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At recess, Mia, Shae and Michiko grabbed their drinks and snacks and went to their favourite bench by the oval.

‘I’m sooo excited about the time capsule,’ said Shae, peeling her mandarin and offering the wedges around. ‘Let’s put in heaps of photos.’

‘Hey!’ said Michiko suddenly. ‘We don’t have any photos of us together from this year yet! Only that blurry one from when Mia tried to teach us to surf in my backyard.’

‘You’re right,’ Shae nodded. ‘We need some new ones. Who’s got a camera?’

‘Ours is broken,’ sighed Michiko.

‘We’ve got a digital camera,’ said Mia. ‘But I’m not allowed to bring it to school.’

Shae shrugged. ‘That’s OK,’ she said. ‘Can we come to your house on Saturday? The time capsule isn’t being buried until Monday, so we’ve got heaps of time.’

‘Sure!’ said Mia, feeling excited. It felt like ages since Michiko and Shae had been to her house. ‘Maybe we could dress up for the photos. You know — like a proper photo shoot?’

‘Great idea!’ said Michiko. ‘We could dress up like clowns — I’ve got some cool wigs we could wear, and some face paint.’

‘Maybe,’ said Shae doubtfully. Then she started rummaging around in her pocket. ‘Actually, why don’t we ask … this!’ She pulled out what looked like a piece of paper folded into triangles.

‘What’s that?’ asked Michiko. ‘It looks like origami.’

‘It’s a fortune teller,’ explained Shae. ‘My sister showed me how to make one last night. It helps you make decisions. And it can predict the future!’

She poked her thumbs and forefingers up into the points of the four triangles. Mia noticed that written on the outside of the triangles were the numbers one to eight.

Shae held the fortune teller out to Michiko.

‘Ask it a yes or no question, Mich,’ she instructed.

‘OK,’ said Michiko. ‘Should we dress up as clowns for the photo shoot?’

‘Now, pick a number,’ said Shae.

Michiko picked three.

‘One, two, three,’ counted Shae, moving the triangles back and forth with her fingers. Then she held the fortune teller out to Michiko again. Written inside it were the words red, blue, orange and green. Michiko picked red.

‘R, E, D,’ said Shae, moving the triangles again as she spelt out the colour. Now the choices were yellow, purple, pink and aqua. Michiko chose aqua.

Shae unfolded the flap to read what was written underneath. ‘It says Bad idea!’ she laughed.

Michiko didn’t seem to mind. ‘That thing is so cool!’ she said. ‘Ask it something else.’

Shae thought for a moment. Then she smiled her cheekiest smile. ‘Does Mia have a crush on Jack?’ she said. She passed the fortune teller to Mia.

‘I keep telling you. I don’t have a crush on him!’ laughed Mia. But all the same she felt her cheeks go pink. Jack and his gang were playing nearby. She really hoped they hadn’t heard Shae!

‘Let’s see what the fortune teller has to say,’ said Shae. ‘If you don’t have a crush, it’ll tell us.’

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Shae picked four, and Mia moved the fortune teller in and out, four times. Then Shae picked orange, then blue. Mia felt her heart skip a beat as she opened up the flap.

But before Mia could read the answer Michiko grabbed it out of her hands and read it with Shae. Then they both burst out laughing.

‘Come on! Tell me what it says!’ said Mia. ‘Do I have a crush on him or not?’

‘It says There’s no doubt about it!’ giggled Shae.

‘Now ask it if Jack has a crush on Mia,’ said Michiko.

So Shae asked the question. She chose two, then yellow. Then she chose yellow again, and Michiko opened up the flap.

‘It says, It’s looking good!’ she laughed. ‘You love Jack, Mia, and he loves you!’

Mia rolled her eyes. ‘Just because a piece of paper says so doesn’t mean it’s true!’ she said. ‘I’m positive I don’t have a crush on him.’

‘Sorry, Mia,’ grinned Shae. ‘There’s no point denying it!’

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