"The Police Blew Up My Homework"

Luckily for this kid, his 'missing homework' excuse made the news:

"A bomb squad blew up a metal pipe that had a battery, wires, rope and an electrical switch, only to realize it was an eighth-grade science project...
"...A clerk found the device _ made from three feet of half-inch metal pipe _ near the greeting cards display at a drugstore Thursday.
"Police Chief Roger Beadling said he got within six feet and decided not to take any chances. "It definitely appeared to be some kind of explosive device," he said.
"The bomb squad used a robot to examine the device, then destroyed it.
"A 10th-grader at Frazier High School said the science project is something eighth-graders do every year. "You have to make it so it can pick up metal paper clips, but you can't use magnets," Tiffany Burton said. "I hated that project."