The Great Museum Mix-Up and Other Surprise Endings

by Deborah Lytton

  “These things happen,” he tells me with a smile. Mrs. Sablinsky is not so forgiving. She narrows her eyes and glares at me. This is not good. Not good at all. I wanted to be invisible during the field trip. I didn’t want to be on my teacher’s radar. Now it will be that much harder to get away.

  Joe leads us to a giant giraffe. This one is outside of the case, so we can stand next to it and see how tall it is. One by one, we are supposed to step onto a circle near the front left leg of the giraffe, and Joe will take our picture.

  “Can we go together?” Charlotte asks Joe.

  “Sure you can,” he answers.

  So that’s how the Unicorns take a picture of our first big escape together (pre-escape, of course). I’m on the end so I put my right arm around Siri’s shoulders. She puts her left arm around my shoulders and her right one around Charlotte who is next to her. Then Charlotte links with Siri and Daisy. Daisy continues the chain with Jessica who is on the other end. We are a big pretzel of arms and laughter, because for some reason, we can’t stop giggling. It’s really hard to stand in a line with your arms twisted and laugh at the same time. We teeter from side to side and we are halfway to tipping over when Joe calls out: “Say giraffe!”

  I am one hundred percent certain that “giraffe” doesn’t work as well as saying “cheese” when someone takes your photo. My mouth moves open instead of sideways. It doesn’t really matter though, because it is one of those special moments that I know I will always remember.

  “That might have been our last school picture together.” Siri bites her lip like she’s trying to keep from saying more. We step away to let other students take their photos.

  I shake my head. “Don’t think like that. We’re on a mission today, and when we succeed, you won’t have to worry about school at all.”

  The mammal tour seems to be taking a lot longer than expected. I thought we would zip through this room and move on to insects. But now Joe is taking us toward a giant cutout of California.

  “Here we will see the mammals that are native to our great state.”

  My friends and I are lagging behind the group, so we can talk without our teacher hearing us. “This is taking forever,” I whisper.

  “We might have to change our plan,” Jessica responds in a hushed voice.

  “We don’t want to miss our chance,” Siri adds.

  “I changed my mind about being a lookout. I’d rather come with you.” Daisy looks around the room with her eyes wide. “I’ll have nightmares for weeks after this.”

  “Then the Great Museum Escape begins now,” I announce. “Everyone ready?”

  My friends nod.

  The real adventure is about to begin.

  Chapter 12

  It’s All About the Plan

  “May I please go to the restroom?” I’m the one to ask Mrs. Sablinsky the question that will begin our escape.

  Since I was sick from the bus ride, I am thinking I have a pretty good chance of being excused. “Yes, but please take a buddy with you.”

  “Siri, can you come with me?” I am so smooth that I actually surprise myself.

  “Sure,” she says with a smile big enough to show her pink braces.

  “The restrooms are just outside this hall and to the right,” Mrs. S tells us. “Come right back. We should be moving through the rest of the mammals and then going to see the insects.”

  “Thank you,” I say to my teacher. It’s always a good idea to be polite, especially when you are about to completely and totally break the rules.

  “Unicorn,” I whisper to Charlotte as I pass her.

  “Unicorn,” Jessica says to Siri.

  This is our code word for the escape: unicorn (which is pretty perfect if you ask me).

  Siri and I link hands, and I have to hold in a little squeal of excitement. We’re really doing this!

  Outside the mammal hall and to the right is the restroom. I can see the blue sign directly ahead. The plan is in full swing. Here we go…

  “I think I’ll go with you,” Mrs. Sablinsky says just behind me and over my shoulder.

  Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

  It can’t be happening. But it is. My teacher has just crushed our escape plan. Now, instead of only pretending to go toward the bathroom but then veering back to the Lavender Lakewood exhibit, I am going into the bathroom with my teacher.

  Unless I dash out when she is washing her hands, there is no escape for us right now. Siri and I trade looks, and our looks are saying paragraphs.

  Details about the bathroom experience are not necessary, except to say that within five minutes, we are following Mrs. S back to the mammal hall. I look over my shoulder at the sign pointing to the special exhibit area. It’s exactly where I thought it would be. (I really am an expert mapmaker!) But there is no possible way we can get to it right now.

  Siri and I have no choice but to rejoin the class and go to the insect room. The minute our friends see us return with Mrs. S, they know. We all share looks of disappointment. But I’m not ready to give up yet. After all, our original plan was to leave during the dinosaur exhibit. There will still be a chance to get away. I am sure of it.

  The bug room is filled with, guess what… bugs! Only in this area, the creatures are actually alive. I wish Connor were here to see this. Charlotte volunteers to hold a Madagascar hissing cockroach in her hand! I would never, and I mean never, hold a cockroach in my hand—no matter what. Ick!

  Around us, there are cases with different kinds of spiders (also high on the creepy meter) crawling around. Joe is really excited about this part of the tour. He recites endless bug facts and answers a whole bunch of questions. I would like to attempt another escape, but there is no way Mrs. Sablinsky will let me go to the bathroom again.

  “I knew we should have been in the other group,” Siri says to me when we are looking into a case with hundreds or maybe thousands of tiny, black ants.

  “It would have been way easier. That’s for sure.” I watch the ants travel through their tunnels.

  “Can we try again?” Jessica asks. “Maybe Charlotte and I should go to the bathroom now.”

  I give Jessica one of my signature winks. “I have a feeling about the dinosaur exhibit. Let’s wait until we get there.”

  When we finally cross through the center of the museum and step into the dinosaur exhibit, I forget about the escape for a minute. Because the bones of the T. rex have been put together so it’s life-sized—and it’s bigger than a building. I wouldn’t want to be living side by side with this guy, that’s for sure.

  “Wow,” Daisy breathes.

  “Wow is right,” Jessica adds.

  My friends and I stand in front of the dinosaur and just stare. For once, words fail me. I can’t imagine putting these pieces together. It’s like the biggest puzzle in the history of the world.

  That’s when our luck changes. Because Will P’s group comes into the exhibit too. Now our entire class is here. Better than that, there are several other school field trip groups here. The area around the T. rex is swarming with so many kids it reminds me of the ants I just saw in the case. Mrs. S would never notice if we slipped away now.

  “Unicorn,” I whisper to Siri. She passes it down all the way to Daisy. Then Daisy passes it back. When Siri says, “unicorn,” to me, I know we are all ready.

  “Follow my lead,” I tell her.

  It’s time for the “drifting away” plan. I pretend to be reading all the paragraphs on the wall. Then I look at the dinosaur eye display. The Unicorns stand side by side and study the map on the wall. But we’re not reading. We’re waiting for our moment to break away.

  When the class turns a corner, I look around and sigh. We are finally all alone. But I’m turned around and mixed up. “I’m not really sure which way to go now.” I say softly.

  Siri points t
o the left. “I think it’s that way.”

  “I’m pretty sure it’s the other way,” Jessica argues.

  Now I don’t know which way to go for the unicorn exhibit. Then I remember the map in my shoe. I bend down and pull it out. It’s folded super-small, so I have to open and open and open before we can look at it. Oh no! All of my pen marks have smeared. The footprints have blended into the words and the exhibits all look like blobs. I can’t tell which way to go at all. I stand while I am turning the map upside down and right side up again. That’s when I sort of lose my balance. (OK, I completely and totally lose my balance.) I fall through the red velvet ropes around the raptor exhibit.

  Yes, it happens—the worst possible thing that could happen happens: I slam right into the skeleton of the raptor.

  “Ruby!” someone calls out. I don’t have time to look because I am too busy crashing to the floor.

  The poles holding the red velvet ropes tip over and make a clanging sound like a gong when they bang against the marble floor. Basically, I have just announced my accident to the entire museum—maybe even to the entire city.

  I expect the dinosaur bones will be scattered like stick pretzels, but lucky for me, they aren’t. Actually, the raptor skeleton is lying on its side but still completely together.

  “Are you OK?” Charlotte offers me a hand up.

  Siri and Daisy reach for the raptor and stand it back up. “It must be glued together,” Daisy decides.

  Charlotte touches the side of the skeleton. “That must be some powerful glue.”

  “So much for trying to go unnoticed,” I mutter. Because just then, Mrs. Sablinsky comes running over.

  Jessica picks up the map zippity quick and hides it behind her back.

  Mrs. Sablinsky looks concerned. Uh-oh. “What just happened?”

  I try to answer the best I can. “I lost my balance. I’m sorry.”

  Then Mrs. Sablinsky does something super surprising. She actually smiles (with teeth). “I think the dinosaur will be just fine. Are you all right?”

  Maybe having your teacher ask you if you are OK is a nice thing. Most of the time, it would be a really nice thing. But it isn’t a nice thing when you know you are trying to trick that same teacher and escape from the field trip. Then you get that burning in your cheeks and clenching in your stomach like you just got hit with a basketball.

  Because you know what you are doing is something that would get you in capital T Trouble. You are—

  Guilty.

  I just nod at my teacher and plaster a fake smile on my face. It will have to do.

  “Well then, let’s catch up with the rest of the group.” Mrs. S gestures for us to go ahead of her. I sigh. This is really not working out the way I planned.

  The dinosaur room weaves around, and there are lots of other amazing displays to see. You can even touch a dinosaur bone (which would be a lot more exciting if I hadn’t just collided with a whole bunch of bones).

  “This is it then,” Siri mumbles. She has her worried expression on now, where her eyebrows go down a little and her eyes look super-big. I think I might even spot a single teardrop in the corner of her right eye.

  I’m not ready to give up. Not yet.

  “There’s still time.” I squeeze her hand to let her know that I understand.

  The funny thing is that sometimes the thing you think will happen doesn’t. And the something else that you didn’t think would happen does. Because all of a sudden, without even trying, we have lost the class—or maybe the class has lost us.

  Because the five of us are all alone.

  “Where did everyone go?” Jessica asks as she gives me the map.

  “I don’t know.” My blurry map can’t help us now. I look around the room, but where seconds ago it was filled with students, it is now completely empty. Let me just say that there is a big difference between escaping and being lost.

  We are lost.

  We run-walk around the same corner that we think the group went around, but they aren’t in the shell room. And they aren’t in the room after that, which I think is the gem and mineral room. We dash through room after room, just looking for a person we recognize.

  That’s when I realize what we need to do.

  “We can go look for the unicorn clues now without even having to escape.”

  “What if the bus leaves without us?” Jessica wants to know.

  “We have to eat lunch first. There’s no way they’re leaving yet.” Charlotte is the most practical of the five of us.

  “We should find the unicorn exhibit,” Siri agrees with me.

  And that’s exactly what we do—well, we try to, anyway. The problem is that we are so turned around that we can’t figure out how to get back to the special exhibit area. We go around and around in circles. We see every single room in the museum at least twice, but we can’t seem to find Lavender Lakewood’s exhibit.

  “Did anyone wear a watch?” I ask. It seems like we have been lost for a long time. I don’t want to get left here overnight. Reading about running away to a museum is definitely way more fun than experiencing it. The thought of trying to sleep in the bug room makes me sick all over again.

  “I did,” Jessica answers. She pulls back her sleeve and shows us the watch shaped like a rose. “It’s almost noon.”

  No wonder I’m hungry. All I’ve had since breakfast are two lemon candies. A museum adventure can really make a girl hungry.

  “Can I have one of your granola bars now?” I ask Charlotte. “Nutrition will help me think.”

  Charlotte hands out the granola bars, and we all sit down on the side of the Pacific Ocean display and bite into the chewy oatmeal bars.

  After a few bites, my brain starts working again. There is only one thing to do. But sometimes doing the right thing is harder than it sounds. “I think we should try to find our class.” As I say the words out loud, two tears leak out of my eyes and drop down my cheeks like quotation marks. (Every good writer knows her punctuation.)

  I guess the Ruby Starr No Crying at School Rule doesn’t apply when we aren’t actually at school. Or maybe the rule doesn’t apply when I know I have let my best friends down and there is absolutely nothing I can do to change it.

  “We tried our best.” Charlotte puts her arm around Siri’s shoulder.

  Jessica nudges me with her arm. “We don’t even know if we could have found the last unicorn, anyway.”

  “Experts couldn’t even do it,” Daisy adds.

  “I’ll really miss you all,” Siri tells us as she looks around at the group. “You are the best friends ever.” She takes a big breath like it will help hold in her tears. I can see them shining in her eyes. “Let’s find our class.”

  I point out the window at a white, tentlike structure. “We haven’t tried there yet.” The five of us hurry to the nearest door. Outside, the sun is shining and a soft breeze is blowing. Somehow, the weather gives me confidence. We peek in the window of the tent.

  “There’s Will P!” Charlotte calls out.

  Siri points at the side of the tent. “I see Mrs. Sablinsky.”

  And there is our class. We hurry through the double doors into the enclosed garden. As soon as we enter, a blue butterfly glides past me. A yellow butterfly flutters its wings. Mrs. Sablinsky is sitting on a bench covered in butterflies. They are sitting on her head, her shoulders, and even her hands.

  “Ruby, you made it. I was getting worried you wouldn’t catch up.” Mrs. S holds out her hand and an orange monarch flutters onto my arm. “Isn’t this wonderful?”

  I have to admit that it is pretty wonderful. I also have to admit that if we had found the exhibit, we would have missed this experience completely. Siri is standing with her arms out wide, and butterflies are circling around her. She looks so happy that I know my exhibit wouldn’t have matched up to this.

>   I remember Siri’s camera around her wrist. “Want me to take your picture?”

  “Can you get it without scaring the butterflies away?” she asks.

  “I think so.” I gently reach for the strap on Siri’s wrist and remove the camera without even frightening away one butterfly.

  Then I snap one picture of Siri with matching butterflies on her hair like barrettes and another picture of Siri smiling at the butterfly sitting on her shoulder.

  There is one small disruption to this magical scene. That happens when Will B and Bryden get in trouble for chasing the butterflies and trying to catch them in their hands. Will P’s mom has to take them outside to the lunch tables early.

  Then Jessica, Daisy, and Charlotte sit on a bench with me. Butterflies dance in the air around us. We can’t stop laughing.

  One thing I know for sure: it’s much better to be found than to be lost.

  Chapter 13

  Believing

  Only, that isn’t all.

  Because Mrs. Sablinsky has another surprise. This one is mostly just for me.

  When we leave the butterfly exhibit, she walks us right into a separate room. I see the sign right away: Lavender Lakewood’s Search for Unicorns.

  I turn to my teacher with a huge smile. “This is the best day ever!”

  She shrugs as if it’s nothing, but we both know this is a super something. “I know how much it meant to you. This might be your last chance to see it.” Wait a minute. Mrs. Sablinsky did this just for me? I don’t even know what to say—and that doesn’t happen to me very often.

  The exhibit is tucked into the corner of the room. Golden lights shine down on trees with thick, leafy branches. In the middle of the trees is a small campsite. A wooden folding table and chair covered in papers are in the middle of the campsite. Nearby is a tent with a bed inside. A sketchbook lies open on the table with drawings of unicorns spread out around it. There is even a green jacket with lots of pockets hanging on the back of the chair next to a beige hat. It is made to look as if Lavender just left to search and would be back soon.