spark's school for circuits

[marcellus rhodes 11b arc]

School projects suck. But you know that, right?

"As long as you've done your reading, it'll be easy," Miss Cogg states, letting us know that it's all in the reading. Unfortunately, I don't learn like that. Learning isn't really a specialty of mine anyway. I think I'm kinda dumb - mom says it's bad to talk about myself like that, but she just can't handle that I've given up so easily. Sparks are so damn boring. I'd kill to get a chance to be a train director, though - free train rides throughout the country? That sounded cool, dude. It gives me a chance to get out of here for a little bit, too, which sounds relieving. I don't know if my mom would ever really like that as a career choice, but who is she to tell me what to do? I'm my own... yeah, boy, but I can make my own decisions!

We haven't had our expansion of transportation inside of the schools yet. Teachers have been trying to figure out how to integrate it into the curriculum. Do they teach us transportation mechanics on top of electric currents? Do they create separate schools, and if they do, how does that affect the economic classes in three? How do we decide who goes to which?

There's a lot of questions about that stuff, but hell, all I know is the first sign-up sheet I see for learning how to direct a train is that I'll be writing my name. Just Surge, though, I don't need my legacy to carry my freedom. For now, all I've got is this stupid circuit assignment. But at least I'm not alone. That makes it a bit easier. I've been partnered up with a girl named Soleil. If I remember correctly, rumors have come by me about her obsession with making things explode. While it does sound fun, it also sounds like she knows how to make a thing or two connect up which is a lot better than me.

Because of that, I offered my parents' home for our working base for the project. While my brain can't nearly be enough to light the bulbs by myself, the comfort of the kitchen's lovely bearing of foods can surely make up for the squashed intelligence. That's what I can hope. "Okay. Um, where do you suggest we get started?" My feet dangle off of a high chair as I pick at a bowl of crackers and peanut butter I set up for myself. I hope she's not allergic. Popping a peanut-butter-dalloped saltine into my mouth, I cover my mouth because I'm no barbarian as I try to continue my speech. "Like, I, ah," smack, smack as the peanut butter on the roof of my mouth causes my words to dry up. I gulp a glass of water before continuing. "I've read the textbook, but that's not really helped me, like, ever?"

--

School project time! Surge and Soleil have to work together to get five lightbulbs, increasing in complexity for each lightbulb. In order to light each lightbulb, they must land on a specified number. This will get wider in range as they get to more complex circuits, but it gets easier with each roll.

LIGHTBULB ONE: Roll 1-5!
- First rotation of posts, they must roll a 3.
- Second rotation, 3 or 5.
- Third: 1, 3, or 5.
- Fourth: 1, 3, 4, or 5.
- Fifth: damn ho, you bad.

[minie]

s o l e i l .

Miss Cogg paired me with Surge Spark to wire up some lightbulbs. Should be easy enough…right? I mean if I could build at home explosives (despite questionable functionality), this whole thing will be a walk in the park. The steps for insured success were right in front of me.

1. Read the textbook – ugh boring…we’ll just wing it.
2. Go to his house – Mom said to make sure to be polite and not cause a scene.
3. Hook up the wires – double check that you didn’t mix them up.
4. Filp a switch and make ‘em glow!

Like I said, easy peasy lemon squeezy. What could possibly go wrong?

Now I sat in rotating chair, turning myself back and forth. My brown hair tied back in two medium height pigtails swinging over each shoulder as I go left and right observing Surge as he eats away at the snacks laid out for us. The house was nice, and the assortment of food provided for us while we put our minds to the task was even better, a girl really could have not asked for any better working conditions. Besides, I was more than relieved to get out of my own house. Everyone was just so sad all the time. I was sad to, but I was just getting tired of being miserable.

Mom would not let me work on any new projects. This was not the first time she had banned me from my experiments; however, she was being extremely vigilant. Something about not wanting to lose another kid, but it’s not like I ever actually got seriously injured! She has her way of dealing with things and unfortunately that means stopping me from doing what I need to do to preserve my sanity. The lightbulb project might not be one of my beloved pink-glitter filled explosive devices, but it was a project that I could set my mind loose on.

I stopped spinning around when Surge asked where to start and my face immediately lit up (hopefully like the light bulbs will) as I reached for my backpack and dumped the contents out on the marble countertop.

”Right, so here we have our power source…” I began explaining in the quick paced voice I automatically turn to when I am excited about something. My hands instantly found the C-battery I had stuffed in my bag from my private collection. I was not sure if it would be too powerful, but I thought better than too little power and then nothing works. ”We have to connect these insulated wires to our power source, the switch and to our battery. Don’t worry, I already stripped the ends.” I continued my explanation as I hooked the exposed ends of the wire to the negative pole of the battery and the lightbulb. Then I repeated the process, hooking the second wire to the positive pole of the battery and the switch. Lastly I took the final wire and connected the switch to the lightbulb.

”…and just like that, we have a switch operated circuit!” I exclaimed in a giddy voice, not looking up from the work in front of me. ”Just got to flip the switch and hope that I didn’t mess up with any of the tools or steps!”

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[sad]

ELEGANT

1-5

[marcellus rhodes 11b arc]

She sat there spinning around and around on the darn chair. I'd be nervous for her lunch if she were there any longer. But it didn't take long for Soleil to light up and get involved with the project. Maybe she needed the green light - there's no way she just assumed I was the good one with this stuff. I've seen how active she participates in class, or at least when we did stuff. She wasn't some crazy animal who liked paying attention when the teacher lectured.

I think.

Honestly, I don't pay attention enough to know if she does; no offense to her. Blame the boring teacher. If she does get involved, I'm happy for her. That's not my thing. None of the District 3 stuff has been. Regardless, she hopped up when I asked for help, her brown pigtails flying up just as quickly. Her excitement jittered her enough to create a current in the air. If that energy could get placed into these wires, I'd be much more confident in their abilities. ”Right, so here we have our power source…” she started whipping through terms and knowledge - the girl studied unlike me. Or she was just brilliant. Both are very plausible.

Soleil pulled out some fat battery, stating that the battery and switch needed to be connected... internally, it became hard to focus on what she was talking about. This circuit stuff was boring. "Right, right." I nodded slowly, trying to fake an understanding of the concepts she was spewing out. She fumbled with a ton and snapped it into place. She connected the wires and seemed satisfied with her connection, saying that all they had to do was flip the switch.

So she did, and the light didn't go off. Fuck. That means I have to do something. "Well, uh," stuttered, I moved my hand to one of the wires connecting the circuit. "Maybe it's just, like, not inserted properly..." that had to be one of the properties of circuit creation, right?

I feel bad for her. She may just be better independently, but I'm not. Mom would want me to learn from this and try to get better with her knowledge, but I couldn't care less. I'm here for the grade by this point - but it doesn't hurt to try because I'd instead go down in her head as a boy who tried than the bitch that slept it out.

[surge tries to get a spark]
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1-5