It was a bright, sunny Monday morning in school. Everyone was working on their projects for the science fair later that day. All of our teachers and everyone’s parents were going to be there. Everyone was in high spirits.

My three best friends and I were making a volcano project that would have a small eruption when we added ingredients like vinegar, baking soda and a bit of food colouring. We had everything we needed and we were sure we would impress everyone. We were tingling with excitement as we set up our project on the table. My friend checked if we had all the stuff and we did. Everything was going perfectly. Finally, it was our turn to show our project.

Feeling confident and anxious, I got ready to put the stuff in the volcano model for the eruption to take place as my friends were explaining our project to our audience. I had to put a specific amount of all the stuff so it could work properly. My friends were counting on me to not mess this up and little did they know that it only added to my nervousness.

With clammy hands, I added some vinegar and then the food colouring. As I was adding the baking powder, I accidentally dropped the whole packet of powder into the volcano. My eyes went wide with panic and I quickly tried to take some powder out, but it was too late.

Instead of a small eruption which was supposed to happen, a massive wave of sticky goo shot out, splattering everywhere! I got covered with it from head to toe and my face turned beetroot red with embarrassment. There were frantic “Ooh” and “Ohh no” from all around — then a moment of awkward silence before everyone burst out with laughter. I had made a fool of myself in front of everyone and I wanted nothing more than the earth to swallow me that very instant.

Later that day, as my friends and I were cleaning up, I tried to apologise to them for messing up our project. However, they said it was fine and that they had learnt how important the amount of each ingredient is in such experiments — and, of course, it was fun learning it the hard way.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 4th, 2025