Lischak holds up an envelope and announces: "The Hawking results are in," just as Glynis is telling Friedman he can't take it personally. He perks right up at the mention of the Hawking results and slaps Luke's arm: "Shh! Award time!" Glynis looks mildly aggrieved at his sudden mood change. Joan comes, apologizing for being late, and saying she had a meeting with Price. Friedman: "Not interested, Joan. Uh, award time." She slaps him upside the head and tells him to shut up as she goes to her seat. Adam asks what happened, and Joan tells him about how "someone" framed her and her community service sentence. Joan: "So…no Rhode Island." Adam looks bummed and declares that it sucks. She suggests she could come up late, but…seriously, is Rhode Island that close to Maryland? ["No. Your mileage may vary (literally, in this case) but it's a good six hours in the car, best guess." -- Sars] Yeah, I could check a map, but that smacks of effort. And…wouldn't he be going up Friday night, and coming back Saturday? And doesn't she have to be in Arcadia all day Saturday and Sunday? Is it just me, or does her suggestion make no sense at all? She says she's done by five and could take the train. Adam: "No, it's just going to be too crazy, okay? I might be auditing a class." On…Saturday? Are there a lot of Saturday classes? The Saturday interview I can buy, but…

Lischak gives the class some preamble about the coveted Hawking award. Glynis squees, "Ooh! I'm so excited! Dinner at Don Thornberry's!" That must be quite the steakhouse. Luke: "With Professor Lambert. An entire evening of string theory and prime rib." Sign me…up? Lischak announces that there are two winners this year. Glynis eyes her seatmates: "Only two? Oh my." Lischak makes a big production out of drumming the desk in front of her and dramatically declaring the winners. Frink: "She's great." She says the award goes to Ms. Figliola and Mr. Friedman for their work on the velocity of atoms. "Mr." Friedman? So it's his last name? Glynis and Friedman high-five each other in front of Luke, who's closed his eyes briefly in disbelief and disappointment. Lischak applauds them as the bell rings. Grace walks up to Luke, and puts her arm around him, saying quietly, "Genius goes unrecognized. What else is new? Come on." Luke just sits there, muttering, "But my entry proved the possibility of a string force field positing an energy of ten to the nineteenth power volts. This is a steak-worthy discovery." Frink: "That would be a big deal. A little too big to be believed of Luke." And the string theory experts on Joan of Arcadia forum agree (yeah, I got string theorists on my forums -- you wanna make something of it?) that this is simply way too advanced for Luke to have come up with. If he were really that kind of prodigy, he'd already be working on an advanced degree, not sitting around in AP science classes. Honestly, couldn't they come up with an entry for Luke that's at least a little believable? Grace tries to comfort him: "You're talking about the opinion of a bunch of pinheads at Arcadia College." Glynis follows them out, saying, "And Don Thornberry himself. I heard he was an honorary judge." Grace snipes, "What does he know about physics? He runs a steak joint at the airport." Friedman breezes past him: "Dude, don't worry, I'll bring you a doggy bag." Luke glares.