Chapter 1

Memories of Stars and Field Trips

Today is the day! The new exhibit has its Grand Opening today at the Walkerville Planetarium! I'm so excited! I couldn't sleep last night due to myself almost jumping out of my skin, I also think the coco that my mom brought probably didn't help either as it was full of sugar, but I didn't mind. She caught me outside on my balcony stargazing through my telescope that I received for my birthday years ago. She firmly told me to make sure I go to bed at a reasonable hour so that I am not tired the next morning. I stargazed for at least another hour and to finish the coco she brought me. I wanted to brush up on my knowledge on stars and the universe and see if another was out of the ordinary through the dust and clouds. I then wanted to see if my star was still twinkling in the sky that my class had bought me over a TV show. At the time swear there something magical to do with it as it only had suddenly appeared that very night and it takes billions of years for a star to form. Turned out that when my class came to visit me that same night. They had been on a field trip on the old Magic School Bus becoming a spaceship with Ms Frizzle (our crazy but good-hearted teacher at the time) through space and when they came to the last star which they bought for a very low price, it had exploded causing a Super Nova. So, what did they do? Using the magical abilities of the Magic School Bus they gathered all the flying dust and clouds, squeezed it all together to make a new star. The class then rang Horace Cope to immediately explain how the star was made and that its rightfully in my name. We taught him a lesson! So, there you have it my beautiful baby birthday star! How was that even possible back then and even today? Do not ask! Ms Frizzle well Professor Frizzle now was a woman full of wackiness and crazy-ness but overall, she knew how to get us kids to learn. I was very thankful to everyone for what they did and for all the trouble they went through to give me the perfect present. I'm still thankful today knowing that the star will sit there for billions of years to come. It wasn't till a few years later that someone let it slip and Tim had made this beautiful present for me, in which he has tripped and fell which made it smash into pieces. I did say to him that it was a lovely thought and that I understood that these things happen and not to worry. The purchase of the star was totally out of this world! Even though it was Keesha who had the questions to ask before purchasing. That I totally understand too. I would have been the same! I was looking at it that night smiling at it while wishing it "Good Night" it will always remind me of that very birthday. As I dragged myself to bed as it was getting very late, I laid down thinking about what today would be like wondering who I might bump into at the exhibit and whether the exhibit will be as good as it attends to be. I think I only got a few hours sleep.

Anyway, I bet you have guessed who I am by now. I am Dorothy-Ann or DA as most people call me. I am now 16 years old, a technology and bookworm and now very happily attending high school. Yes, as you might have guessed I was a kid who attended Walkerville Elementary in my elementary school years and had Professor Frizzle as a teacher as well as lucky to have also her sister Ms Felicity Frizzle who was equally wacky and crazy in a good and weird way. Now I have gotta run as I am meeting up with an old friend at the planetarium. I packed myself a small backpack and tied my sneakers and made my way out of my bedroom to attend breakfast. My parents and my little sister Eden were all at the kitchen table "your breakfast is ready honey" my mom said to me "thank you mom" I answered back to her as I sat down at the table. My sister was sitting next to me eating a piece of toast, I asked her if she would like to come with me today, but she kindly said maybe another time as she had a soccer game to attend. Our parents also said that they were busy working and however dad did say he is happy to drop me off on his way to the office. It was spring break so all of us kids and teens around Walkerville were off school for a couple of weeks and some locals who are parents must work like ours and are unable to take time off. I understood and accepted it knowing that we have a big family holiday planned in a couple of months. I did call up my friends a few days ago to see if any of them wished to come with me today. I rang Arnold, Wanda, Tim, Keesha, Ralphie, Phoebe and Jyoti and the only person who said who could come was Carlos. Carlos is a friend although we did sometimes clash especially when we were in elementary school. I also wasn't too keen on his puns; he was classed as the class joker even still now today. I do admit he wasn't too keen on my smartness and my according to research saying whenever I would discover something in a book or tablet. When I rang him to see if he could come, he seemed keen to join me and seemed excited as much as I was to see this exhibit. At the end of the day, we are still friends as much as we might find each other annoying.

I finished my toast and orange juice and looked at the time on my phone "Ah 8:00am, an hour before the planetarium opens" I said out loud. "Come on then I will drive you sweetie" dad said to me, I smiled and thanked him. I got out of my seat to give mum and Eden a hug and kiss goodbye "hope you have an adventure!" Eden says as I made my way through the front door. I wondered when she said that, exploring new exhibits were always an adventure to me but nothing like the adventurous magical field trips I went on with both Frizzle sisters. I got in dads' car and dad started to drive towards the planetarium "are we picking up Carlos on the way Dorothy-Ann?" dad asked "he said he would meet me there, but thanks dad" I answered back to him.

As we were driving, I was thinking about the Walkerville Planetarium and whether anything magical will happen. What my sister had said to me made me curious. Was I going to have a big adventure today? There was this one time, Ms Frizzle had driven the old school bus carrying my class and I, to learn about the Solar System but when I got there it was closed for repairs. We also had Arnold's know it all cousins in toe with us. It wasn't long until Arnold had had enough of Cousin Janet and went up to Ms Frizzle asking if we could be taken to a bigger and better Planetarium. All I remember is Ms Frizzle's earrings lighting up and asking Arnold "you mean a bigger Planetarium?" then suddenly she pressed a button and put down the hand break. That's when everything started to change, there was a flash of light, the bus started to spin and point towards the sky while hearing Ms Frizzle start a count down. The next thing we know we all were blasting off into space! Everything had magically changed the bus (now the Magic School Bus once again) had become a space shuttle and our clothes had changed to space suits. We were in for a field trip to our very own Solar System. Now that was an adventure indeed, I was just so glad that we had arrived back safety well just. It did end with Arnold catching a horrible cold but I will save that story for another day.