1. Every Thorn Has Its Rose

Balthazar stood proudly over his work, a garden full of blood-red roses and happy-looking Black-eyed Susans. It wasn't often he had a chance to garden, pistachio protecting taking up most of his time. Time travel never left much room for a personal life or learning new hobbies.

"Your garden looks great, Balthy!" Vinnie grinned, reaching out to touch a rose.

Balthazar pulled his arm back. "Have you never heard the phrase 'every rose has its thorns'?" he scolded. "Furthermore, I don't have the first aid kit stocked up, so if you cut yourself, how am I supposed to wrap it up?"

Vinnie stared in confusion. "I thought the phrase was 'every thorn has its rose'? Is it different in this time period?"

"I don't exactly pay attention to the origins of idioms," Balthazar replied. "All I know is that the phrase just means that even the most beautiful objects have their imperfections."

"Sounds a little too cynical for my liking," Vinnie shrugged. "If you switch the words 'rose' and 'thorn', then it could mean that there's always some beauty lying underneath all the flaws." He nudged Balthazar with a smirk. "Especially in a certain burnt marshmallow."

"What do marshmallows have to do with thorns-" then his brain caught up. He pulled his hat down to cover his reddening face.

"I think I like your interpretation better," he mumbled through the fabric.

2. Lights Out

Jefferson County Middle School had forgotten to pay the electric bill, so all the lights were off and everyone was stumbling around in complete darkness. When the students complained, Principal Milder dismissed them with a "I once knew a student who didn't follow energy saving techniques on Earth Day. You wanna know what happened to him? He took a job as a garbage truck driver."

Milo was the only person in the school whose vision wasn't obstructed by the darkness, courtesy of night vision goggles. Zack and Melissa had already used up all the power on their phones, so they were completely reliant on Milo's guidance.

"Okay, heading to the band room! All aboard the Milo train!" Milo exclaimed, pulling them out of the science room. "I'll be your conductor for the day, so please keep all your hands and feet inside the train at all times so you don't get any binder scratches from passersby or bang into any lockers."

"Hey, conductor. We don't have tickets," Melissa said.

"Nah, you guys purchased the free ride. No worries!" Milo exclaimed. He spotted a light fixture hanging by a worn cable, directly above an unsuspecting let go of Melissa and Zack. "Amanda, look out!"

"Milo? Ah!" she shrieked as Milo threw his arm out in front of her. She crashed into it. "What are you doing? I've got class in four minutes!"

Milo looked back, the light finally crashing down, scattering broken glass everywhere. He gently steered Amanda around to the other side so she wouldn't step on the glass.

Amanda glanced around wildly. "What was that noise?"

"A light fixture was about to fall on you," Milo replied.

"Oh," Amanda said softly. "Well, thanks for, uh, not letting it fall on me."

"Just doing my job!" Milo said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my other job as conductor!"

Amanda giggled. "You're excused."

"Please don't let anything else happen," Zack muttered.

"Don't count on it," Melissa replied.

3. Don't Bottle it Up

"Move it, people!" Melissa yelled through her megaphone. "Before the giant recyclable bottle crushes your hopes and dreams!"

A car swerved to avoid them, the driver honking angrily. "Sorry!" Zack shouted.

Milo spun uncontrollably inside the bottle. Even from a distance, Melissa could see small cuts and bruises beginning to form from all the nasty bumps.

"We need a blockade of some kind!" Melissa shouted.

As if on cue, a fire truck emerged from a side street, the bottle crashing into it. The force almost tipped the fire truck over, but it righted itself as the bottle slowly rolled to a stop.

Melissa and Zack caught up, panting heavily. Mr. Chase popped out of the driver's seat, looking incredibly confused.

Milo waved. Mr. Chase sighed in resignation, turning the cap so Milo could get out. "Was this bottle part of the 24th annual Recycling Parade?" Mr. Chase asked.

"The driver of the one of the floats asked me to be promote his recycling plant," Milo winced, rubbing his arm. "Then we hit a speed bump, and the bottle rolled out and flattened the sea turtle float, and one thing led to another. Thanks for stopping it."

"No problem," Mr. Chase said. "Do you three want a lift home?"

"No hills," Melissa cautioned.

Milo perked up, dragging an incredibly confused Zack to the fire truck. "Check out this dashboard! Look, a stick shift! You wanna see the ladder? Of course you do! Come on, Zack!"

"Try to take it easy on Zack," Melissa said, climbing in after her friends.

"No promises," Mr. Chase winked.