“Brains, no! I don’t need you. Jump off!”
But it was too late. The flying machine spiraled out of control. As Brains scrambled, his front paws covered Pearl’s goggles, making it impossible for her to see where she was going.
“Come on, Pearl. Hold on. Hold on just a few more meters before you reach the other side,” Halinka whispered, keeping everything crossed. “BRAINS! What are you doing, you silly old cat? Move your paws!”
But Pearl’s flying machine spiraled down and down toward the lake.
“Oh, Brains,” she said as the wind rushed past her ears, frantically trying to control the craft despite not being able to see a thing. “I think we might be about to get very wet!”
And sure enough, with a great splash, the flying machine landed just short of the edge of Lake Cosmos.
“Whoa!” the commentator cried, running over with his microphone, knee deep in water. “That was quite a landing! Can you tell me a little about your machine?”
“Yes,” Pearl said, a little out of breath. “We originally had a better machine, but—”
“All righty!” the commentator interrupted. “This isn’t the place for excuse making. We’re all here to win, right?”
The crowd erupted into a huge cheer, and Pearl began to wonder why she was even trying. She looked over the lake at Halinka, who was sitting glumly on the hill where she’d left her, and then over to Millie, who was still wriggling to try and get free. She knew they couldn’t win, as Brains had been on board, which was against the rules, and she hadn’t even made it across the lake. She picked up the tatty, old cat.
“Come on, Brains. It’s okay. Let’s make our way back around the lake and go rescue Millie and spend some time together, while we still have some time left.”
As she strolled along the water’s edge, she listened to the awards-giving ceremony, and hot tears stung her eyes as Megan and Heather were named the winners of the competition. She watched as Nova Celeste handed them a beautiful trophy with silver rockets and golden stars wrapping around it.
“Everyone, please put your hands together as Megan and Heather fly a victory lap around the lake!” yelled the commentator.
“Pearl!” Millie shrieked as she jumped out from behind some bushes.
“Millie! How did you…?”
“Long story, but I had to resort to contortion. Did you see the Freezacon that flaked off Atom’s craft and onto the lake surface? It was on fire!”
“Yes, yes, I did,” Pearl said nervously. “They only just made it to dry land! If they do a victory lap, their craft will disintegrate completely and…”
Pearl and Millie looked over at Atom’s craft. Megan and Heather were standing in front of it, busy arguing over who should do the victory lap.
Heather shoved Megan out of the way before clambering into the machine and pulling the helmet down over her head. But then Megan climbed on too.
“There’s room for two,” she seethed.
“Hey, ladies,” the commentator said, shoving his microphone into Megan’s face. “How does it feel to be the winners? Pretty awesome, huh?”
But Megan just pushed him away. “Let’s go!” she snarled as she poked Heather in the ribs, and the craft begin to move.
“Oh no!” said Pearl.
Chapter 10
The crowd cheered wildly as Heather began making her way down the runway, picking up speed as she went.
“This can’t be happening,” Millie squeaked. “We have to do something.”
“It’s too late,” Pearl said, watching helplessly.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Pearl spun around and looked at all the cheering faces, then at Nova Celeste, jumping up and down in delight on the stage. She looked over to Halinka, who was packing away her things in her bag and beginning to walk away from Lake Cosmos. How could this be happening? How had she let things get to this stage?
But as she turned around again, she noticed the expressions on the faces of people in the crowd had changed. They were no longer cheering—they were looking worried.
With a jolt, Pearl was back in real time. Megan and Heather’s machine was still racing along the runway, but it was now violently shifting from side to side. She could just make out the students’ voices. “Get off! Your bottom has overloaded it!” Heather shrieked.
“No, you get off,” Megan spat. “It’s your bottom that’s the problem.”
But before either of them could blink, the flying machine seemed to hit something on the runway, sending both girls flying back away from the lake into the air. They landed on the giant bouncy castle while their flying machine carried on toward the lake at full pelt!
“Brains saved them!” cried Millie.
“Oh, well done, you clever, brave cat,” Pearl said as she ran over to the runway to check he was still in one piece—or several pieces, at least. Apart from a lose back wheel and a dented head plate, he was fine.
“Pearl! Look out!” Millie shouted from farther back. Heather and Megan’s flying machine was about to hit the water—and Pearl and Brains were too close.
“No!” Pearl shouted, trying to shield Brains from what was about to happen. There was a loud bang and a white flash. Pearl looked up quickly to see hundreds of tiny balls of white flame headed right for her and Brains. She closed her eyes. And then it was dark.
“Pearl? Pearl?” came a familiar voice. “Are you okay?”
“Halinka!” Pearl cried, throwing her arms around her friend and squashing Brains’s ears in the process. “I thought you’d left. I thought you’d given up on me.”
“Give up on you? No chance.” Halinka smiled. “Besides, you looked like you might be in need of that heatproof parasol you invented last semester, the one you thought was no good. I kept it after you threw it in the bin and have had it in my bag ever since.” She gestured toward the large, umbrella-shaped dome that was protecting them from the heat of the explosion. “Turns out it’s not only SPF 500 but Freezacon proof as well! I know an excellent invention when I see one.”
Pearl smiled, a big tear running down her cheek. “So you do think I’m a good inventor?”
“Pearl, Halinka, Brains!” shrieked Millie as she arrived at the scene now that the flames had been put out. “Are you okay?”
“I think we’re all just fine,” Halinka said, helping Pearl to her feet. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
As the three friends put their arms around one another, Brains in creaky pursuit, the loudspeaker crackled to life.
“Would Pearl Peppersmith, Millie Maranova, and Halinka Harrison please come up to the main stage?”
Chapter 11
The three young scientists nervously made their way around the lake to the stage area.
“I wonder what this is all about,” Millie said anxiously, taking her glasses off to dry them, causing her wet hair to stick to her face.
Halinka and Pearl giggled. “You look like a drowned squirrel,” Halinka snorted.
Once they arrived, they were ushered behind a curtain to one side, where they came face-to-face with Nova Celeste and two very guilty-looking Atom Academy girls.
“Ladies,” Nova said, “it’s a complete honor to meet you three. From what I can gather at this early stage, it seems you tried everything you could to warn Megan and Heather about the Freezacon they were using in their invention.” She gestured over her shoulder to clipboard lady, who was looking much friendlier and a little regretful.
Nova turned to Megan and Heather. “I’m sorry, ladies, but you have been disqualified from the competition. I’ll have to take that back.”
She pried the trophy out of Megan’s grip and handed it to Pearl.
“Now, I think we need to redo the award-winners’ ceremony, don’t you? Would you help me?”
“Oh, we’d be totally honored,” Pearl said. She knew they still wouldn’t be the winners, but she was glad that the cheating Atom Girls had been stripped of their trophy.
Nova led the thre
e Bunseners out onstage and stood before the confused crowd.
“Thank you all for your patience. Due to the enormous severity of what has just occurred, we have had no choice but to disqualify all of Atom Academy from the competition. So that means we must choose a new winner. Now I’m looking down my list here at the times and the second fastest crossing of Lake Cosmos was by…Sienna Selenium and Sophie Syntax from Miss Bunsen’s School for Brilliant Girls! Congratulations, ladies!”
Sienna and Sophie raced up onstage to claim their trophy. The crowd clapped and cheered, and all the Bunseners at the front threw hats and ties and shoes and squirrels up in the air.
“But that’s not all!” Nova continued. “I have another special prize for some very deserving ladies.”
She turned to face Pearl, Millie, and Halinka.
“You three girls are an example to young scientists and engineers of the future. You tried to warn Heather and Megan of the danger they were in, resulting in you losing your own machine. And you didn’t let a squirrel-related setback stop you either; you rebuilt your machine with whatever you could find. That shows great ingenuity—something every scientist needs. And finally, you would have easily made it across the lake if it weren’t for your overly helpful bionic cat. I, therefore, present to you an entire summer’s stay at my Star Village Space Center. I guess we’re going to be seeing a bit more of each other.”
And at that, Nova Celeste gave them a cheeky wink and was ushered offstage by her security.
The five Bunsen girls all hugged, congratulating each other and listening as the rest of the school roared the school name out loud: “Bunsen’s, Bunsen’s, Bunsen’s!”
“I got to meet Nova Celeste, and I looked like a drowned squirrel,” Millie sighed.
“We’ll see you at Star Village!” Sienna said to Pearl as she and Sophie skipped off excitedly.
A second display of flying hats and hockey sticks and squirrels flew up in the air.
“Oh, you two,” said Pearl. “I’m so happy we’re all going to stay together this summer. I’m sorry my machine didn’t work.”
“It was our machine,” said Millie.
“And it was really Brains’s fault,” Halinka chimed in. “Although he did do a grand job of saving Megan and Heather from a very toasty end!”
Pearl turned to her. “Thank you for giving up your Turbo Trike to keep us all together. I thought maybe you wanted to leave Miss Bunsen’s and go to Velocity College after all.”
“Oh, Pearl!” Halinka said, pulling her friend into a hug. “I would never want to leave Miss Bunsen’s, and more importantly, I would never want to leave you. You’re the best scientist I’ve ever known.”
Pearl looked at her closely. “But Velocity College has all those great opportunities.”
“Yes, but do they have squirrels?” Halinka said, laughing.
Pearl felt a rush of relief. She looked at Millie. “And thank you for cheering me on. I was beginning to think I wasn’t good enough to be your friend.”
“You are the best friend anyone could ever have!” Millie chided as she squeezed herself into the hug.
The three friends stepped down from the stage, ready to head home after their very exciting day.
“Hey, I think we could fix that machine and fly home!” said Halinka.
“Let’s do it!” Pearl replied.
“Let’s just do some calculations first,” Millie protested, pulling a calculator out of her skirt pocket. But her plea went unheard as the sound of tools being unloaded from toolboxes rang out in the summer air.
Don’t miss Pearl, Millie, and Halinka’s first adventure!
ISBN: 978-0-8075-5157-8
e-Book ISBN: 978-0-8075-5156-1
Best friends Pearl, Millie, and Halinka love Miss Bunsen’s School for Brilliant Girls, so they are horrified when they discover it may close down. Winning an interschool invention contest might give Miss Bunsen enough money to keep the school open, and Pearl, Millie, and Halinka are sure that their invention will take first place.
The Best of Yourself Hat gives the wearer confidence, a better vocabulary, and perfect hair. But it’s such a good idea that a rival school steals their design! Can the friends find a way to save their invention…and their school?
Erica-Jane Waters lives in a tumbledown seventeenth-century cottage in deepest, darkest Northamptonshire, England, with her husband and two children, and their cats, George and Beatrix. She works from her attic studio and likes to discuss story ideas with the mice that live in the rafters above her writing desk. Much like Miss Bunsen’s School for Brilliant Girls and its crumbling walls, her house requires an imaginative approach to everyday life, and, like the girls in her books, she loves coming up with inventive, make-do-and-mend design ideas to engineer a functional home!
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