"I saw all kinds of animals," Izzie said to Nina.
"The frogs were great. I love frogs.
But my favorite was the flamingo."
Izzie had gone to the zoo on Saturday with her family.
Now it was all she could talk about.
Miss Shelly blew her whistle.
"Girls! Time to start," she said.
The kids gathered around the table.
Miss Shelly was wearing a black mask with colorful sequins and feathers.
"Wow. Why are you wearing that, Miss Shelly?" Izzie asked.
"Because today we'll make masks—party masks, like this one.
Or secret-agent masks or monster masks . . . ," Miss Shelly said.
"Oh, I'm going to make a secret-agent mask," Bobby said.
"Mine's going to be a super secret-agent mask," Jason said.
"I'm going to make a party mask!" Nina said.
"What about you, Izzie?
Let's make party masks together!"
Izzie thought for a moment. "Okay. I guess so."
"Here is a plain mask for each of you," Miss Shelly said.
"The rest of the decorations are on the table.
You can use anything you like.
Just glue the pieces to the front of the mask, the side that won't touch your face," Miss Shelly said.
Izzie looked at the table.
There were ribbons, fabric, buttons, and feathers.
Izzie saw two pink feathers poking out of the pile.
Suddenly she got a great idea.
"Nina," she said.
"I'm not going to make a party mask with you."
"Why not?" Nina looked hurt.
"Because I'm going to make a flamingo mask!" Izzie cried.
"An animal mask.
What a cool idea!" Miss Shelly said.
Nina looked down at her mask.
She had already begun to glue different-colored sequins to one corner.
"Flamingos are pink.
But their beaks are black and white.
And they stick out too.
I need to make a beak,"
Izzie said, grabbing a handful of sequins.
"Fine," Nina said, frowning.
"But don't take all the sequins."
Izzie folded a piece of cardboard into a beak.
She glued it to her mask.
Then she decorated the rest of the mask with pink feathers.
Finally she covered the beak with black and white sequins.
"Squawk, squawk." Izzie put on her mask and stood on one leg.
"I'm a flamingo!"
"And I'm a ladybug!" Nina put on her mask too.
"I wanted to be an animal too," she said shyly.
"Can you tell me where you were on the night of April 19th?"
a boy in a gray mask and sunglasses suddenly asked.
"Yes, and we'd like to know your real name, Miss Ladybug,"
said another boy, in a blue mask and sunglasses.
"Ah!" the girls shrieked.
Miss Shelly laughed.
"Great masks, boys," she said.
She put on her mask too.
"Now no one will recognize us!"
The gym door opened, and Ms. Folani walked in.
The principal looked confused.
"Who are you?
I thought the Kids Central kids were in here today."
"Aliens kidnapped the Kids Central kids at the zoo.
We secret agents are here to investigate," Jason said seriously.
"The ladybug and the flamingo may be part of the crime," Bobby added.
Nina and Izzie giggled behind their masks.
"Oh!" Ms. Folani exclaimed.
"Well, please let me know what you find out.
Those kids from Kids Central are very important to us."
[caption_out@