13 Peanut's Weird Story

13 Peanut's Weird Story So, I thought we could start by going over some basic physics stuff,' said Rockwell, barely able to suppress the excitement in his voice. ' Forces and motion, maybe? Death Breath said he was going to test us tomorrow, and I bet that Newton's Second Law comes up. Must remember that acceleration is inversely proportional to mass. I always forget that bit. Peanut took a bite of her apple. ' Whatever. 'OK, what's up?' sighed Rockwell. 'Have you changed your mind about studying together? Do you want me to walk five metres ahead of you as usual?' 'No, it's not that. It's just... Oh, never mind. 'Come on, Peanut. Tell me. That's what friends are for,

after all.' 'We're not friends,' she spluttered, accidentally spraying Rockwell with bits of chewed apple. 'OK,' he replied, wiping his face. 'That's what study buddies are for then. He smiled, showing a set of perfectly even, white teeth. 'Please...' 'All right then, but I'm warning you, it's a bit weird. Rockwell swallowed, steeled himself, and said, 'OK. Shoot. She told him what had happened the night before. About the argument, the wooden box, the Post-it notes, the pencil and the strange drawing that came to life. It had been a long time since she had shared anything about herself With anybody, and she was surprised at how nice it felt. Also, saying it out loud made it feel real, like it had actually happened. When she'd finished describing the 'water' splashing on to the Fantastic Four postcard, she stopped and looked

at Rockwell. 'You think I've lost the plot, don't you?' 'Nooooooo. Why would I think that?' replied Rockwell. 'If you say that's what you think you saw, then as far as I'm concerned, that's what you think you saw. Er, just out of interest, have you been feeling under the weather recently? Have you maybe eaten anything... unusual at all?' 'I don't think I saw it, I did actually see it,' snapped Peanut. ' See? I knew it was pointless telling you!' 'OK, OK. I'm sorry. So, have you brought this magic pencil with you today?' Of course I have. It's in my pocket. Rockwell paused to think. 'OK. Well, as Mr Dawkins says, if you really want to see whether something will behave the way you think It is going to behave, you have to conduct a controlled experiment to prove or disprove your hypothesis.

'Your what?' 'Your hypothesis. It's a theory you can test. In other words, we need to test the pencil.' He reached into the inside pocket of his blazer, pulled out his diary and started flipping through the pages. 'Brilliant! It's SLPC today! Meet me in Lab 3 at twelve thirty. 'What's SLPC?' asked Peanut. 'Student-Led Physics Club. Don't worry, I'm the only member, so we'll have the lab to ourselves. We'll be able to conduct our little experiment in peace.