CHAPTER 10

Friends and Archenemies

The next day during science, Ellie stuck her shovel in the ground. “We’re done!” she cheered.

Hannah joined Ellie, and together they admired their teamwork. The schoolyard habitat was finished. It now had a flowerbed on one side of the oak tree and a brush pile on the other. It had stumps for a friendly gathering space. It also had Hannah’s birdbath, which was full of fresh water.

Ellie skipped along the welcoming path of stepping stones, which ran through the habitat. “Let’s check to make sure we didn’t forget anything,” she said, pulling out the to-do list. She had saved it from under a pile of peach pits.

Ellie scanned the list while crossing out what Team Earth had completed.

Team Earth To-Do List

1. Bring a shovel to dig out a space. Don’t forget gardening tools!
2. Gather sticks and leaves. Make a brush pile.
3. Plant all sorts of flowers for food.

1. Find a saucer and put in a birdbath. Fill the birdbath with fresh water.

1. Build a birdhouse.

When she reached the bottom of the list, Ellie’s face fell.

“What’s the matter?” Hannah asked. “Is it cyborg spinach? A teacher creature?”

Ellie shook her head. “Worse! I didn’t make a birdhouse! How can I save the golden-cheeked warbler without a birdhouse? It needs a home.”

“All we have left is some soil and a broken pot,” Hannah said as she dug into the wheelbarrow. “Those supplies won’t help us.”

Ellie sank onto a stump. She felt mighty un-mighty. If only she had asked for help sooner instead of trying to do everything on her own. Through the classroom window, Ellie could see the other kids celebrating. They were having no trouble finishing their projects. All because they had helped each other.

“Help! That’s it!” Ellie jumped up and twirled Hannah like a doll. “We can still save the day. We just need help!” She ran inside, pulling Hannah behind her. “Payton! Amanda!”

Behind a yarn ball, Payton’s head popped up. “What’s up?” she asked.

“It’s an Earth Day emergency!” Ellie replied. “Do you have any extra bottles left over from your project?”

“Extra? Be right back!” Payton zigzagged through the class and disappeared out the door. Moments later, she came back with a bag overflowing with plastic bottles. “How’s this for extra?”

“Amazing!” Ellie exclaimed happily.

“The cafeteria is Bottletopia!” Amanda told her. “We found enough bottles to make art caddies for the whole school.” She handed one over. “Let us know if you want more.”

“Thanks!” Ellie and Hannah raced to the rug, which was shaped like a map of the United States. On California, Joshua and Owen were gluing glow-in-the-dark shoelaces to their shoes.

“Where’s your pencil project?” Ellie asked her classmates.

“We’re done with that,” Joshua said. He nodded at Illinois and Michigan. There, pencils were wrapped in every color of the shoelace rainbow.

“Now, we’re making light-up clothes,” Owen explained. “Shoes, pants, everything! If our clothes glowed, we wouldn’t have to waste electricity. We’d be giant glow sticks!”

It was a bright idea. But when Ellie tried to imagine the boys as light bulbs of liberty, she could only think of Electro Pig. That power-hungry villain glowed brighter than the city’s power grid, after he’d drained it. Then he’d let out a super-charged BURRRRP!

Ellie punched her palm. “Evildoers have no manners,” she muttered.

“Huh?” Owen scrunched his eyebrows.

Ellie shook her head. “Sorry, never mind. Can we use one of your pencils? And a shoelace? We’re building a birdhouse for our habitat.”

“Sure.” Owen crawled over the Rocky Mountains. He swung around with a pencil and a neon blue shoelace. “These okay?”

“Perfect!” Ellie said.

Team Earth hurried around the classroom getting help from more teams. When they were finished, the girls spread out the new supplies on Ellie’s desk.

“The bottle can be a house, and this pencil will make a perch,” Ellie said.

“What about food?” Hannah asked. “You said warblers eat nuts, right? Too bad the oak tree doesn’t have acorns now.”

Just then, as if by magic or a squirrel’s acorn blaster, an acorn shot overhead. Ellie caught it in midair.

Out of nowhere, Dex appeared. All Earth Week long, he had been tending to his newly planted acorns, feeding them plenty of GroDream plant food and evil ideas. No doubt they were growing into big, strong, leafy minions!

“Hands off, Snatcher Girl!” Dex snapped, swiping the acorn away. “Keep your super cooties to yourself.”

“I, um…” Ellie’s voice faded as she saw some leftover acorns on Dex’s seat. Dex! Acorns! The sudden thought nearly fried her brainpower. Her archenemy could help — yes, help — their team! All she had to do was ask.

Ellie took a deep breath. “Dex, I need a favor. Can you help?”

“Help? You?” Dex’s face wrinkled like a raisin. “What should I do? Pretend you’re invisible? Move to the opposite end of the universe?”

“Well, actually…”

“Wait, wait, I know!” Dex interrupted. “Stop superheroes for all eternity? Sure, I can do that.”

Ellie frowned. Saving the world was hard. How come villains made it harder? “Can I have a few acorns?” she asked.

Dex hopped over to his desk and returned with the acorns. Holding them out, he said, “I’ll give you these. But first, you have to say, ‘Evil masterminds are more super than superheroes.’” He started to juggle.

I’m getting nowhere with Dex, Ellie thought, watching the acorns go round and round. She needed someone powerful — more powerful than her, Mom and Dad, and all the members of B.R.A.I.N. put together — to ask him to help.

Just then, the answer to Ellie’s prayers — Miss Little — walked up. “Is everything okay here?” she asked.

“We need acorns for our project,” Ellie explained. “But Dex won’t give us any, being my archenemy and all.”

Miss Little turned to Dex. “Earth could use our help,” she said. “We can do the most by working as a team. Girls and boys. Kids and grownups. Students and teachers. Friends and archenemies.”

Dex stuck out his tongue at Ellie.

“C’mon, Dex,” Miss Little said with a friendly nudge. “Earth is counting on you.”

Time stood still as Dex thought quietly. From what Ellie mind-read, he was trying to decide between doing the right thing and the wrong thing. It looked like two toddlers fighting over a shiny balloon. But finally, he handed over the acorns — even super-villains had to listen to their teachers.

“Thanks, Dex!” Ellie said cheerfully. “I thought bad guys never helped good guys. But you’ve changed that. Maybe this is the start of a friendship, where heroes and villains can walk hand-in-hand in peace and harmony!”

Dex squinted his beady eyes at Ellie. Then he made a rotten pineapple face and marched away.

Ellie sighed. “Maybe not,” she said.

“We have everything!” Hannah said. “Let’s build that birdhouse. Go, Team Earth!”