During that week, Stephanie sometimes visits Thomas and Gordon at Knapford after school, excited to tell them what she had learned.
She even told them about her friends, happy that she has someone who would look over her if something happened to her.
But did not tell them what she encountered in the forest after walking away from Smudger's and Duke's shed.
She had a feeling that they would not believe in her if she told them about the ghosts.
So she kept the news to herself about Alfred, Smoother, and Dominic.
One day, Stephanie went to visit Thomas and Gordon at Knapford after school as they were at the station to pick up their passengers.
"Hello, Stephanie!" Thomas smiled as she stepped out from his coach. "How was school?"
"Wonderful, Thomas!" Stephanie beamed. "We were learning about the history of Sodor!"
Gordon perked a little from Stephanie's enthusiasm about learning history, as Thomas asked, "Isn't learning about history boring to you?"
"Nope." Stephanie shook her head no. "It's not boring, but it was interesting. Sodor's history is a lot different from the usual American history or any others I have learned before."
"Oh, which countries?" Thomas asked, sounding curious.
Stephanie paused a little as she thought to herself as Gordon listened to their conversation.
"I've learned about India's history and myths, Japan, England, Russia, and many others," Stephanie explained to him.
Gordon snorted a little after Stephanie explained, saying, "Well, your foster-father seemed to be strict on learning about every bit about history."
Stephanie paused a little as she turned around to him, asking, "Well, yes, I had to learn about everything since he travels."
"Hmm," Gordon paused. "Then that makes you his girl genius?"
Stephanie did get his tease but instead said, "Yes, I am, and I am proud of it!"
Gordon rolled his eyes a little with amusement after Stephanie nodded before being picked up by Sir Topham Hatt.
After that, the Steam Team later started talking about their day, as Gordon continued teasing about Stephanie, even when she had come to the island too.
"Do you remember when Stephanie came to the island?" Emily asked with a gentle chuckle. "She was a curious little girl!"
"Yes, and got lost before." Gordon teased, reminding them.
"Gordon, she was new at the island," Henry softly scolded. "You know she was confused and worried."
"I do," Gordon nodded. "She sometimes even gets in trouble by going on off by herself."
Thomas rolled his eyes as Gordon went on teasing Stephanie, looking a little annoyed about it.
Little did Gordon know that someone with long brown hair was watching from the side of the shed.
They were listening to the conversation about her and along with the teasing.
The expression of the mysterious person looked annoyed as Gordon continued teasing Stephanie about her mistakes.
Even making the adults worried about her to some of the Steam Team's annoyance.
The figure huffed after having enough of listening to the conversation and walked off, heading back to Knapford without them noticing the person.
The next day, Stephanie was at the station with Sir Topham Hatt, who was looking at the clipboard in his hand.
A sly smirk appeared on her face a little as Sir Topham Hatt looked at the clipboard before placing it down on his desk.
A call came from the phone as Sir Topham Hatt mumbled, "Oh, bother that telephone."
Stephanie waited until he picked up the phone as he pushed his clipboard to the side a little, giving her the chance to take the clipboard.
She did and looked at the jobs each engine had before noticing Gordon's name beside the express.
Picking up a pencil, Stephanie erased Henry's name from the goods trucks.
She even erased Gordon's from the express, doing something that would change her life.
She then jotted Gordon's name next to Henry's job in Sir Topham Hatt's excellent handwriting.
She even did the same thing to Henry's name next to Gordon's job.
After the switch, Stephanie placed the clipboard down next to Sir Topham Hatt, where he had it before, and kept the pencil in her pocket, sitting back down at where she was, pretending that nothing had happened.
When Sir Topham Hatt's call finished, he picked up the clipboard next to him, getting ready to start the day.
But he did not see that the names were on the wrong jobs.
He stood up from his chair and turned around to Stephanie as she acted naturally.
"Come along, Stephanie." Sir Topham Hatt spoke. "Let me give this to one of the workers and check on the rails."
Stephanie nodded her head as she stood up, putting on a good façade as Sir Topham Hatt exited out of his office, along with Stephanie.
According to plan, Stephanie watched as Sir Topham Hatt handed the clipboard over to a worker named Albert before heading off with Sir Topham Hatt to check on the rails.
Meanwhile, Albert explained to the locomotives what they were doing, even telling Gordon that he was taking the goods train.
"A goods train?" Gordon sputtered in surprise. "A goods train?! I thought that was Henry's job!"
"No, that was written on the job," Albert calmly explained to Gordon. "If Sir Topham Hatt wrote your name on it, you have to work on it."
Gordon groaned his trademark, "Oh, the indignity…" before whistling and going off to do the job he loathed the most.
Henry was also confused when he got the job of pulling the express but shrugged, deciding to take the job and going to Knapford to pull the express.
Since it was a small change, Henry did Gordon's job well and went to every station, delivering the passengers to their stations.
But Gordon was irritated aside from Henry.
He had to pull long trucks filled with goods, even having to get his paintwork dirty at one point to help haul trucks of slates.
When he stopped near where his branch line was, he saw Henry going down the line, calling, "Express coming through!"
"That's my line!" Gordon called, feeling less prideful and embarrassed.
As he continued pulling trucks, Gordon sometimes met Rebecca, who was pulling trucks too.
She noticed the expression on his face when they stopped to get a refill of water and coal, asking, "What's wrong, Gordon? You look miserable."
"I am," Gordon groaned. "Sir Topham Hatt resigned me to pull the goods as Henry is taking the express."
"Well, a little change would not hurt, Gordon," Rebecca assured Gordon, as he perked a bit from being miserable. "You are doing an excellent job of helping me around!"
"I am?" Gordon asked, his expression changing a little.
"Yes," Rebecca nodded before whistling after her boiler filled up. "I'll see you soon, Gordon!"
With that, Gordon watched as she went to pull more trucks, smiling a little with pride after she assured him.
So Gordon continued with his work, with some complaints here and there.
But he just went with the work to finish it as quickly as he could to get his old job back.
But his complaining seemed to get him in trouble with one of them.
The worker told him he had to pull some goods to Ulfstead Castle, which had the more lively Troublesome Trucks.
Gordon grumbled about taking the Troublesome Trucks, which made them feel disrespected about it.
So they hatched a plan to teach the 'Galloping Sausage' a lesson about dissing the Troublesome Trucks.
As Gordon delivered the trucks to Ulfstead Castle, they started rattling and bashing around, giggling along the way to annoy him.
"Biff and bash, biff and bash!" they giggled as they moved around, bumping into the back of Gordon's tender repeatedly.
That seemed to work, as Gordon fumed with anger, deciding to teach them a lesson.
When he went up his hill to go to Ulfstead Castle and was going down the other side, the trucks instantly went into his tender again, calling, "On! On! On! Faster! Faster!"
Gordon yelped when he noticed he was going a little too fast down his hill.
He tried screeching into a halt to stop himself, but then there was trouble!
There was a rock on the rails, and Gordon hit that rock, causing him to be derailed from it and crash against the siting, as trucks flew everywhere, spreading all the goods all over the place.
Gordon was covered in dirt and was lying on his side, and luckily, no one else was hurt.
"Oh, the indignity…" He groaned, feeling sore and annoyed.
His driver and fireman went to call for help, as Gordon was lying there, feeling less prideful of himself.
Something blue with brown appeared from the forest in front of him, causing him to look up and notice Stephanie.
"Stephanie?" Gordon asked with confusion. "What are you doing here?"
"I was in the forest when you crashed," Stephanie explained, sounding concerned for him. "Are you alright?"
"Feeling fine and dandy." Gordon huffed, sarcastically speaking to her. "What do you think I am in?! I have crashed and got covered in dirt!"
"Well, at least you didn't go into mud," Stephanie huffed in return as she crossed her arms over her chest.
Gordon opened his mouth to protest before closing it, understanding that it was best to crash into dirt rather than mud.
"Fair," Gordon nodded.
Then he watched Stephanie walk around him, confusing him a little as he asked, "What are you doing now?"
"Looking for something to flag one of the locomotives," Stephanie explained as she looked around.
Then she noticed a flag in Gordon's cab after climbing onto his undercarriage using her hands and feet.
"Be careful with your hands and feet!" Gordon blushed as he flinched a little. "I'm sensitive there!"
"Sorry." Stephanie apologized before entering his cab with a yelp. "I'm okay!"
She rummaged around in his cab after climbing into it as Gordon waited for her to return.
Then she climbed out and jumped down on the ground after finding a red flag inside in her hand.
"Do you know what that flag means?" Gordon asked, sounding concerned for her not understanding which is which to use.
"Yes," Stephanie nodded. "The red flag in my hand means to slow down or stop, and green flags mean to go."
This seemed to impress Gordon a little after Stephanie explained before walking to the tracks and waving the red flag to the oncoming locomotives.
One of them was Rebecca, who noticed what had happened to Gordon.
"Gordon?" Rebecca asked as she came over to him. "What happened?"
"I went too fast down my hill, Rebecca," Gordon explained to her, blushing a little with shame. "Can you fetch Rocky?"
"Of course!" Rebecca smiled. "Let me go deliver these trucks and fetch Rocky!"
With that, she whistled her whistle and puffed off, pulling a long line of trucks behind her.
Stephanie continued waving her flag to warn other locomotives about Gordon's crash, surprising his driver and fireman when they came, forgetting to stay with him in case others have crashed into his trucks or him.
As soon as Rocky arrived, Stephanie handed the flags to Gordon's driver and fireman, watching as he carefully lifted Gordon from the dirt and back onto the tracks.
Once he was back on the tracks with his tender connected, Gordon went to the Steamworks to check if there was any damage to him, as Rebecca decided to take his goods train to Ulfstead Castle.
After the day had ended, Gordon told the others about his witness with Stephanie's knowledge of knowing which flag was which, even saving others if they crashed into his trucks or himself.
"That was remarkably brave of Stephanie!" Edward remarked. "But, how did Stephanie know which flag is which?"
"Maybe she was watching the guard using each flag?" Toby suggested. "She has been sometimes with Sir Topham Hatt whenever he is at Knapford."
"That could be it!" Gordon perked before noticing Sir Topham Hatt's car coming into the sheds, with Stephanie inside.
"What happened?" Sir Topham Hatt asked. "Did you and Henry decide to switch jobs?"
"No, sir," Henry spoke. "I was confused when it happened, and we thought it was you."
"I would do it if one of you two were troublesome!" Sir Topham Hatt explained. "It wasn't Albert either since he was outside the entire time, and Stephanie…"
His voice trailed off when he noticed Stephanie was in the office with him, asking as he turned his attention to her, "Stephanie. Did you change the jobs between Henry and Gordon?"
Stephanie paused a little as she looked at a confused Gordon, answering, "Yes, because Gordon kept teasing me all the time."
She crossed her arms over her chest, saying, "I didn't like being reminded of my mistakes all the time or pointed out how 'dumb' I was being here before. So, I thought a little change with the list could sort things out, not the accident."
Gordon's cheeks blushed a little after Stephanie pointed out as Sir Topham Hatt listened to Stephanie's words.
"Well, consider that as a little punishment for teasing too much," Sir Topham Hatt nodded. "But, how did you manage to write in my handwriting, Stephanie?"
"I have been practicing writing in different handwritings before," Stephanie responded as she blushed, gently rubbing her right ring finger. "So your handwriting was easy to copy and busy with the call."
Sir Topham Hatt slowly nodded after Stephanie explained, before saying, "Well, that was clever of you, but next time, tell me with your problems instead of taking matters into your hands."
"Yes, sir." nodded Stephanie before turning to Gordon. "Sorry about the crash, though. It wasn't my intention to make such a dangerous scheme."
"It's fine, Stephanie." Gordon chuckled. "You saved me and others from a more dangerous situation than others!"
Stephanie's blush reached the tip of her ears, which seemed to perk Gordon's attention.
"Ah, you're almost as red as James!" Gordon teased gently.
"Well, yes," Stephanie nodded. "I can't say the same to you when Rebecca was talking to you while working with her."
At this point, Gordon's entire face turned red as a tomato, as Rebecca's blush was only on her cheeks.
"He was?" Thomas cheekily asked, glancing over at him.
"Er, excuse me." Gordon pardoned himself as he went into his shed as the doors closed, as the team laughed a little as Rebecca did the same.
Now it was his turn to be teased about his 'conversations' with Rebecca.
