Chapter 1

The Great Germ Hunt

1 "Achooooooo!" Violet sneezed. "Bless you!" Pablo eyed his best friend. "Do you need…a tissue?" he asked. "No, thanks. I've got one," Violet replied. She opened her backpack and removed a small packet of tissues. She blew her nose. "Are you sure you're feeling better?" asked Pablo. Violet was finally back at school after being home with a really bad cold last week. "Definitely! My fever's gone. My body doesn't ache anymore. I've been feeling great

since yesterday! But my dad wanted to keep me home an extra day. Just in case." Violet cleared her throat. "It's probably my allergies." She blew her nose again. Loudly. "You know I always get them in the fall." "Yeah, that's true," Pablo agreed.

Mr. Eng's third-grade students waited patiently for the day to begin. Violet was so happy to be in class again. Being home sick wasn't fun. Even though her parents let her have a lot more screen time than normal, she was lonely and missed school. And she really missed Pablo. Pablo missed Violet, too. They were best friends, after all! They usually did just about everything together. They played soccer during recess. They sat next to each other during lunch and ate their favorite food: pickles! And every day they walked home together. But while Violet was sick, Pablo had to do all those things alone. "Mira!" Pablo stretched his neck as he looked over Violet's shoulder. He pointed with his nose toward the round tables in the Science Space at the back of the classroom. The Science Space was filled with cool equipment. It had everything from magnifying glasses and magnets to drones and telescopes. Today, each table had its very own microscope sitting in the middle!

Violet's eyes grew wide with excitement. She rubbed her hands together. "This is exactly what I'm going to be doing when I grow up. Looking at squirmy germs under a microscope," she said with a smile.

Both Violet and Pablo loved science. Pablo's favorite was learning about planets and faraway galaxies. He hoped to travel to space one day in his very own spaceship. Violet was fine staying on Earth. She wanted to run her own laboratory and become famous for curing different types of diseases—especially colds. "Achooooooo!" Violet sneezed again.