Izzie walked to the gym after the first day of school.
Usually she loved going to Kids Central.
But today she felt sad.
Bobby was playing soccer, so he wasn't coming back this year.
And Jason's dad was working from home now.
That meant Jason wasn't coming back either.
She sighed. "Kids Central is going to stink this year."
As she entered the gym, Izzie saw Nina and Ethan sitting at a table.
"Nina!" Izzie hugged her friend.
"Hi, Ethan!" Ethan looked very tan.
And his hair was long!
"Welcome back, everyone," Miss Shelly said.
"I have a surprise to share with you. I—"
Boom! Just then the door flew open.
And Bobby walked in—on crutches!
"No soccer for me," he said.
"I broke my leg jumping into the river this summer."
"Ouch," Ethan said.
"We're happy to see you, Bobby," Miss Shelly said.
The door opened again. Nina gasped. "Jason?"
Jason came into the gym, grinning.
"My dad is working at his office again.
So I'm back at Kids Central!"
Nina clapped. "We're all together again!"
"Miss Shelly, what are we doing today?" Jason asked.
"I hope we're cooking!"
Miss Shelly shook her head and pointed to three tables.
Each table had different things on it.
"We're making time capsules."
"For time travel?" Bobby asked. "Cool!"
"Not exactly," Miss Shelly said.
"You'll put items in the capsules today.
Then we'll save them for a date in the future.
It will feel like time travel when you open them."
"What do we do first?" Bobby asked.
"Go to the first table.
We'll make handprints and take photos," Miss Shelly said.
"Ooh, I'm making pink handprints!"
Izzie carefully traced her hands with a pink marker.
"They look like flamingos."
"Say 'cheese.'"
Miss Shelly snapped photos of Izzie and the other kids.
The next station had pencils and clipboards.
Izzie picked up a clipboard.
"Now we're supposed to write things about ourselves."
She ran to Ethan.
"I'll fill out yours, and you can fill out mine."
Ethan nodded.
"What's your favorite food and activity?" Izzie asked.
"Fish tacos and surfing," Ethan said. "What's yours?"
"Easy. Strawberry ice cream and kickball," Izzie said.
"Next question. What do you want to learn this year?"
"How to build a rocket ship," he answered.
"I want to learn how to play the trumpet."
Soon Izzie moved on to the next table.
She saw empty paper towel rolls and tissue paper.
"What's the tissue paper for?" Nina asked.
Miss Shelly held up an empty paper towel roll.
"This will be your capsule.
After you put everything inside, wrap it in tissue paper.
Then seal the time capsule with tape and decorate it."
The kids nodded and got to work.
Izzie slipped her paper, handprints, and photo into the capsule.
Next she wrapped it in green tissue.
She smiled happily as she looked up at her friends.
"I was wrong," she thought.
"This year is going to be awesome!"