The students stared at the mice They remembered what Ms Abaza had said about being silent but it was so hard to hold in their excitement Finally Tom couldn’t hold it in any longer Awesome he said quietly looking around the room and grinning at his friends We get mice Yolanda whispered pumping the air with her fist This was even better than an Atari She’d always wanted a pet mouse but her mom said their cat Hulk would eat it for breakfast That was probably true He once chewed up Yolanda’s shoelaces shoelaces for breakfast The mice responded to the noises by making noises of their own little squeaks and scuffling sounds in the ripped-up paper in the corner of their cage On the other side of the cage there was a bowl filled with pellets and small dried peas There was a water bottle hanging from one wall a fluffy hammock for the mice to sleep in and a small plastic wheel The bottom of the cage was covered in paper Are they ours to keep Tom asked Mice are awesome Jeremiah was the first one to approach the desk He loved animals and he’d handled mice before his therapist had some in her office She said that her patients found them calming Jeremiah often felt the exact opposite of calm but never around animals Lab Mice Heist
On his way to the desk he tied back his black braids with a scrunchie so the beads wouldn’t clatter and frighten the mice I love them he whispered Can we all come up asked Yolanda If you’re quiet said Ms Abaza She removed the lid of the cage so the kids could look down inside Remember this is new for them They might be feeling a bit scared I’m not coming up Mara said crossing her arms They’re gross And I don’t want to end up smelling like pee Fine said Yolanda breezily More room for the rest of us to see Mara just hmphed and looked away Jeremiah peered into the cage where the mice were still hud dled in a corner Are you sure they’re okay in there he asked They don’t look very happy And the cage is very small I feel like they want to be free They’re very happy Ms Abaza assured him And we will be letting them out of the cage sometimes when they’re more used to us I totally want to code some sort of obstacle course for them to run through Yolanda said bouncing on her heels She pushed up the sleeves on her vintage Super Mario hoodie and gestured excitedly demonstrating her plan We could have robot spheres Mouse-napped
dart randomly in front of the mice like ninjas so the mice have to figure out Nah Tom said I’m going to teach them to play soccer With teeny tiny balls Jedda didn’t say anything but she loved watching the mice She hoped they started to get more comfortable with the students soon Jedda knew what it was like to be in a new place and feel lonely and scared When she’d first arrived at Checkerbloom Elementary the other kids had wanted to talk to her and ask her questions all the time She knew they were just curious about her but it had still made her feel really anxious A lot of them were surprised when she said she was an Aboriginal Australian a Palawa from Tasmania Some of them had never even heard of Tasmania It was nice that they were so interested in her but when they crowded around her she wished she could just run away Often at lunchtime instead of sitting with the other kids she climbed the big oak tree at the edge of the sports field and hid up there for the whole lunch break so she wouldn’t have to talk to any of the other kids She felt that if the mice had an oak tree to climb they’d be climbing it now I’m going to call them Ronaldo Beckham Messi Maradona and Owen said Tom after famous soccer players No way Yolanda cried They should totally be Ada Lab Mice Heist
Shafi Anita Betty and Éva after famous women in computer programming From the back of the classroom Mara piped up I think they should be called Stinky Smelly Filthy Dirty and Mr Pee The other students rolled their eyes Mara mice actually aren’t all that smelly Jeremiah pointed out Not if you take care of them properly Whatever I’m not touching them Mara said crossly I just hope their stink doesn’t waft over to me and make me smell like mouse That won’t happen Mara Ms Abaza said calmly and how about we name our new pets tomorrow She smiled at the kids For the rest of today we’re just going to let them settle in and get used to their surroundings Some of the kids grumbled They wanted to play with their new class pets now Don’t worry Ms Abaza said There will be plenty of time for us to hang out with these little guys They’re not going anywhere for a while After recess we’ve got plenty more to look forward to including doing some cool experiments with fizzy soda She closed the lid of the cage Jeremiah noticed that she forgot to fit the lid properly so he did it for her The rest of the day passed quickly as days always did in Ms Mouse-napped
