Light as a Feather

by Erica-Jane Waters

  Pearl, Millie, and Halinka shoot for the stars!

  Best friends Pearl, Millie, and Halinka are facing a summer apart, until famous astronaut Nova Celeste announces a competition to build a flying machine. The winning team gets to spend a week at Nova Celeste’s space center, so the friends would be together.

  For brilliant scientists, a flying machine should be easy, but when a fire ruins their prototype, Pearl, Millie, and Halinka see their plans go up in smoke. With a day left until the end of the competition and only some sewing machines and old tomato cans to work with, will the girls of Miss Bunsen’s School be able to reach new heights?

  Albert Whitman & Co.

  100 Years of Good Books

  www.albertwhitman.com

  Printed in the United States of America

  Jacket art copyright © 2019 by Erica-Jane Waters

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is on file with the publisher.

  Text and illustrations copyright © 2019 by Erica-Jane Waters

  First published in the United States of America in 2019 by Albert Whitman & Company

  ISBN 978-0-8075-5158-5 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-0-8075-5155-4 (ebook)

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Printed in the United States of America

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  Design by Ellen Kokontis

  For more information about Albert Whitman & Company, visit our website at www.albertwhitman.com.

  100 Years of Albert Whitman & Company

  Celebrate with us in 2019!

  For my brilliant girl, Sienna-Rose

  Chapter 1

  “Go on, Pearl!” shouted Millie.

  “Go on. Give it some!” cried Halinka.

  Pearl elbowed her way through the other players, her specially improvised running shoes helping her fly across the field faster than a rocket as she guided the ball toward the goal. The cries and cheers from her fellow Bunseners in the sports arena faded to a dull murmur as her heartbeat thudded in her ears until…

  The ball shot off at an angle before slamming straight into Brooke Bitmap’s shoe and heading back across the field to the other team’s goalposts!

  “That Brooke Bitmap,” Millie said, seething. “She’s slipped a magnet into the ball. Look, her shoes have metal plates on them!”

  “Quasar College never did know how to play fair!” snorted Halinka.

  “Pretty clever idea though,” Millie said.

  The two friends nodded in agreement.

  The referee’s whistle interrupted them. “Pearl Peppersmith and Brooke Bitmap, please leave the field. There is no cheating permitted,” the ref said, holding up a red card.

  Pearl made her way over to her friends on the sidelines, where Halinka had already been disqualified for using a telescopic grabber arm to poke other players in the ribs. They watched as Miss Bunsen argued with the referee as to whether this was cheating or simply an anatomical design improvement.

  The referee’s whistle blew again. And again. Other girls were disqualified for hiding jet packs under their shirts and greasing their opponents’ shoes, and Sophie Syntax was sent off for creating a force field across the goalposts that made scoring impossible.

  “Well,” Pearl said, “what do you expect when you get several science and engineering schools together at a sports competition? There will be improvisation and inventive ways of bending the rules!”

  “Look up there,” Millie said, squinting her eyes at the sun. “Is that a…squirrel?”

  “Not just one,” Halinka said, putting her head in her hands. “I guess Miss Bunsen’s will use any means necessary to win a game, even a squirrel attack!”

  The referee’s whistle was now in danger of breaking from overuse. “NO SQUIRRELS ON THE FIELD!”

  The annual Girls of Science Games Day had been held at the end of the school year for as long as anyone could remember. Miss Bunsen herself was rumored to have taken part in the games once, although nobody in living memory could prove it.

  Pearl nestled herself between her friends on the grass and sighed.

  “What’s up?” asked Millie. “Are you okay?”

  “Kind of. Last night, my parents told me that they’re working all summer and can’t have anyone watch me during the day. I have to go and stay at my aunt’s house on the other side of the river, and I won’t be able to spend the summer holidays with you two.”

  “That’s terrible!” Millie gasped. “I can’t go six weeks without you.”

  “I’ve got a bit of news myself,” Halinka added, looking uncharacteristically serious. “My parents are sending me to Velocity College summer school.”

  “Summer school’s not bad,” said Millie wistfully. “Maybe you can take advanced math!”

  “But if it’s any good, they said they might take me out of Miss Bunsen’s altogether and send me to Velocity College permanently!”

  “But why?!” both Millie and Pearl gasped together.

  “They said Miss Bunsen’s doesn’t have the money or facilities to give me the best opportunities in life. They sounded serious.”

  “That’s ridiculous!” Pearl replied.

  “I know, but it’s also kind of true,” said Halinka glumly. She gestured toward the other schools at the games. “Look around. Atom runs a summer exchange program with a top technical college in China, Quasar College spends summer at the Young Women’s Institute for Rocket Science, and Velocity has the option to board all summer with weekly guest speakers including the country’s top scientists, engineers, and designers.”

  “So if you were to go to Velocity, we wouldn’t even see you during breaks?” squeaked Millie.

  Halinka shook her head.

  “Miss Bunsen’s school has no plans for the summer holidays, nothing apart from squirrel control and patching up a leaky, old roof.”

  Pearl gazed at her feisty friend, and a funny, anxious feeling crept into her tummy. Did Halinka secretly want to go to Velocity? Maybe she had realized that Miss Bunsen’s school wasn’t up to scratch.

  The three friends looked out over the sunny sports field, the warm summer heat not even able to lift their mood. They realized that, this summer, they would be apart for the first time ever—and maybe even for good.

  Chapter 2

  A crackling speaker made them jump, and they turned to watch a large screen that was positioned over the field. Up onstage, the commentator spoke with a voice that sounded like he was holding his nose.

  “Would everybody please give a warm welcome to our special guest: famed astronaut Nova Celeste!”

  “Is that really her?” Millie said, her voice shaking.

  “Yes, yes it is,” replied Pearl as the three friends moved closer to the field to get a better view.

  The commentator continued in his nasally voice. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell any of you clever young scientists much about our special guest. You probably already know all about her, but in case you have been living under a moon rock, allow me to remind you.”

  Nova blushed a little and shook her head modestly, grasping tightly onto the space helmet tucked under her arm.

  “Nova is the chief commander at Star Village Space Center and has trained the best astronauts that this country has ever seen. She has made seventeen flights into space, twelve of which were complete orbits around the Earth, and at one time was the youngest person ever to leave the Earth’s atmosphere. Along with designing the fastest, lightest, and most environmentally friendly superplane, she
is a pioneer of using eco-friendly engineering materials, a topic she fights passionately for with her—”

  “Let me interrupt you there,” Nova said sweetly, pushing down the commentator’s microphone. “This is about the girls, not me!”

  She stepped forward, her voice so strong and clear that she didn’t need the microphone to be heard. “Young women of science, I am here to give you a challenge.”

  The crowd began to whisper, and a wave of excitement washed over the stadium.

  “Now, I know you ladies have a busy schedule with foreign exchanges and summer camps and all kinds of other summer business going on, but I understand that you all have a week free in July, so here’s the thing…”

  Pearl, Millie, and Halinka glanced at one another, realizing this was sounding like a way out of their pickle.

  “I need a craft—a craft that can fly over Lake Cosmos without anybody getting wet. The machine can hold only one person, and extra points will be awarded for good use of materials, so think environmentally friendly. The flight that makes it from one side of the lake to the other in the shortest amount of time will be the winner. It’s that simple. The prize?”

  Everyone listened intently.

  “I’m opening up the doors of Star Village Space Center for one team and one team only. This is a chance to get access to the most up-to-date and high-tech space hardware and equipment known on Earth and be taught by some of the most experienced astronauts ever to fly into space. You’ll learn how to use critical thinking to solve problems that you would face in a real-life space mission, and you will explore space in simulated flights and experience weightlessness in our specially designed simulator. And at the end of the week, for the grand finale, you’ll fly into orbit in our shuttle—with me as your captain.”

  The entire stadium fell silent, stunned at the news of the contest and the reward, before erupting into cheers and screams of excitement.

  “WAIT!” Nova continued, and everyone quieted down again. “This isn’t any ordinary prize for any ordinary young scientist. I’m looking for skill. I’m looking for design brilliance. And”—Nova slowly moved her outstretched finger around the stadium, a determined expression on her face—“I’m looking for something different.”

  Then she turned and left the stage, followed by a flurry of head teachers. Pearl thought she saw Miss Bunsen running to keep up.

  She swung around to her friends so fast she nearly fell over.

  “THIS IS IT!!! We have to win this. Halinka, if your parents find out you are going to study at Star Village Space Center, they’re going to forget ALL about Velocity College. And I won’t have to spend the entire summer at my aunt’s, and we can all be together for at least a week.”

  Millie was standing stock-still, her face turned to where Nova Celeste was standing only moments earlier. “It was really her! I have a full-size cardboard cutout of her in my room. I can’t believe we were nearly breathing the same air!”

  “Oh, Millie,” Halinka said, rolling her eyes, “you’re such a fangirl.”

  Millie pushed her glasses back up her nose, looking slightly embarrassed.

  “You’re right,” she said, quickly pulling out her notebook and three carrot-and-granola bars from her bag. She grinned. “Let’s get a head start on this. I’m not about to lose you—or a chance at working with Nova Celeste! Did you know that Nova eats one of these every morning after her workout?” she said, offering the tasty bars to her friends.

  “I’m not sure that even a hundred of these carrot-and-granola bars will help us win this.” Halinka sighed, looking around at the other more high-tech schools that would be entering the competition too.

  “You don’t sound like you even care,” Pearl said, becoming more convinced her friend had given up on Miss Bunsen’s School for Brilliant Girls altogether.

  “Of course I care!” Halinka seemed slightly offended. “Now pass me that sketchbook.”

  Soon the gloomy atmosphere had cleared, and the girls giggled and crowded over Millie’s notebook, muttering and drawing. Pearl sketched several models of flying machines, each more elaborate than the last. Millie dove into calculations for flight paths, and Halinka drew different kinds of engines they could use.

  And as the shadows over the stadium grew longer and the air grew cooler, Pearl watched as the moon rose up in the pale blue sky.

  “We must win this,” she whispered to herself. “We must win this.”

  Chapter 3

  The next morning, just as the sun was rising, already burning hot, and the squirrels of Miss Bunsen’s were getting ready for another day of mischief, Pearl and her two friends slowly shuffled themselves up the hill.

  “I’m so tired.” Halinka yawned. “I was up really late putting the finishing touches on my beloved Turbo Trike. I’ve totally modified it. Next time you see it, you’ll scream!”

  “And I drank the last of the Cherryade I’ve been using to fuel my new fizzy fun Fruitboard.” Millie sighed. “I could really use some now. It’s so warm already!”

  “I wish that’s why I was up late. Miss Bunsen had me look after Brains last night, and his bottom exploded all over my scooter.” Pearl gestured to the guilty looking ball of fluff and metal poking out from her backpack.

  “Well, at least we have a stack of ideas to get working on in the new engineering suite. It’s nice to put that prize money from Professor Petrinsky to work!” Millie said with glee, holding up the bulging notebook they had filled with drawings, diagrams, graphs, and equations the evening before.

  “You call that an engineering suite?” came a shrill voice from behind them.

  “More like an engineering cupboard of junk” came a second voice.

  Pearl, Millie, and Halinka all took deep breaths before turning around to face Megan and Heather.

  “Ladies,” Pearl said, trying her best to be civil and friendly, “how are we this morning?”

  “Sounds like we’re doing better than you three snorers. Why don’t you just go back to bed? We’ve already got this competition in the bag.” Megan looked down and stroked the pearly white scooter by her side, its smooth lines glimmering in the sunshine.

  “Yeah,” Heather continued, “you weren’t the only ones up late online shopping, er, I mean, designing.”

  “What on earth even is that?” Halinka sniffed. She tried to look indifferent but was unable to take her eyes off the shimmering, white scooter and the glittery residue that seemed to be trailing behind it. The Atom Academy scooters had always been nice and neat, but something seemed different about this one.

  “This,” Megan said snootily, “is the result of many hours of chemical experiments. We came up with exactly the correct formula to achieve—drum roll, please—Freezacon. We built this scooter out of it last night, and we’re going to build our flying craft out of it today.”

  “Freezacon? Never heard of it,” Halinka said.

  “Well, duh! You wouldn’t have done. We invented it last night.”

  “You two invented something?” Halinka snorted.

  “So what’s with all the white, flaky stuff?” Pearl asked, looking at the mess on the ground.

  “I’ve got a cream for that.” Millie giggled. Halinka and Pearl looked at her, shocked but amused. Millie usually was so scared of Heather and Megan that she couldn’t speak, let alone joke.

  Heather rolled her eyes. “Oh. My. Grommets. And you actually think you have a chance of winning? Why it’s a built-in snow machine! Nova Celeste said she wanted ‘something different,’ remember? So our flying machine will create its very own snow.”

  The Bunseners exchanged glances and looked back at the scooter.

  “If that’s the case, shouldn’t there be some sort of fan—” began Millie meekly.

  Megan interrupted her. “Come on, Heather. Let’s leave these boiled-cabbage-brained Bunseners to it.”

  Heather trotted after her friend, coughing and spluttering as she walked into a face full of scooter residue.

&nbs
p; “And you won’t have your little friend to help you this time, ha!” she managed to shout.

  “What do you mean?” Pearl called after Heather. But they were gone, with nothing but a trail of white mess to show they had been there at all.

  “Oh, they talk such nonsense!” Millie huffed, watching the concern on Pearl’s face grow. “Come on. Let’s do what Nova would do—get to work!”

  Pearl smiled at her kind friend and pushed open the rusty green gates of Miss Bunsen’s school. “Looks like we’re the first ones here this morning.”

  “Not quite” came a croaky, little voice from behind the ivy of the gatehouse.

  The girls stopped in their tracks, looking about to see where the voice was coming from.

  “Oh, Miss Crankitt,” Pearl said shakily as the old lady began to emerge from the greenery that covered the old gatehouse. “It’s you!”

  “I thought the squirrels had learned to talk!” Halinka said, clutching her chest.

  Miss Crankitt had been living in the gatehouse at Miss Bunsen’s since before the squirrels had arrived—some said maybe even before Miss Bunsen herself had taken over. Nobody quite knew why she was there, but she was encouraged to stay and watch over the school. Rumors flew about Miss Crankitt. Second years whispered she could tell the future, third years thought she was a ghost, and Mr. Bell, the caretaker, believed that Miss Bunsen’s School for Brilliant Girls might fall if Miss Crankitt left.

  Miss Crankitt leaned toward the girls and lifted a bony hand up to the sky. As she adjusted her headpiece, she said:

  “Never say it’s only me.

  Never think it’s only you.

  Like two bright sides of the moon,

  It can never ever snow in June.”

  The three girls stood in silence for a second.