It all started when I dropped my pencil, and it didn’t fall. It just floated in the air, spinning, slowly, like it was in space.
I stared at it, confused. Then I looked around. My friend Malik was slowly rising out of his chair.
“Are we … floating?” he asked.
I tried to stand up, but my feet lifted off the floor. My whole body drifted upwards, like a balloon with no string. Around us, backpacks, markers, and half-eaten sandwiches floated like they had dreams of becoming astronauts.
“Something’s wrong!” Emma shouted.
Students swarmed. Desks flipped. A soccer ball bounced off the whiteboard and smacked Zoe in the face mid-air. She spun in slow motion and crashed into the classroom globe, knocking off Antarctica.
Mr. Simmons, our science teacher, slammed into the ceiling and groaned, “NOT AGAIN!”
Outside, it was even worse. Trees leaned like they were trying to fall up. Mailboxes floated. The stop sign drifted down the street like a confused kite, then a cow from the nearby farm slowly floated by our window. It looked surprisingly calm for a flying animal.
A kid from third grade flew past, holding onto his backpack like a jetpack. He yelled, “I’m never coming down!” and disappeared into the clouds.
Then … the voice came.
A deep, booming voice filled the air. “Oops. Sorry, everyone. That was my bad.”
We all froze (well, floated.)
The clouds above us split apart like curtains, and a gigantic glowing face appeared in the sky. It looked like a jellyfish made of stars, with sparkly eyes and weird floating eyebrows.
“I accidentally turned off gravity,” it said. “I was trying to change the channel on my grandpa’s TV and hit the wrong button.”
“CHANNEL?!” someone shouted.
“Yeah,” the voice said. “Your world’s a reality show. Grandpa was bored and wanted to watch Galactic Ping Pong instead.”
It reached into the sky, pressed something invisible, and–
WHAM! We all dropped. Fast.
“Oops again!” the voice said, and a pop of wind caught us before we hit the ground. “Temporary gravity pass applied. It should last about 12 Earth hours. Byeeeeeee!”
And just like that, it disappeared.
Everything felt … strange. We weren’t floating, but we weren’t stuck either; you could jump and hang in the air like a superhero. Gym class became trampoline dodgeball. Lunch trays hovered. Mr. Simmons gave up on teaching and just floated in a yoga pose.
Twelve hours later, gravity snapped back like a giant rubber band. Everything slammed down. The cow landed in the football field and instantly became the school mascot. They named him Floatie.
Scientists try to explain it. The president gave a very awkward speech about “space settings.” No one understood anything.
Now, whenever I drop something, I look up just in case some alien jellyfish kid is still holding the remote.
Because gravity can quit for a day … anything can happen.
