Chapter Three

Finding the Bus.

I was a bit disorientated after the transformation. Even feeling mildly sick after being tossed and turned in the vortex but there was no time to be unwell as i had to find out what happened to Phoebe and Ms Frizzle and whats worst the bus! We now had an what seemed to be an angry bee bus on the lose! I looked around and their was no sign of movement the room was silent. While stilling to walk around i could feel myself getting use to my new insect legs. The surface of the floor was sticky and slippery, it was from the honey that had now somehow had dripped from the new honeycombs that had appeared in the classroom. What a mess i thought, there is no way that this can be fixed on my own. Then a light bulb idea came to my head! I remembered that i had wings, i can fly to get a better view! I closed eyes and concentrated connecting to my now bee self. In less then a second i could feel my back vibrate faster and faster. My wings felt powerful just like they did all those years back. I was ready to take flight! "YES!" i buzzed to myself, then the next thing i knew i felt myself being lifted off the ground.

I started to fly towards the ceiling. Everything was now ten times as big now since i had shrunk. When i got a better birds eye view of the classroom i saw that everything had turned to honeycombs and honey, all the desks, bookcases, shelving & whiteboard were no longer present in the room. The classroom had become what looked like a beehive! The only thing that looked normal was the open window that Phoebe and I spotted when we arrived "At least the is a way out" i thought to myself. It didn't take long for me to start realizing that the bus was also missing, surely that a bus that had transformed into a giant bee wouldn't have gone too far! The room was silent too silent i was really starting to worry that the bus perhaps escaped through the window! I was flying towards the window when i heard buzzing sounds coming from what use to be the teachers closet. My senses could tell me that Ms Frizzle or Phoebe were still in the room. As i got closer to the teachers closet which was now a wall of honeycombs dripping with honey i finally spotted Phoebe and Ms Frizzle! I was so relieved to have found them who have also had been transformed into bees. "Tim! So glad that your OK!" Ms Frizzle shouted i flew on to a honeycomb hexagon to find Ms Frizzle assisting Phoebe who was covered in honey "Phoebe's wings are covered in honey, buzz those wings Phoebe it will help dry them". I encouraged Phoebe to "come on Phoeb's, you can do it your almost there!" Phoebe saw me and made a tiny smile "OK, i'll do my best" Phoebe answered. She took a deep breath and buzzed her wings, in no time the honey had disappeared and she could fly. Buzzing up to the air Phoebe has a big smile on her face, she was relieved that she was free. I then flew towards her seeing her new transformed insect body shortly followed my Ms Frizzle "What happened?" Phoebe buzzed "We've been frizzled!" i buzzed.

Phoebe had observed the room and looked back at Ms Frizzle and myself in shock observing our transformations "Were bees again!" she buzzed. Ms Frizzle was hovering beside me and did a half smile "Well...my new class and i are studying bees and the bus must had malfunctioned!" she buzzed "When it was time the class will be learning about how bees collect the nectar, how they work in a hive and how they play an important role" made me think back to when we were studying the same subject, however i believe there wasn't any glitch. Phoebe then asked "So you were going to turn them into bees, like we were all those years ago?" Ms Frizzle nodded "Yes, but the bus had been acting up this morning and i was testing it out, however it wasn't meant to make a beehive in the classroom!" Ms Frizzle buzzed as she was flying around the room herself. Phoebe and I looked at each other, it hadn't been the first time that the bus malfunctioned "So it was meant to make a bee hive outside obviously" i asked Ms Frizzle she then told us that the field trip was going to encourage everyone to think that they are real bee's and to teach them to work together and be part of a team. "OK cool, so we just need to find the bus to change us and the classroom back" i asked "There is one more thing Tim" Ms Frizzle buzzed "The bus thinks its a real bee, so it might have escaped through the window to collect nectar from nearby flowers". As Ms Frizzle, Phoebe and i were hovering in the air we all looked towards the open window "Tim, how are we going to find the bus? We cannot be bee's forever" buzzed Phoebe "Well then Tim, Phoebe, we are going to have to think like bees and use our new bee scenes to find the bus, it will smell like us so if we find it, it will know that we are part of its hive " buzzed Ms Frizzle as she flew in front of us. She then took flight towards the window, Phoebe and i looked at each other and we both nodded and went on to follow Ms Frizzle "A bee gotta do, what a bee's gotta do" i buzzed.

As we flew to the window sill, the world outside was huge but at least it was normal. The three of us looked around as we remained on the window sill "Looks like we are going to have to buzz off and find the bus" i said to Phoebe and Ms Frizzle "Lets split and use our bee senses to find it" Ms Frizzle told us. Then we started to flutter our wings and leaped of from the window sill "It can't have gone far" buzzed Phoebe who was flying beside me i buzzed back"Yeah i certainly don't want to stay as a bee forever". In a few short seconds as we were buzzing around the outside of Walkerville Elementary, i could start to feel a sensation that i never have felt before. I felt that i was being brainwashed and had a craving to find nectar. It must be something to do with the magic. I was going to ask Phoebe if she was starting to feel the same but when i turned to see her she had disappeared! "Oh no" i buzzed loudly "It will be like finding a needle in a haystack". I started to panic while fighting off the spell the bus's magic must still be malfunctioning and could be making us into bee's permanently! We had to hurry, time was ticking, we may not be able to transform back if we do not sort this situation out! While figuring out were everyone had got to once again, i decided to fly towards a neighbors garden opposite the school, the sweet smell of pollen was calling to me. As i got closer, i could start to hear buzzing sounds, not just one but more. I started to get very excited so i flew towards the garden. In no time at all i found Phoebe. She was collecting pollen from a daisy "Oh my goodness Phoebe! I'm so glad that i have found you" i shouted, she lifted her head like she had snapped out of a trans "Wha, Wha, What...just happened?" she buzzed. I landed on the same daisy that she was sitting on "I think the magic is causing us to really behave like bee's, the more time flies the more bee like we become" i told her, Phoebe was in shock "We could be stuck as bees forever" she panicked almost falling off the flower. I managed to come her down by telling her that everything was going to be ok and that we will get through this, we will be teens again! Then just as we were able to take flight again Ms Frizzle appeared. She placed herself on another nearby daisy looking exhausted. She was panting and struggling to catch her breath "Kids, i've found the bus in the next garden but we have to be quick follow me!" she buzzed.

Ms Frizzle, Phoebe and I flew to the next garden to finally finding the bus who looked like it was gathering nectar from a sunflower. As we hovered over the bus bee we were having trouble getting its attention. We tried shouting at it, tapping it with our insect feet and even tickling it with our antennas! Nothing was making it budge but then i remembered that field trip we went on those years ago when the class and i were inside a beehive, the way to get a bee's attention was to dance.