Mr. Johnson tapped his pencil on the clipboard and glanced at his watch for the tenth time. He was bristling with excitement, standing to attention in front of the line of yellow school buses. It was a cold, grey, blustery Tuesday, but Mr. Johnson couldn’t be happier. Today the class was going to the city museum to learn about the Greatest Mathematicians throughout history!
His hair was in an especially stylish comb-over for the event. His moustache looked like it had been waxed to within an inch of its life, and he was wearing one of his favorite bow-ties that matched very nicely with his pea-colored tweed pants. For Mr. Johnson, this was the best day of the whole year—even better than Standardized Test Day! When he told the class the good news yesterday, they had been too stunned with joy to even respond. No, wait-- there had been one or two groans (of ecstasy, no doubt). For some reason, the other chaperones, Ms. Schmidt, Mr. Dr. Wu and Ms. Tanner, looked less ecstatic to be there.
After what seemed like an hour, during which time Mr. Johnson had a small melt-down because he couldn’t find his phone, only to find out it was in his pocket, it was finally time for the students to line up. After Mr. Johnson called roll, counted heads and made some “Critically Important Announcements” which everyone ignored, they were ready to board the buses.
Elle stood at the back of the line, half asleep after a restlessness night. She stifled a yawn as she boarded the bus and made her way towards the back to sit alone in her favorite seat, “Fumey.” Trying her best to ignore Kat as she passed, who was whispering conspiratorially with her groupies, Elle suddenly tripped and nearly hit the floor. Fortunately, she quickly caught her balance, but not before making a general scene in-front of the whole class. She turned bright red as twitters of laughter surrounded her. Looking down, she saw Kat quickly retracting a foot from the aisle. Unfortunately, none of the chaperones noticed, and Mr. Johnson was too busy giving “Critically Important Instructions” to the bored-looking bus driver, Mr. Ron, and Elle didn’t feel like causing more of a scene. Elle put her head down and sped up as she passed Ken in the next seat. What were the odds that he had seen her trip? Nearly 100%, but at least he wasn’t laughing.
Like his name-sake, the non-pliable plastic doll, Ken was well-dressed and attractive, with a slight tan and slicked-back blonde hair and blue eyes. His popularity centered on his athletic talents, his easy charm and cute smile. Elle had noticed him on the first day of school—it was hard to ignore him. But he had been hanging out with a group of Kat’s followers, and Elle had thereafter vowed to ignore him, despite his good looks. Unfortunately, her tactic to appear uninterested and mysteriously aloof was foiled almost every time she saw him, as she typically ended up doing something embarrassing, like tripping her way down the bus aisle, for instance.
Once she reached the back, Elle was dismayed to see that her favorite seat "Fumey" was partially occupied already, which means she would have to share the seat. There was only one other vacant seat, a single bench seat near a window, covered in some mysterious stains. Elle glanced at the student in her spot. It was the New New Kid.
Kat had already done her duty as self-appointed Official School Bully and tormented the New New Kid into unpopularity by telling everyone that he was from Mexico, and that his “people” should go back where they came from and stop taking all of the jobs away from decent, hardworking Americans.
Elle had spent a good five minutes trying to figure out what job the New Kid was taking away from Kat (New school bully? Most annoying person ever?) and gave up, deciding that it was pointless to try to follow her logic. Besides, she was pretty sure that Ms. Schmidt had said he was from Wisconsin.
She stood in the aisle for a few seconds, debating which seat to take. Her naturally shy instinct was yelling at her to grab the empty seat, despite the mysterious stains, and avoid all personal contact. Contact usually led to conversations, and conversations lead to embarrassing questions about the current whereabouts of one's parents and/or the mental status of one's grandparents, which ended up with either uncomfortable silences or teasing, and Elle wasn’t in the mood for either. But there was another voice in her head telling her to sit next to the New Kid.
Her natural instinct lost the internal battle, and she awkwardly plunked down next to him and tried to ignore the gaggle of giggling girls at the front of the bus who were now eyeing her with malicious delight.
“Hi. I’m Elle,” she said, turning to face the boy.
The boy smiled, “I’m Juan.” He held out his hand, and Elle awkwardly shook it.
He had a tall, thin frame, and a lean face that exuded friendliness, with a bright smile and large chocolate-brown eyes. Elle couldn't understand why Kat was tormenting him. Teasing this guy would be like kicking a puppy.
“So, have you been to the City museum before?” Elle asked, searching wildly for a conversation topic to break the awkward silence.
“No, but I can’t wait! It’s going to be so great!” Juan said, beaming with enthusiasm.
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Elle did a double take, “Huh? Wait-what?” Elle asked, astonished. “You like museums?” Her brain, caught unaware at this unexpected answer, was slow to catch up. She had never met anyone else at school (other than herself and Mr. Johnson) who actually liked museums. Tolerated? Yes. Liked?! Never.
“Sure, who doesn’t like them?!” He smiled radiantly. “I read about the museum’s new planetary exhibit! It’s gonna be so great to see it in person! Usually we can only read about that sort of stuff!”
“I’m not going to lie—that sounded like an infomercial. Is Mr. Johnson paying you to say that?” But when Juan only looked at her blankly, Elle tried to recover quickly, “So—you’re not from around here, right? You’re from, like…..Wisconsin or something?”
“Uh, yeah---wow, look at that thunderhead! It looks like it’s going to rain,” he said quickly, suddenly staring intently out of the grubby bus window, his body language clearly discouraging further questions about his previous address.
Nice diversionary tactics, Elle thought, although perhaps a little simplistic. I give it a 6 out of 10. But if you’re going to make an art out of changing the subject, you’ve met your match, she smiled to herself.
Elle nodded along pleasantly as Juan told her about the high-pressure system that was coming, and the big rainstorm forecasted for the evening.
“Yeah, wow. That’s interesting. So does it rain a lot in Wisconsin?” Elle asked, innocently, steering the conversation back.
Just then, Kat’s voice carried back to them from the front of the bus, “Look, the two weirdoes are sitting together. I bet they’re gonna make-out! Maybe they’ll get married so that the new kid can get a green-card.”
Elle turned bright pink as she did her best to ignore Kat, which was difficult considering that she was standing up, yelling and pointing directly at them. The rest of the bus turned to stare, even Mr. Johnson and Mr. Ron the bus driver, causing the bus to swerve violently.
“Sit down,” Ms. Schmidt commanded over the laughter, glaring at Kat. She grudgingly acquiesced, but continued to whisper conspiratorially with her minions.
“Maybe someone should tell Kat that Wisconsin’s in the US.” Elle said. Juan stifled a smile. “Nah, that would just confuse her,” he said.
They sat in a semi-embarrassed silence for the rest of the trip to the museum. Elle stared out the window at the passing cars, fantasizing about confronting Kat for the millionth time before her mind slipped back to last night and the nightmarish creature from her dreams. Her little toe, currently bandaged tightly in her combat boot, ached slightly, as if to remind her about the shattered glass. What if it wasn't a dream?
Her grandfather had acted so strange (stranger than usual, that is) when he saw the bone, almost as if he was worried. What could possibly be dangerous about such a little bone? But maybe there were deeper implications that Elle wasn’t seeing, something her grandpa didn’t want her to find out about…. What if it was a human bone?! Elle thought. What if—oh my gosh—what if grandpa had killed someone in a fit of rage and…
Ok, stop. Elle shook her head. First of all, her grandpa had probably never had a fit of rage in his life, secondly, he couldn’t even stand up for more than a few minutes without his cane…
..unless that’s just what he wants us to think…
That’s ridiculous! Elle shook her head harder. He was probably just trying not to hurt Elle’s feelings. It was just junk, and he was letting Elle down gently. But it really wasn’t in his nature to be evasive or untruthful. Grandpa would never lie to her. They were too close for that.
Elle felt a pang of guilt. She had promised her grandfather that she would leave the bone in the down-stairs desk. Before leaving for school this morning, she switched it out for a chicken bone instead, hoping that grandpa would either not look too closely or forget about it altogether. The real bone was currently safely tucked in her front pocket. She was determined get an answer to her questions one way or another.
Elle had been on good terms with Dr. Barnabus, the museum’s paleontologist ever since Elle enrolled in the Dinosaur Week program during summer camp at the museum. He was sure to be able to identify a real fossil.
All she had to do was sneak past Mr. Johnson and the other chaperones, find Dr. Barnabus, and ask him for his opinion. He wouldn’t hold back just to spare her feelings, and wouldn’t hug her and say annoying things like, “It’s special because you found it.” Hopefully not, anyway. That would be awkward.
Sneaking away was not as easy as she thought it would be, however.
General confusion ensued as soon as they arrived at the museum. The students milled around in the lobby, becoming progressively louder and louder until Mr. Johnson assigned everyone a buddy to explore the museum, and a time to meet back at the front entrance. Elle was assigned to be buddies with Juan. At first she was annoyed, but then she realized it was actually a great windfall, since he wouldn’t be likely to tattle on her when she made her great escape.
But as it turned out, being buddies with Juan was a disaster: He wouldn’t take the hint and leave her alone.
Every time she stepped around a corner, he followed her like a puppy. When she said she needed to get a drink of water, Juan suddenly discovered that he was thirsty, too. When she went back to the information desk for a map on two separate occasions, he tagged along, talking the whole time about Cartology. When she wanted to spend ten minutes looking at a piece of Ignatius rock---so did he. He loved Ignatius rocks! Elle couldn’t believe it—what’s with this kid?
Elle finally tried slipping off to the girl’s bathroom to make her getaway, but when she came out of the bathroom, Juan was standing right there, waiting. Finally, Elle had to resort to playing dirty. Operation: Lose The New Kid.
Phase I: Elle suggested that they take a stroll through the Neanderthal section and then, when he stopped to examine a sign, she jumped the red velvet rope and huddled next to a group of bear-skin clad Homo Erectus manikins as they warmed themselves around a fake fire. Juan walked right past the exhibit without even glancing in her direction. Then he turned around, looking confused. After a few minutes he ambled off to take up his station waiting outside the bathroom door. As soon as he was out of range, Elle bolted for the other side of the museum trying not to chuckle too loudly.
Phase II did not go according to plan. Unfortunately, Elle got lost almost instantly. She must have taken a wrong turn somewhere in the Ancient Rome section and was now wandering through the Ancient Egyptian section.
Elle stopped to admire a particularly interesting desiccated mummy for a few moments, and heard a soft noise on her right.
She nervously glanced around the room, but didn’t notice anything strange. And yet, she had a strong, unsettling sensation that she wasn’t alone. There was somebody else in the exhibit room--apart from the several dozen ancient corpses, that is-- she was sure of it.
Peering anxiously into the shadows, Elle thought she saw a partially obscured dark shape near the largest of the ancient sarcophagus several feet away.
At first, Elle was convinced it was probably just the New Kid, who had found her and wanted to tell her how much he loved mummies, too, but the shadow wasn’t moving. It was standing very still, almost as if it was trying to remain hidden. She shivered.
“New Kid?” she whispered. "Juan...? Is that you?” Elle whispered. The dark shadow didn’t move.
Elle shook her head, and figured that it must just be a trick of the light the way the shadow from the sarcophagus fell on the wall. But she didn’t wait around to find out, and made a beeline for the red exit sign glowing above the nearest door.
After a few more wrong turns, and a brief detour through the coat closet, she found the hallway leading to the dinosaur section and a door marked “PALENTOLOGY.”