Chapter Two
The big colorful gate of my school welcomes us daily. I saw a lot of other students like me wearing the nicest clothing. It was a day to go out so we weren't required to wear our school uniform but put on any formal or casual clothes. In a distance, I saw Madeline waiting for me. She was wearing an A-line dress with a yellow flowery print and combat boots. She was wearing an olive-colored jacket. The color of my sweater matched her dress. Madeline was my best friend since kindergarten. She is the person whom I admire most for her personality and friendly attitude. At first, I was a bit disturbed by her excessive talking because I was introverted. Later, I realized that she was a girl of an outgoing nature. We did a lot of things together. Both of us love to read books and science fiction was our favorite genre. We exchanged books. Sometimes we also had some assignments together for our classes. Watching movies regularly had become a passion for us. Besides, both of us had a common goal. We loved to shop. So, visiting the malls was a kind of hobby for us. Once every month we move to shop but we do not buy all the time. We had developed some common interests so far. I had countless memories with her.
"Hey, Isabella! Over here!" Madeline waved her hand excitedly from a distance even though I had spotted her the moment I entered the gate. I ran to her and gave her a pleasantly resilient hug. She was a bit taken aback I noticed, but she smiled anyway and gave me a quick welcome. We both were excited about the excursion to The Oli Oli Museum.
"Where are the others? Nova, Lily, Grace, and Maya…" These were my other close friends. All of us knew each other since kindergarten and we all never left each other since then. I was extremely lucky to have all of them and I couldn't imagine my life without them. They were my best pals. We were more like sisters.
"They all are inside the classroom. They are waiting for you. Let's go." We both darted to our classroom. Nova was sitting on top of the table. Maya was standing and Lily was sitting on the desk chair like a well-behaved girl so was Grace.
"Hey" all four of them greeted me at the same time.
"What's up?" I answered them. They all seemed well dressed! Lily was super rich so she was wearing a high neck with a leather jacket and matching pants with timberland boots. I noticed some shiny jewelry around her neck was she wearing a ring? It was October and the weather was almost chilly. Nova was wearing a shirt and a skirt with black leggings and beige pumps. Grace had put on wide jeans and a white t-shirt with fancy earrings and colorful sneakers. Maya was wearing a basic pink dress with gladiator slippers. I was elated to see all my friends in their casual clothing. The anticipation of just watching them in fancy clothes was on another level. Not that there was the competition between us but we were mature enough to see our friendship past everything.
The huge buses were all set to take us. We all made a queue when the teacher signaled us and we went and sat inside the bus. The whole time on the bus the girls were bawling and clapping and singing the song 'We will rock you'.
After an hour, we reached our destination. Oli Oli Museum was something unimaginable. At the entrance was a big yellow signboard that showed the map of the museum. As I stood there I saw that it was divided over two sensational floors of discovery, eight different galleries, and forty hands-on exhibitions. First, we bounced in the net of Toshi. Toshi was a giant nylon net-part playground, part trampoline- designed by Japanese textile and fabric artist Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam. Then we went into the creative lab where a guide showed us ways to create and destroy things with some unusual synthetic chemicals. Next, we had a lot of fun in sketch town where whatever you drew was made in 3D. The photos of Sketch Town can be transformed into unique 3-D paperwork that children could take home. I drew a small UFO that got converted to 3D. I wanted to show it to my dad. He would be surprised. I clicked a lot of pictures with my digital camera. We had to do everything in pairs so I was paired up with Madeline. She was particularly captivated by the future park where we stayed and enjoyed a bit longer. There were big screens that showed many futuristic park models and how technology could replace the traditional concept of a park. The ideas in the videos were incredible. Then we went to the air and water gallery where we experienced aerodynamics and built planes and rockets. We had a blast at the hurricane booth. In the water gallery, we danced in the rain, played with a water vortex, fired a ball cannon, and washed a real car along with rich opportunities to explore the natural world and scientific principles (vortices, buoyancy, density, pressure, gravity, and so on). Finally, we explored laws of motion and experienced kinetic energy at Incredi-Balls.
The day came to a wrap and we headed back to our school. The next day as it was 7:45 and I had fifteen minutes with Madeline before the first period. We had a conversation.
"Hey, Isabella. How's life? We had amazing fun at the Oli Oli Museum. My mother couldn't believe how a place could be so revolutionary. She was so mesmerized after the experiences I shared with her. The best part was the future park and even the water gallery…." She wanted to continue but I cut her off.
"I've thought of participating in the dance show. Will Nova accompany me? Can I ask her to perform with me? I mean she is a very good dancer…" I said solemnly.
"Oh! The dance show that will be aired on TV! Do you want to participate? Go ahead. You can ask Nova. Fingers crossed!" After a minute, Nova appeared out of nowhere.
"Hey, I overheard you guys. Okay, Isabella. I'm ready to escort you. My sister can teach us the dance steps and if you want we can practice once a week on the weekends. My sister Mia has a passion for dancing and she has even taken some dance classes. So….." Nova's voice was brisk and wobbly at the same time.
"That's great", I responded. "Thanks, Nova"