“It held forty-two pounds before the truss flexed.”

He set a small scale model of a bridge on the table, adjusting its nylon guy wires with careful fingertips.

I sat two rows back, holding a printed program that listed twenty-eight student science projects.

Lucas checked the alignment of his title sign, making sure his name read Lucas Caldwell in bold black ink across the top.

He didn’t look nervous or unsure.

He stood up straight, touching up the pencil lines on his load-bearing chart with an eraser he kept tucked behind his ear.