Nia was alone behind the table.
Claire approached.
Nia saw her coming and straightened.
“You’re not supposed to be over here.”
Claire looked at the model. “I’m looking at projects.”
“Look from somewhere else.”
Claire smiled. “Still giving orders.”
Nia glanced toward Cooper, but a crowd blocked the line of sight.
Dylan appeared from the opposite aisle.
Nia’s stomach tightened. “Both of you need to leave.”
Claire leaned toward the solar-system model. “This is what everybody’s been losing their minds over?”
Nia put one hand on the edge of the table.
“Don’t touch it.”
Claire reached toward Earth. Nia immediately moved her hand closer.
“I said don’t.”
Claire withdrew. For one second, Nia thought she would leave.
Then Dylan laughed behind her.
“Careful. She’ll file a report.”
Claire looked at him.
The smile that appeared was small.
Then she moved.
Her hand struck the model near the central supports. The first impact tilted the entire base.
Nia grabbed the table. “Stop!”
Claire shoved again.
The cardboard supports snapped.
The orange sun collapsed sideways. Several wooden rods broke beneath it.
Earth rolled across the blue cloth. Mars bounced onto the floor.
Saturn’s repaired ring separated immediately.
The base folded under the weight of the falling structure. Claire laughed.
The sound was worse than the crash.
Nia stared at six weeks of work flattened across the table.
For a moment, the fair disappeared around her. She saw Anthony cutting the base.
Denise choosing paint. Caleb arguing about Pluto.
Saturn at the kitchen table.
Then Claire reached toward a loose planet and rolled it with one finger.
“What?” she asked. “You can rebuild it.”
Nia looked at her.
“Why would you do that?”
Claire shrugged. “Maybe now we’ll see if you actually built it.”
That sentence brought the entire year together at once.
Grades questioned. Sources questioned.
Money questioned. Admissions questioned.
Now authorship too.
Nia stepped around the table.
Claire smiled less confidently.
“You’re under a no-contact order.”
“I didn’t contact you.”
“You destroyed my project.”
“It’s cardboard.”
Nia felt her hands begin shaking.
She closed them into fists and immediately opened them again.
“I’m going to get Cooper.”
Dylan stepped between her and the aisle.