Trisha wanted to stay in Michigan for the year with her
grandma and father rather than go back to California with her mother. She was
in special classes and got teased a lot. Her mother allowed her to stay for
only one year. She met a new friend, Kay. She asked a few girls where her class
was and they gave her a funny look. Trisha found her class and a boy named Thom
told her to sit by him. He had thick rimmed glasses. Mrs. Peterson walked into
the room and slammed a dictionary onto the podium and started talking about the
definition of “genius”. She said “Welcome to the junkyard” Trisha asked Thom
why the class was called the Junkyard. He said it was because they were all
extremely different. One child has Tourette’s and another has diabetes and
another has a disease that makes him grow too fast. That night Trisha tried to
be brave but when her father was tucking her in she finally burst into tears
and let it out. She realized she was in a special class and her new friend Kay
wouldn’t let her sit with her and the other girls at lunch. Mrs. Peterson came
into class that day with little glass bottles each filled with a different
liquid scent. Each child was to find their group with the same scent and
“tribes” were made. Trisha was Vanilla and was with Gibbie’s (had tics and
would shout out randomly), Jody (Tall boy), Thom, and Ravanne (who hasn’t
spoken in a long time) The five of them became best friends and each had a
unique gift. The Junkyard wonders received pins in class. A bully by the name
of Barton Poole ripped Trisha’s right off of her shirt and Thom and Gibbie ran
after him. Out of nowhere big Jody came and scared them off. The children were pretty shaken. Mrs.
Peterson explained how there were possibilities in junkyards and things waiting
to be made into something new. She decided to actually take them to the
junkyard to show them what is was really like. Mrs. Peterson had the children
split up into their tribes and go off into the junkyard and find things that
they can make into something new. Gibbie found an old model airplane and was
excited to get started. The Vanilla tribe took apart their plane and each
contributed something to it to make it wonderful. Each tribe presented their
new inventions. They had flew the plane off of a hill but actually needed a
motor to make it fly on its own. The whole class, and even Mrs., Peterson,
pitched in for the fund. By spring, with
enough bake sales and funding they had enough for the motor. So they set the
date for the school science fair and Jody suggested the name “Junkyard Wonder”
for the plane. He was becoming more and more sick lately. Just a week after
that, Mrs. Peterson came was late to class and came bearing terrible news. Jody
had passed away in his sleep because of his disease. His heart could not keep
up with him. The class was devastated so they went behind the school to pick
flowers for Jody and that’s when Ravanne spoke. She said that the plane would
definitely have to be called “The Junkyard Wonder”. They had planned to launch
their plane from the roof. The bully, Barton had overheard their plans over
lunch one day and had told the principal. The principal informed Mrs. Peterson
and the class that it was too dangerous and the plane would be kept in the janitorial
closet until the end of the year. Mrs. Peterson told the class they would still
fly the plane the next day as planned. The principal would allow the flight if
Gibbie’s father assisted. So they prepared the plane on the roof. The plane
propellers started spinning but they had to wait for just the right second to
let it take off. It took off the roof and started going up into the sky.
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