HEY, Mom!” I shouted as I jumped off the school bus.
“Hi, honey!” she replied. “How was school today?”
“It was awesome!” I shouted. “You know what happened?”
“Nope. But I’m hoping you’ll tell me.” Mom smiled and checked to make sure my baby sister, Mia, was still asleep in the stroller.
“There’s gonna be a costume contest at school and you have to make your own costume and it has to be from a book and I know what I’m gonna be and it’s gonna be sooo cool,” I said in a hurry. I had to stop to take a breath.
“Okay, Emma, slow down. And try not to yell, your sister’s sleeping.”
“Okay,” I said in a whisper. “But, Mom,” I continued in my normal voice, “I’m going to be a witch! But not just any witch. I’m going to be the Witch from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe!”
“Now that sounds wonderful, Emma. Very creative.”
Mom told me that the Witch from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is called the White Witch and she wears a long white fur coat and has a magic wand! They have all the supplies we need at the craft store. Mom said could we could go tomorrow morning since it was Saturday and there was no school.
The next morning, I nibbled on some bacon and eggs before we left for the craft store.
“So what do you think about my costume idea, Papi?” I asked my dad.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Papi replied. “You’re going to be la Bruja Blanca!”
“Ha! I like it when you say “White Witch” in Spanish! It sounds so spooky!” I said it out loud like this: “Brooha Blahnkah.”
“We’ll make you a super-spooky costume.”
“That’s perfect! Perfecto.” I popped a forkful of scrambled eggs into my mouth.
“Meow, meow,” my cat, Luna, chimed in as she jumped into my lap.
“You think so, too, Luna?” I asked as I scrunched down to give her a kiss and a snuggle.
Luna has chocolate-pudding cat fur, just like my chocolate-pudding Slinky curls. She’s also my reporter’s assistant, so she’s allowed to sit at the table even though Papi says he’s not thrilled about it.
After breakfast, we all got in the car to go buy costume supplies.
“Wow,” I said as we stepped inside the craft store.
“EEEK. GAGA GAGA,” agreed baby Mia.
The store was huge! They had every kind of crafting supply, in every kind of color you could ever think of!
“Papi, this is amazing!”
“It is pretty cool,” Papi replied.
We looked around for everything a witch could ever need. They had a ton of hats and brooms and black fabric. They had glitter and feathers and beads. But I mostly just needed white stuff because I was going to be the White Witch.
After a while, I found a white sheet that Mom said we could cut up to make a witch’s dress. We grabbed lots of white feathers and sequins to decorate my dress. Then I found the perfect magic wand—it was gold and shiny. Papi said the White Witch also has a crown. So we bought a package of tinfoil to make spiky icicles. We were going to attach them to a princess crown I already had at home.
Last, but not least, I needed a long white fur coat.
“Mom, I don’t see any fur coats around here.”
“Hmm. A white fur coat. Let’s see,” said Mom as she handed baby Mia over to Papi. Mia was getting fussy, so he took her back to the car for a bottle.
“I know, Emma,” said Mom as an idea popped into her head.
“What?” I asked.
“How about this?” She held up a white shaggy rug.
“A rug? Do you think the White Witch would really wear a rug?”
“I sure do,” Mom insisted. “Look, we’ll get the medium size … wrap it around the top like a cape … and then cinch it around your waist. Then we’ll cut holes for your arms. It’ll be great.”
I suddenly had a vision of myself in a white shaggy rug coat and it was amazing.
“Actually, that’s kinda cool! Let’s get it!” I agreed.
We left the craft store with everything we needed.
Mom, Papi, and I spent the next few days putting my costume together. Miss Thompson told us to bring our costumes into school a couple days before the festival so we could finish them up in art class. I brought all my witch stuff, plus a special surprise for Sophia to add to her Lion costume.
“Okay, class, it’s time to grab your costumes and bring them to the art room,” announced Miss Thompson. “Your art instructor, Mr. Colón, will help with the finishing touches. And one more thing: As you know, the costume contest will have prizes for all the different categories. The Halloween Festival organizers announced there will also be a grand prize for the best costume overall. It’s a gift certificate to Mr. Magee’s Toy Store.”
We all squealed with excitement!!
“So if you win best costume,” Miss Thompson continued, “you can pick out any toy you like, within reason, from Mr. Magee’s.”
“Sophia, we have to win now!!” I exclaimed as we walked to the art room. “Mr. Magee has a spy kit. I’ve seen it in the window. It’ll be perfect for Javier!”
“Ooh, Emma, he would love that,” Sophia agreed. We sat down at a big brown table in the art room. It was covered in dried paint splats.
“Yes, we have to win. I think we can do it,” Sophia continued. “Check out my costume. My mom says the Lion from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is named Aslan and he is fierce. We spent hours making my Aslan costume fierce!”
“Ooh, Sophia, I love it!” I told her.
“See, look,” Sophia said as she plopped her costume down on the table, “I have an orange leotard and tan tights. My mom helped me make a tan oval out of felt and sew it on the leotard for the Lion’s stomach. Then we made a mane from strips of felt in yellow, orange, red, and tan! We made the strips into loops and glued them around a headband.”
“It looks so real,” I told her. “But not quite real enough …”
“What do mean it’s not real enough?” Sophia sounded confused.
Then I pulled out my surprise for her. Luna’s fur brush!
“Look!” I showed her. “We’ll just take some of Luna’s cat fur and paste it on your costume and then you’ll be like a real lion!”
“Ooh, wow! This is perfect!” Sophia squealed.
She pasted Luna’s fur onto the leotard in the shape of a semicircle near the neck. It looked better than I had imagined. There was no way we could lose.
“This is wonderful, Sophia!” said Mr. Colón, the art teacher, as he walked over to our table. “I love this colorful lion’s mane. Very creative.”
“Thanks, Mr. Colón.” Sophia beamed.
“Nice costume, Sophia,” said Melissa G. as she walked by our table.
I sighed.
“Thanks, Melissa,” Sophia replied.
I just rolled my eyes because you could tell Melissa G. didn’t really mean it when she said “nice costume.” I knew she was jealous and probably worried we’d win the contest.
“Yeah, it looks awesome!” said Molly, who was walking behind Melissa G. “It really looks just like a lion. Good job, Sophia!”
Sophia smiled. You could tell she was feeling proud of her hard work.
“It’s pretty good,” Melissa G. agreed, “but, Molly, I know your costume is going to be great, too. We’ll be the most beautiful princesses at the festival!”
Melissa G. and Molly both decided to be princesses. That was not surprising at all. They both love princess everything. Princess dolls. Princess dresses. Princess castles. They even had princess sunglasses with crown jewels on them. (Secretly I always wished I could have princess sunglasses, too, but I would never tell Melissa G. that. I don’t want her to think I’m jealous or something when I’m really not!)
Melissa G. dragged Molly to the other side of the art room.
“Come on, Molly … I want to show you the silk scarf I attached to my crown. Now it looks just like a veil! I’ll show you how to do it … It’ll look so great! I know we’re going to win the contest!”
Then they sat at an empty table on the other side of the art room. Melissa G. pulled out her costume—she was the princess from the book The Princess and the Pea. Molly was supposed to be her younger sister. I never knew that the princess had a younger sister, but Melissa G. insisted she could have one if she wanted to. Molly just went along with it—like she always does.
But today, Molly looked a little sad staring back at our table. Which is strange, since I thought Molly would like to be a princess. That’s why she’s perfect-match friends with Melissa G. I felt bad for Molly, but we had work to do!
“Okay, Sophia, what’s left?” I asked.
“I just need to make the Lion’s tail,” continued Sophia.
“Yes … let’s see what we can do about that,” added Mr. Colón. “Oh, I bet we could make something out of these old jump ropes we have in the back supply closet … Come this way.”
Mr. Colón grabbed Sophia’s costume and headed to the back of the room to look for jump ropes. Sophia followed him. I pulled out my costume and started gluing feathers to my White Witch dress. It was looking very feathery. Sophia returned with what looked like a jump rope tail!
“Ha-ha!” I said. “Look at your tail!”
“I know,” Sophia replied. “I’m almost done. I just need some yellow and orange yarn to make the tail fluffy at the end.”
Sophia left her costume on the table next to me and went to go find some yarn. I continued adding feathers to my dress.
All of a sudden, everyone turned to the front of the room and started giggling.
It was Javier. He walked into the class with his costume on and he looked amazing. He was wearing a huge cardboard box that had a hole on top for his head and two holes on the sides for his arms. The box was painted dark blue with a light blue trim. He looked just like a wardrobe! It even had two doors in front that opened and closed!
“Javier!!” I screamed with delight as I ran over to him near the front of the classroom. “That is the best costume ever!! It’s amazing!”
“Wow! That’s so cool,” said Adrian. Everyone started crowding around Javier. Mr. Colón and Sophia walked over, too.
“Javier, this is an excellent costume,” said Mr. Colón as he inspected the cardboard box.
“Thanks,” said Javier with a huge grin.
“I think you and your team have a real shot at winning the grand prize,” Mr. Colón went on. “And, boy, this whole class is looking good. Looks like we have lots of winners here. I’d say there’s a good chance Miss Thompson’s class will win the most categories and become the winners of the pizza party! P.S. 387 is going to be the most creative school on Halloween!”
All the kids started patting Javier on the back—well, on the back of his wardrobe box! He had a big smile on his face.
“Thanks, Javier,” said Adrian. “I can’t wait for our pizza party next week! P.S. 387 rules!”
“No problem,” said Javier, trying to play it cool.
“Javier, do you know what this means?” I yelled in a not-cool way. “Forget about the pizza party, we’re gonna win the grand prize! We can finally get your spy kit from Mr. Magee’s Toy Store! And that way we can solve more cases … do more news reports … and be even more famous!”
I couldn’t think of anything more exciting. The school would be so proud of us. Plus a pizza party! This was gonna be the best Halloween ever.
Then it happened.
“Aaaahhhhhh!”
It was Sophia. She was screaming. It was such a loud screech, it gave me goose bumps on my arms.
“Sophia, what’s wrong?” I asked her.
“My Lion costume is gone!”