Emily's POV

"Boo this class." Maya says as her and I walk into class. 

"Do you even know which one it is?" I ask her, as we walk to our desks. 

"I'm going to need a clue." She says, picking up a beaker. I let out a laugh.

I watch as Farkle jumps through doorway of science laboratory, enthusiastically dancing by pointing in random directions. "Doo dah, doo, dah, doo doo dah, da da da da da dah!" I let out a laugh as Riley and Zay walk in.

"Science." Maya says. 

Farkle walks toward the far end of the classroom, where Mr. Norton is standing. "Morning, Farkle! What's new?"

"I'm reading this great book on anti-gravity. I can't put it down!" Farkle says.

Mr. Norton, points at Farkle, and says "Hah!"

Farkle, then, points back at Mr. Norton and says, "Hah!"

Maya walks to her seat at one of the lab stations. "I hate this class." I hear her say.

The rest of the class enters the laboratory and takes their seats. Farkle joins me at our station, while Lucas joins Maya at hers, and Riley and Austin sit together. 

Mr. Norton wheels a portable podium. "Ladies and gentlemen, I invite you to join me on a journey of discovery. Your midterm experiment."

The whole class groans, besides Farkle and I. 

"Yay." Farkle says, happily. 

"In front of you, each team will find a beaker of a clear liquid solution." Mr. Norton says.

"And next to that, and here's where it gets exciting - a mystery marble!" He says, after Maya says something to Lucas that I didn't hear. He holds up an example of the marble.

"Goodnight!" I hear Maya say and I look over at her. Maya falls forward. Lucas catches her chin in his hand before she hits the table.

"Right after school, precisely at 3:15, one member of each team will drop the marble into the beaker. The elements in the marble will break down overnight and turn into sludge. Then the other team member will discover what that sludge is and what it takes to turn the beaker back to clear." Mr. Norton tells us all.

"Who's supposed to do what?" Riley asks from her spot next to Austin. 

"Well, that's up to you! You're a team! Divide the responsibilities as you see fit. I've been conducting this experiment for thirty-five years." He says, waving a journal in the air. "I've kept thorough notes. Very few have cracked it."

"Well, you can add my name to your journal right now, sir." Farkle tells him. 

"I hope so, Farkle." Mr. Norton replies to him. He looks to the rest of the class at large. "Let the games begin!"

"Okay, Em. You drop the marble, I'll figure out the sludge and earn us yet another A." Farkle tells me.

"Okay, that's all I have to do?" I ask him, somewhat confused.

Well, I am the scientist around here." Farkle says. I look at him, shaking my head.

"Farkle, I don't understand why I can't -"

"You do want an A, don't you?" He asks me.

I look at him, then look back at the marble, holding it up.

----

It was the end of the day. Riley, Maya and I walk down the hallway towards the science laboratory together.

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

"Me neither." I reply.

"I don't like this either." Maya says.

"Something's wrong. Why do we have to drop the marble while Farkle and Lucas do the science?" I ask them.

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

"Maya, Em, something's wrong. I feel like there's a real problem here but I just can't see what it is yet." Riley says to us.

Riley pushes the door to the science laboratory open and we walk in. There are only girls present in the laboratory.

"Now I see it." Riley says.

"Me too." I say.

"I see nothing unusual." Maya tells us.

Riley walks towards her station.

"Social injustice." I say.

Maya, who was following behind me. "Drop your marble and go." She tells me and Riley.

"If you drop these marbles, you are buying into a system where the women, what? Buy shoes? While the men learn the science." Riley says.

"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.

Riley indignantly, turns to look at the girls leaving. "No."

The rest of the girls run out anyway.

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

Maya, who was insistently motioning towards her mouth, says. "Chi, mi, chan, ga!"

Riley glares at Maya. Maya glares back for a moment, then starts to move past Riley towards her station. I stop her.

"You are not going to drop your marble." I tell her.

"Oh, I'm going to drop my marble." She replies, nodding. Riley shakes her head.

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

Maya moves backwards, to Riley's confusion.

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

Riley who was now covering her ears desperately, says. "Just stop, tell me which way you're going!"

Maya throws the marble towards her beaker. "She shoots -" the marble lands in the beaker. "scores! Nothing but beaker."

Riley cautiously lowers her arms from her ears. Maya motions towards Riley's beaker.

"Your turn, goose. You too Emmy." Maya says to us.

I walk towards my station, holding the marble up and examining it thoughtfully.

----

Most of the class has assembled at their respective stations. Farkle dances enthusiastically through the doorway.

"Doo dah, doo dah doo dah da da" He 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 mine and his station and spots the clear beaker on their station. He looks in confusion at me. I hold up the marble in one hand with an apologetic expression.

'I -" I start but stop.

Farkle looks in disbelief at the marble, at me, and back again at the marble. His eyes roll back in his head and he collapses onto the floor.

"Farkle!" I look at him concerned, but Farkle immediately jumps back on his feet.

"What happened?" Farkle asks confused. "I don't get it. Science is my favourite time of day. What happened? I'm gonna retrace my steps." He says. Farkle backs out of the classroom, while me and the rest of the class look on in trepidation.

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

I was still holding up the marble in one hand with an apologetic expression. "I -"

Farkle looks with realization dawning on him as he looks from the marble in my hand to the clear beaker on their station. "Oh. That's the reason right there." His eyes roll back in his head and he collapses onto the floor again.

Still on the floor, Farkle gains back his consciousness and frowns in confusion.

"You had one job to do." Farkle tells me, from on the floor.

"You mean take care of the babies, Farkle?" I ask.

Farkle, who was now immediately back on his feet, staring at me, wide-eyed. "What?" He asks, turning frantically to Zay. "How long have I been out?"

"We're taking a stand." Riley says, Austin finally notices Riley didn't drop the marble too.

"How could you let her do this?" Farkle asks Maya about me.

"She, and Riley are on a mission, Farkle. Have you met them?" She asks him.

"Emily, you don't actually think Farkle had you drop the marble because you're a girl, do you?" Lucas asks me.

"We were all girls, Lucas. Every single set of lab partners sent the girl." I say to him, taking my seat.

"Yes, that's interesting, isn't it?" Mr. Norton asks us all.

"Why is that?" Riley asks.

"I'll tell you what it is. It's a redo. She failed. I didn't fail." Farkle says. He starts growing panicky. "I want a redo." He falls to his knees and grabbing Mr. Norton's leg. "I want a redo, man!"

Mr. Norton, who was trying to walk across the classroom with Farkle still clinging to his leg, says. "No redo! Equal responsibility, one shared grade." Farkle lets go of his leg and stands up.

"That's right. We should be equal. Why do you guys think we're the ones who should drop the marble while you figure out the science?" I ask.

"Hey, it's not like you guys begged us to do it." Austin says. He looks to Sarah. "Did you want to do the science?"

Sarah shrugs. "I was okay with you doing it."

"Sarah, how is that going to help us?" Riley asks her. She now addresses the whole class. "How are we going to become scientists if we don't learn this stuff?"

"So I won't be a scientist." Hayley says.

"Why not? Nobody wants to be the first girl on Mars?" Riley asks.

At the back of the class, Brenda turns around, clutching a test tube in hand, and waves excitedly. I seriously forgot she was in our class, like all of them.

Riley points to the girl. "Represent, Brenda! But one's not enough. Bay window." She says. "Bay window all of ya!" She says.

----

We were all in Riley's bedroom, well all the girls from our science class are seated around and on her bay window. Riley stands in the center, and Topanga stands in the doorway to Riley's bedroom, watching.

"Tell 'em, mommy, get 'em! Tell them they're a disgrace to our entire whatever." Riley says, angrily.

"Welcome to our home." Topanga says, smiling.

"No nice; go for the kill!" Riley says.

"Unfortunately, Riley, this is a serious problem. Other girls your age start to drift away from STEM subjects. Science, technology, engineering, math - the research shows we tend to play the roles we think we're supposed to." Topanga says.

"Hey, I'm me." Maya says.

"Yes you are, you Amazon warrior. Have I told you how fond I am of you?" Topanga asks proudly.

"Tell me." Maya says, smiling.

"I am." Topanga says.

"She dropped her marble." I say.

"Maya!" Topanga says shocked.

"What? I'm not trying to hurt the girl thing, I'm just lazy." Maya says.

Topanga walks closer and sits in the bay window between Riley and I "You can't be lazy!" She says to Maya. "And you cannot think that it is more important to be liked than it is to be leaders. Don't talk yourself out of pursuing something because you're afraid of how it's gonna make you look. What you need to know is: don't let anybody get in the way of pursuing your growth and your curiosity, no matter what you want to do!"

"I wanna be the best I can, and I want everybody to like me, and I dropped the marble and I want your shoes." Sarah says. Topanga frowns. "I wanna work at the company that makes your shoes." Sarah says. Topanga gives her an encouraging smile. "I wanna run the company that makes your shoes." Sarah adds.

Topanga claps her hands together, smiling. "Yes."

"Well, if we want it all, we can't let other people do the work for us." I say.

"Then I'm out." Maya says.

"You're in." Riley and I tell her in unison.

"I'm in!" Maya says then asks hesitantly. "It's not going to take long, is it?"

"The rest of our lives." Riley says.

Topanga pats Riley's knee proudly. "That's my girl."

"Why's it always gotta be the rest of our lives?" Maya and I both ask

"That's my other girls." Topanga says about Maya and I.

---

The next day in Matthews class, Riley moved half of the desks to one side of the room and the other half to the other side.

"Oh boy." Mr. Matthews says. "Where are all of the boys?" He asks us. He finally sees them. "Boys! I'm very glad to see you, because I thought there was a distinct possibility you could be... What's the word I'm looking for?"

"Dead." I say.

"We didn't do anything, and we don't deserve to be dead." Lucas says.  

"Not understanding the current climate of the room, Zay chooses to sit here. Men. Am I right?" He asks. 

"Get out!" Riley shouts. 

"Now I get it. All right, does someone want to explain to me how we got here?" Cory asks us. 

"We were in science class..." Farkle starts. 

"They will talk." Maya says to Farkle about Riley and I. 

"I will listen." Farkle says. 

"Okay, guys, calm down. Now, today's lesson is about the battle of Panipat. There were three battles of Panipat. The first was called, the First Battle of Panipat." Cory says. 

"You don't respect us." Riley says, standing. 

"How can you possibly think that?" Austin asks her. 

"I call Farkle Minkus to the stand." I say. 

"You can't put him on trial, Emily." Cory says. 

"Why not?" I ask. "Didn't he make a judgment about me?"

"We are really unprepared." Zay says. 

"Yeah. See ya, buddy." Austin says. 

"This isn't just about Farkle. This is about all of you." I say. 

"Yeah, Lucas. Didn't you tell me to drop the marble?" Maya asks him. 

"Yeah, I wanted us to do well on the midterm." Lucas answers. 

"Because you have no faith in my scientific abilities." Maya says. 

"Because you fall asleep in my hand." Lucas says. 

"Yogi made me drop the marble, too." Darby says. 

"I can't reach the beaker." Yogi says. 

"I could have lifted you." Darby told him. 

"I don't like that as much as you think." Yogi says, causing Darby to gasp.

"I'll tell ya who didn't like something. Vikramajit, the ruler of Gwalior in the First Battle of Panipat. He died. Didn't like it." Mr. Matthews says. 

"By relegating me to a second-class marble dropper, you are stopping me from realizing my full potential." Riley says to Austin. 

"Riley, I'm just better than you at this." Austin tells her. 

"Austin, if you were my friend, you would want me to get better. I like science. Why don't you want me to get better?" Riley asks him. 

"I do. There's no situation where I wouldn't want that for you. Riley, I've always been your friend." Austin says.

I ship it. 

"I know." Riley says. 

"I'm sorry." Austin tells her. 

"Okay."

"I thought some of you just didn't want anything to do with science. Sarah, you just told me you weren't interested." Zay says to Sarah. 

"It's because I don't stand up for myself!" Sarah exclaims. 

"Well, I'm gonna hate to see it when you do." Zay says. 

"I wanna carry you around like a doll whenever I want." Darby says to Yogi. 

"Do it." Yogi answers. 

"A real friend, or boyfriend, doesn't let another friend, or girlfriend fail. Our failure isn't your fault, Em. Our failure is on me. I should have had more faith in you." Farkle says to me.

I smile at him. 

"Speaking of failure, there will be a quiz tomorrow on the First Battle of Panipat. It's not gonna be a good day." Mr. Matthews says.

----

In science, I wasn't paying much attention until Zay says. "Her sludge is mad at us. Her sludge is a girl."

"Somethings wrong here." Farkle says.

"Whats wrong here is that you're a sexist pig." I tell him.

"Why would you say that, mamacita?" He asks me. 

"You really think I couldn't do the science because I'm a girl?" I ask him. 

"Em, Marie Curie was one of the finest scientific minds who ever lived. Science needs the best minds it can get. What do I care what body it's in?" He asks me. 

"Well, what do you think is wrong?" I ask him. 

"Well, I took our sludge ball home last night, and you know what I found?" He asks, I nod. "It's a dirt ball, Riley. The sludge is... Sludge. It's mud. That's all it is. I don't understand why this experiment's such a big deal."

"I think I do." I say. "What if the experiment isn't about the sludge at all? There's a lot of layers to experiments, right?" I ask. 

"Well, there's what's going on on the surface..." Farkle says. 

"And what's going on that you don't see." I say. 

So what's going on here?" Riley asks. 

"Bring me the first sacrifice!" Maya says as the rest of the girls walk in carrying Yogi towards Maya's sludge.

"Adooba hoo hoo! Adooba hoo hoo! Adooba hoo hoo! Adooba hoo hoo! Adooba hoo hoo! Adooba hoo hoo! Hoo!" The girls chant. 

"Farkle, this isn't the experiment." I say. 

"It isn't?" He asks. 

"No, that is." I say, pointing to Maya and her sludge. 

"Mr. Norton." I say.

"Austin, Riley, Emily, Farkle." He says.

"We have a new hypothesis. There's more to this experiment than you've been telling us." I say. 

"Interesting. Riley, care to elaborate?"

"Yes, but first, I have to go save a life." She says and goes over to Maya and the others. 

Maya, you don't have to sacrifice Yogi. We found a solution." Riley says to her. 

"Tell me after we sacrifice Yogi." Maya says. 

"Goodbye Yogi! Goodbye Yogi! Goodbye Yogi!" The other girls chant. 

"Maya, why do we have to sacrifice Yogi?" I ask her. 

"Do you got a chimichanga?"

"No." I answer. 

"Then cover the boy in cheese.

"Cheesy Yogi! Cheesy Yogi! Cheesy Yogi!"

"Ladies, your volcano looks angry. Whuh-oh. Goggles on!" Farkle says. I yelp as the stuff gets on us.

"And dive under your desks." He says but we were already covered. "Did I not mention that?" He asks. I laugh and throw some at him. "Yeah, I should've mentioned that."

----

Later that day we were in the bay window.

"I like blowing stuff up." Maya says. 

"It's not about that." I say. 

"What's it about?" She asks. 

"This is all about us and the boys. Who we are now, and who we want to be." Riley says. 

"Everything's their fault. Stupid boys. Everything would have been fine if I could've just sacrificed Yogi. Stupid Yogi." Maya mutters. 

"Well, you can't." I tell her. 

"Maya, our guy friends are pretty great." Riley says. "Maybe it used to be easier to see that before we looked at each other as boys and girls. Maybe it was easier when we looked at each other as friends."

Riley." I say. 

"Maya." Riley says.

"Emily." Maya says. "If I can't blow stuff up or sacrifice Yogi, then I just don't care about being good in science."

"Well, you have to. We all have to. The stuff we're learning now, science and math, it matters that we know what they are. We can't let other people think we'd rather have it easy for us." Riley says. 

"N... no, I want things to be easy for me."

"Yeah me too, well at least in Math." I say.

"No, you don't. Because then you won't know anything, and you won't have as many choices later."

"You think I could be a scientist?" Maya asks us. 

"I think if you were a scientist, the world would be a very dangerous place." I joke. 

"Awesome."

"But if you don't believe you could become a scientist, then it's even more dangerous." Riley says.

We hear a loud noise from downstairs.

---

The next day in science, Maya, Riley and I were walking in.

"Hi, guys." We say. 

"Oh, you're talking to us?" Lucas asks. 

"They are. I go where they goes." Maya says. 

"You tell them yet, Farkle?" I ask him. 

"Nope. This is your marble to drop." He tells me. 

"Yeah, I was waiting for you, partner." Lucas says, patting the seat for her.

"Did you just pat for me to sit down?" Maya asks Lucas. "No. No no no no. I was just patting for a better place for me to sit."

"Yah." Maya says. 

"They're all here." Zay says as all the other girls walk in. 

"Aw, they came to cook us up in these little beakers and eat us and talk about us, and I don't like being talked about." Zay says. 

"We don't either, but we're gonna be the best thing we can be no matter what anybody says." Sarah says. 

"That's right, Sarah. This is an experiment none of us should fail." Riley says. 

"And it's one of the most important ones we'll ever do." Farkle says. 

"Well, we seem to have settled back into our original positions. Riley, Austin, Emily, Farkle, I believe just before things exploded, you were about to present some findings?" Mr. Norton asks. 

"In middle school, girls tend to drift away from science. Isn't that right, Mr. Norton?" I ask him. 

"It's been happening so many years, I started to keep a record. Not many figure out my experiment, but those that do have always benefited from the lesson." Mr. Norton says. 

"We let what happened in here come between us. It's sludge, and it muddies up what we think about each other. All of us have unlimited potential. Farkle and me, well... our beaker is clear." I say to him.

"Because Emily didn't drop the marble." Farkle says. 

"Why not, Emily?" He asks me. 

"I felt like if I did, I would lose a part of me that was valuable. I like science, and I like figuring stuff out." I say. 

"For 35 years, I've been running this experiment. Every year, the vast majority of girls agree to drop the marble without even thinking about it. The boys do the science. Unfortunate, but true. This is the age the girls begin to lose interest and that is a bad result." Mr. Norton says. 

"So the real experiment is us." Maya says. 

""It is, Maya. Don't lose interest." He tells her. 

"Wide awake, sir." She replies.

"All right. Everyone lift up your beakers. Now look through them." He says to us. 

"I can't see you." Lucas says. 

"Yeah. All this stuff is in the way." Maya says. 

"It is beneficial for young men and women to realize right now the value of working together as equals in all things, because when you do, the results are..."

"Clear." I say, smiling at Farkle. 

"Nice job, partner." Farkle says. 

"Partner." I say, smiling.

----

Maya, Riley and I walked into Mr. Matthews class.

Hi, Daddy." Riley says to her dad. 

"Norton." Maya and I say to Mr. Norton. 

"Girls. To what do we owe this unexpected pleasure?" Cory asks. 

"We thought we'd keep you company on your walk home." Riley says. 

"That's very nice of you. Are you out of pizza money?" He asks us. 

"No we're paying for you this time." I say. 

"You too, Mr. Norton." Maya says. 

"Really? Thanks." he says. 

"Wait, wait, wait. Since when do you three pay?" Matthews asks us. 

"Since men and women are equal. We're big-time feminists now." I say to him. 

"Good for you. Where'd you learn that?" Matthews asks. 

"Science class." Maya says. 

"Of course."

Yeah. This school is pretty messed up." Mr. Norton says and we leave the classroom.

----

This takes me forever to do this chapter, idek why. Anyways please comment. I'm sorry if took forever for me to do this chapter. Thanks for reading. Bye.

-Kelly.