Screeeeeeeeeech!
The Newburg Elementary school bus came to a sudden stop. Pablo and Violet lunged forward.
“I thought we’d never get here,” Pablo moaned as he stretched his arms overhead. The two best friends unfastened their seat belts and looked out the window. Cars, buses, and taxis honked as they zoomed through the streets. People scurried down steps to catch the subway. The smell of hot dogs started to fill the bus. They had finally arrived in the city. Next stop, the City Science Museum!
“Can we get off yet?” Violet bounced in her seat.
“Hopefully,” said Pablo. “I haven’t been here since last year.”
“Me neither. Remember how we learned about viruses? And how fast they can travel around the world?” asked Violet.
“Yeah,” said Pablo. “I wonder what we’ll get to see this year.”
Pablo and Violet weren’t the only ones who were excited. The bus hummed with the voices of Mr. Eng’s third-grade class. This was the first field trip of the year, and everyone had been on the bus for more than an hour.
Mr. Eng stood up from the first row and raised his hand to quiet everyone.
“Okay, class,” he began. “Time to buddy up. Remember the double line we practiced?”
“Yes, Mr. Eng!” answered the class.
Pablo and Violet were always field trip buddies. In fact, they did everything together. At recess, they either played soccer or double Dutch. And they always shared a sweet, juicy pickle from the Newburg Corner Store on their walk home from school. Recently, Pablo had started helping Violet learn Spanish. And they both loved everything about science. Pablo dreamt of being an astronaut and traveling through space. Violet was determined to become a scientist and cure as many diseases as possible.
“Listo?” said Violet. “Are you ready?”
“Muy bien!” replied Pablo. The Spanish lessons were working. He grabbed his best friend’s hand, and they peeled their legs from the sticky seats.
“Come on, Henry!” Violet called toward the back of the bus. A boy wearing a tight-fitting black-and-green superhero costume sat in the last row. Two blue eyes gazed over the seats from behind a silver mask.
“New costume?” Pablo asked with a smile as Henry made his way to the front.
“Yeah!” replied Henry. “My other one got a hole in the armpit.”
There was an odd number of students in the class, so Mr. Eng added Henry to Violet and Pablo’s group. Pablo always tried to be nice to Henry, who was a little different from other kids. Sometimes he would throw tantrums for no reason at all, especially during gym or recess. And he could never sit still and pay attention in class. But Pablo knew what it was like to be different. He had felt different from his classmates when he’d first arrived in Newburg from Puerto Rico. Luckily, he’d met Violet. She thought his differences were cool.
“It’s time to take off your mask now,” Mr. Eng said to Henry as they hopped off the bus.
Henry held the sides of his mask with both hands.
Mr. Eng knelt down. “I know you like wearing your mask. But the rules for entering the museum are the same as the rules for entering school. No hats,” he said. “Or masks.”
Henry’s hands didn’t budge.
“Please?” asked Mr. Eng.
Henry sighed and slowly removed the mask. He shook out his wavy blond hair as he gave the mask to Mr. Eng.
“Thank you.” Mr. Eng smiled.
“It’s so loud out here,” Henry complained, covering his ears.
Violet smiled and grabbed Pablo’s and Henry’s hands. “Come on, then! Let’s go,” she said. The trio hurried inside.