The next morning, Sky woke up extra early with a gigantic smile on her face. She’d dreamed that she’d won the Best Bounce Award at Bounce-a-Lot, after leaping higher than the Weather Rabbit clock tower in Pineapple Square. She jumped out from under her leaf-quilt duvet and ignored the ache in her legs—she’d been practicing her bounce-moves until very late last night.

“What would you like for breakfast?” Sky’s mom asked. She was in the kitchen, spooning blueberry porridge into six bowls for Sky’s younger sisters. They were usually up earlier than Sky, who was the eldest and liked to sleep in, but today she was the first bunny up.

“Ooh, hopcorn, please, Mom!” Sky begged. She did a backflip to the table, knocking a pan off the wall in the process. It clattered onto the floor, and Sky’s mom tutted.

“Well, if your sisters weren’t awake already, they are now!” Sky’s mom said. “And you should really have something more nutritious for breakfast, Sky.”

“But, Mom,” Sky began, “you know—”

“It’s Bounce-a-Lot on Saturday,” her mom finished. “Yes, I know. It’s all you’ve been talking about! Just hearing you chatter about all that jumping around has made me feel tired.” She poured a bowl of hopcorn for Sky and whispered, “You’re lucky your dad’s not up yet. Don’t tell him I gave this to you!”

Sky winked at her mom and nodded. “Sure thing!” she said. Sky started shoveling the sweet, crunchy hopcorn into her mouth, one after another. She liked to see how many pieces she could fit in before she swallowed. Her cheeks grew bigger and bigger as she squeezed more and more of the sweet, crunchy morsels in.

“Guess what—I beat my hopcorn record today,” Sky told Diamond on the way to school. They lived in next-door burrows and always skipped to school together. “Twenty-eight pieces!”

Diamond nodded thoughtfully. “Twenty-eight? That’s my lucky number. Did you know it’s the number of teeth rabbits have?”

“Ooh, really?” said Sky. “I didn’t know that. You’re so clever, Diamond.”

Diamond blushed. “Thanks, Sky. It was actually in our science homework last night.”

“Flippety-flop!” Sky put her front paws to her very furry face. “I didn’t do the homework!”

“Oh, yes, I’d forgotten you were going to see 101 Velveteen Rabbits,” Diamond said. “Was it good?”

“No idea—I didn’t go,” said Sky. “I was bouncing all night. Look at my latest move—the lucky high spin!” Sky leaped up so far that Diamond had to lean backward to look at her. She spun in the air, a blurry ball of blue fur.

“That was amazing, Sky,” Diamond said, clapping her white paws together. “I can’t wait to see you perform in Bounce-a-Lot.”

They reached the dandelion field that surrounded their school, and ran toward the group of trees in the center. Each classroom was inside one of the tree trunks, and each class was named after the different trees—Oak Class, Willow Class, Chestnut Class, Pine Class, and Maple Class. Sky and Diamond headed for their classroom, in the wide oak tree.

Inside, there were twelve log desks facing their teacher’s larger desk and the barkboard behind him. Most of the Oak Class students were sitting at their desks already. Their teacher, Mr. Nibble, was almost hidden by the huge lettuce leaf he was busy munching on for his breakfast.

“Knock, knock,” chirped Sky as she and Diamond scooted to their desks.

“Who’s there?” replied Diamond, Star, Ruby, and Petal. Twinkle was missing—he was late, as usual.

Sky grinned. “Lettuce.”

“Lettuce who?” Sky’s friends asked, playing along with her joke.

“Lettuce in, it’s cold outside!” Sky replied, and her friends laughed, even though they’d heard that one before.

“You must have told us that joke a hundred times!” Star complained.

Mr. Nibble looked up from his lettuce leaf. The fur on his head folded into a frown. “I see Twinkle’s not yet here again, but we should start anyway. Today’s an important day.” As he took another bite of his breakfast, the tiny form of Twinkle dashed into the classroom.

“Sorry I’m late!” Twinkle squeaked. “Did I miss anything?”

Mr. Nibble swallowed his mouthful. “Almost! Now sit down, Twinkle, and please try to be on time. As I was saying, I have an important announcement, which I know you have all been waiting for, so I won’t keep you wondering any longer.”

Sky nudged Petal at the next-door desk. “Ooh, the Bouncers!” Sky whispered. She sat up as Mr. Nibble began reading from a piece of tree bark.

“This year’s lucky Oak Class Bouncers for the annual Bounce-a-Lot festival will be … Star, Toppy, Rainbow, Jewel, Haybury, and Twinkle!”

Sky kept waiting and listening. But Mr. Nibble had put the piece of bark down. She counted the names on her paws: Star—one, Toppy—two, Rainbow—three, Jewel—four, Haybury—five, Twinkle—six. Sky began to shake. Each class’s Bouncer team was always made up of six bunnies. Which meant she hadn’t been chosen! Her tummy did a somersault, and she suddenly felt sick from all the hopcorn she’d eaten.

Mr. Nibble took another munch of lettuce, then added with his mouth full, “Congratulations, bunnies. You are our Oak Class Bouncers this year! You lucky bunnies will be skipping your normal lessons this week to practice for Saturday’s festival.”

Sky was hardly listening. She wasn’t a Bouncer! She watched in a daze as Star, Twinkle, and the other class Bouncers scampered out of the tree trunk. The rest of the class waved and wished them luck, but Sky couldn’t bring herself to move or speak.

Petal reached across and squeezed Sky’s paws. “I’m ever so sorry that you weren’t chosen,” Petal whispered.

“It’s okay,” Sky managed to reply, but inside she didn’t really feel okay. She felt like the unluckiest bunny in Bright Burrow.

That morning’s lesson was English, Sky’s favorite, but she couldn’t concentrate on the spellings Mr. Nibble was teaching them. All she could think about was not being in Bounce-a-Lot. What was she going to tell her family? Sky’s mom had bought all that extra hopcorn especially for her!

At playtime, Ruby, Petal, and Diamond each grabbed a bunch of dandelions from the field and began munching on the yellow flowers, like they did every day at school. But Sky just stood there, looking at the ground.

“Don’t forget your dandelion snack,” Ruby said. She plucked a pawful of big, yellow dandelions from the ground and held them out to Sky.

Sky smiled at Ruby, took them, and nibbled on the petals, but they tasted bitter in her mouth. She let her paw drop to her side.

“Twinkle looked happy to be a Bouncer,” said Diamond.

Ruby nodded her glossy red head. “He totally did, didn’t he? I think it’s his first time!”

Sky twitched her nose and stared at her feet. It would have been her first time, too. She wondered if she’d ever be lucky enough to be a Bouncer …

“Sky?” Petal asked politely. “Did you hear what I was saying? Shall we go to Paradise Beach after school?”

“I so want to find a glow shell like Diamond’s,” said Ruby. “Maybe today’s my lucky day!”

“Um, okay,” said Sky. But she couldn’t even get excited about digging in the sand, which she normally loved. She looked up and saw the teams of Bouncers springing around in the far corner of the field. Her heart squeezed as she wished more than anything that she was with them.