then Riley, then my marble, and finally at me. His eyes roll back in his head and he collapses onto the floor.

    

Riley and I both have a concerned look on our faces but Farkle immediately jumps back on his feet.

    

"What happened?" Farkle asks, clearly confused.

    

Riley and I look at each other and breathed out a sigh of relief.

    

"I don't get it. Science is my favorite time of day. What happened? I'm gonna retrace my steps." Farkle says.

    

Farkle backs out of the classroom, while everyone looks out the door.

    

Repeating his dance from his first entry, slower this time, Farkle says, "Doo dah, doo dah, doo dah doo dah doo," He points enthusiastically at the beaker of sludge on Sarah and Zay's station. "Doo dah doo," He spots the clear beaker on our station. "Dah -"

    

Holding up the marble in one hand with an apologetic expression on my face I say "I -"

    

Realization dawning on him as he looks from the marbles in our hands to the clear beaker on our station. "Oh. That's the reason right there." His eyes roll back in his head and he collapses onto the floor again.