The First Experiment

Yuki loved science, but she had never done a real experiment before. Today, in the biology lab at Westbrook School, she had her first one.

Her lab partner, Sam, read the instructions out loud.

“First, we put the leaf in the water. Then we add the blue liquid. Finally, we wait and watch.”

Yuki carefully put the green leaf into the glass of water. Her hands were shaking a little.

“You are nervous,” Sam said, smiling.

“I am,” Yuki said. “What if nothing happens?”

They added three drops of the blue liquid. Then they waited. Sam was writing the time in his notebook. Yuki was watching the leaf.

For a long minute, nothing happened. Yuki started to feel sad.

Then she noticed something. Tiny bubbles were rising from the leaf, like very small balloons. More and more came up.

“Sam, look!” she said softly. “It is working.”

Sam looked up from his data. The two of them watched the bubbles together, saying nothing.

It was not a big discovery. Every science class did the same experiment. But for Yuki, in that quiet moment, it felt like the first one in the world.