The Science of Breakable Things

The morning of the competition, Natalie’s mother won’t come out of her room. Natalie’s dad drives her and Twig to the competition, which is at an old building filled with “random businesses.” Dari meets them there with the eggs, and Natalie tries to have faith in his last-minute tweaks because he’s the smartest person in the class. Mr. Neely even comes to support them. They walk around, and some twins from a private school make fun of their S’meggs design. The private school kids used Lucky Charms to protect their own egg, and Natalie regrets not listening to her mom’s idea.

The adult judges take everyone’s eggs to the top of the building while the students and families wait in the parking lot to see the results. Most of the eggs break, but afterward, the surviving eggs will be judged for durability, design, and the like to select a winner. When the judges drop Natalie, Twig, and Dari’s egg, it breaks.

Twig wants to leave once she knows they lost, but Natalie wants to stay and watch the cereal egg. At first, she feels bad for not listening to her mom, but she feels even worse when the cereal egg breaks too.