TIFU by accidentally ruining my little brother’s science project the day before the school fair

So, I’m a teenager, living with my family, and yesterday I fucked up big time—but thankfully, it wasn’t something life-changing or dangerous. My younger brother had been working for weeks on his science fair project, a small homemade volcano that erupts with baking soda and vinegar(woahh how new) . He was super excited about it because it was his first big school project and he wanted to impress his class(ofcc he wants).

I was just chilling in the living room, playing a video game, when my mom called me to help clean up the kitchen. The project volcano was still drying on the counter. It looked stable enough, so I grabbed a cloth to wipe the countertop quickly. In my rush, I didn’t realize the volcano was still pretty fragile. As I wiped a little too close, the whole thing tipped over and spilled the contents across the floor. It was a mess of plaster, painted volcano, and the carefully mixed baking soda that was supposed to cause the eruption.

My brother was devastated when he saw it later. He said, “I don’t think I can fix it in time for the fair.” I felt terrible because it was all my fault—I should have been more careful or just waited until it was fully dry. I offered to help him rebuild it, but with the fair only a day away, we both knew it wouldn’t be as good as before.

Luckily, my parents helped him talk to his teacher, who gave him an extension for the project because of the circumstance. So no big punishment or serious consequences, just a tough lesson for me: always be careful around other people’s important stuff, even if it looks ready to go.

TL;DR TIFU by knocking over my little brother’s science fair volcano project while cleaning, ruining it the day before the school fair. Thankfully, the teacher gave him an extension, but I learned to be more careful with others’ things.