2 What Contains the Answer

CHAPTER TWO What Contains the Answer? Erlenmeyer Flask (noun). This is a special container that scientists use for a number of different things in a lab. It was designed by German chemist Emil Erlenmeyer, and its glass is so strong that he could do big chemical reactions inside the flask without worrying about it shattering. It has a ginormous name for a ginormous invention! OUR TEACHER, MRS. EBERLIN, stood in front of the whiteboard. She pushed her glasses up on her nose and suddenly looked very serious. "In order to figure out where we are going on a very special field trip, you're going to have to do some work." Some kids moaned. Others, like me, leaned forward expectantly. "Told you, it's going to be special," I said softly to Birdie, whose desk was in the row in front of mine. "Told you what?" asked Elijah Williams, who sat behind me. He's my next-door neighbor and my other closest friend. Immediately, I felt guilty about not telling him the secret.

"The field trip is going to be someplace cool and far away because we're going on a long bus ride," I whispered. "Did you say a long bus ride?" asked Elijah in way too loud a voice. "Shhhh!" said Birdie and I in unison. But it was too late. "Kate knows we're going on a long bus ride!" shouted Memito Alvarez. "Tell us where we're going!" Suddenly, everyone in the classroom was staring at me. My cheeks warmed. "Kate, if you know where we're going, I'd appreciate you keeping it to yourself," Mrs. Eberlin stated. She put her hands on her hips in that teacher way that meant business. "I actually don't know where we're going," I admitted. "Yeah right, Kate." Shoving his floppy bangs out of his eyes, Jeremy Rowe glared at me. "She knows. And she's not telling." "Actually, Kate really doesn't know where we are going," stated Birdie quietly, and I gave her a grateful look. Birdie might be shy, but she always stands up for what she believes in. "Thanks, Birdie," I said. "Just because my mom's the principal doesn't mean I know everything."

Jeremy shook his head. Just last week, Jeremy had been sent down to the office for grabbing Mia Wong's cookie out of her lunch bag and taking a bite out of it. My mom had given him a talking-to, and for the past few days he had been giving me these withering looks. Sometimes having your mom as a principal is awesome. And sometimes it isn't. "I bet we're going to Lansing," said Julia Yoon, who is our student body president and is good at knowing stuff like that. Lansing is the capital of Michigan, the state where we live. In fourth grade, Julia was the first kid to memorize all the states and their capitals. "I think we're going to Detroit," I said. "There's tons of museums there." "Nah, not a museum," said Elijah. "I bet it's the Binder Park Zoo. That one near Battle Creek." "What about Greenfield Village?" said Avery Cooper. "You can visit an inventor's lab. Plus, they have people dressed up in costumes, so you get to learn history." Avery is a fan of anything to do with costumes and drama. Her dads run the theater in our town.

"Brrrr!" Phoenix Altman, Avery's best friend, rubbed her hands together. "It'll be too cold for the zoo or the village. I want to go someplace where we can be inside and toasty warm, like a museum." On her desk, Birdie tapped her box of pastels. "I hope it's the Art Institute in Chicago. They have masterpieces there by Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet and other famous artists." "Those are all great guesses," said Mrs. Eberlin. "But none of you are right. To find the answer, we're going to solve a mystery." Mrs. Eberlin used a giant black dry-erase marker to write the number 8.1 on the board. "What's that number?" asked Elijah. "My sister's age," said Julia. Memito held up eight fingers. "It's the number of slices of pizza I'm going to eat for lunch." "Nope." Jeremy shook his head. "It's how many minutes school should last." Some kids laughed, and Mrs. Eberlin tapped her watch. "When you love what you're doing, time really does fly," she said with just a hint of her Brazilian accent. When she gets excited, it shows up a little. "Like right now, I promise you time will whiz by. Because we're going to solve a mystery together. Just watch."

She reached under her desk and pulled out four Erlenmeyer flasks. Chemists use that kind of flask all the time. It has a narrow neck and a wide, flat bottom. You can put a stopper on the top if you need to swirl and swoosh a solution. Personally, I love to do the swirling and the swooshing. When my dad makes homemade salad dressing in a jar, he always lets me shake it up. It's one of the best ways to mix stuff. "Now I need some volunteers," said Mrs. Eberlin. "Who wants to come up and help the class solve the mystery? Using some science. Chemistry, to be exact." My hand shot up. "Me!" I shouted. "Please! Please! Please!"