He looked at Eli.
“Your mother was Claire Mercer?”
Eli nodded.
“You knew her?”
Adrian couldn't speak for several seconds.
Then:
“Yes.”
Eli's eyes widened.
“How?”
Adrian sat down beside him.
“Your mother worked on a project with my firm.”
Eli stared.
“She did?”
“She was one of the smartest engineers I ever met.”
Eli looked at the notebook.
“She never told me.”
Adrian smiled sadly.
“She probably didn't want you to grow up believing you had to become her.”
Eli's eyes filled with tears.
“She wanted me to be a musician.”
Adrian laughed softly.
“That sounds like her.”
“You knew her well?”
“No.”
He paused.
“But I knew enough.”
Adrian turned the notebook around.
“This isn't your mother's work.”
Eli looked confused.
“What?”
“This is yours.”
Adrian pointed to the pages.
“She gave you curiosity.”
“You did the rest.”
Eli looked down.
For a moment, he didn't speak.
Then the principal interrupted.
“Dr. Cole?”
Adrian turned.
“What?”
“We need to resume the competition.”
Adrian stared at him.
“Resume?”
“Yes.”
“The boy's project is destroyed.”
“Exactly.”
Adrian slowly stood.
“No.”
The principal frowned.
“What?”
“We are not resuming.”
“But the schedule—”
“Forget the schedule.”
Adrian walked toward the microphone.
He picked it up.
Every parent watched him.
Every student waited.
“This competition is over.”
The principal's face went pale.
“Dr. Cole—”
“I said it's over.”
He looked at the judges.
“You have a choice.”
He pointed at the shattered machine.
“We can pretend this is an unfortunate accident and send everyone home.”
Then he pointed toward Eli.
“Or we can acknowledge what happened.”
Silence.
Adrian continued.
“A student spent eight months designing an original energy system.”
“He documented every failure.”
“He solved problems without access to expensive laboratory equipment.”
“And today, another student deliberately destroyed it.”
The bully looked down.
Adrian's voice hardened.
“And if we allow this competition to continue as if nothing happened, we aren't teaching these children science.”
“We are teaching them that cruelty has no consequences.”
The auditorium erupted in applause.
Eli looked stunned.
He had never experienced anything like it.
Adrian handed the microphone to another judge.