Chapter 5
The next morning Joy was bursting with sunshine and positive energy. She played her accordion throughout Headquarters, trying to rouse the rest of the Emotions with a tune. “Hello! Did I wake you?” Joy yelled over the piercing sound of her instrument. The others were not so enthusiastic.
“Okay, first day of school!” Joy said, tossing her accordion aside. “Very exciting!” Riley was starting her new school today, and Joy had to make sure it went perfectly. Right away, she began getting everyone organized by assigning tasks. She asked Fear to come up with an extensive list of all the possible negative outcomes on the first day of school.
“Way ahead of you there,” Fear said, scribbling in his notepad. “Does anyone know how to spell ‘meteor’?”
“Disgust,” Joy said. “Make sure Riley stands out today… but also blends in.”
Disgust was on it. “When I’m through, Riley will look so good the other kids will look at their own outfits and barf ,” she said.
As Joy continued to prepare Headquarters, the Train of Thought chugged by and dropped off a bag. “Right on schedule,” said Joy, smiling. “Anger, unload the daydreams. I ordered extra in case things get slow in class.”
“Might come in handy if this new school is full of boring, useless classes, which it probably will be… ,” Anger said as he walked toward the bag.
Sadness came out of the break room. “I have a super important job just for you,” Joy said, approaching her.
“Really?” Sadness said.
Joy led Sadness to the back of the room and placed her in a special spot. “What are you doing?” Sadness asked.
Joy knelt down and used a piece of chalk to draw a circle around Sadness’s feet. “This is the circle of sadness,” Joy said. “Your job is to make sure that all the sadness stays inside it.”
Sadness was confused. “So… you want me to just stand here?”
“Hey, it’s not MY place to tell you how to do your job,” Joy said, nudging Sadness’s foot so that it was inside the circle. “Just make sure that ALL the sadness stays in the circle.”
Joy knew that if the day was going to go well she had to keep Sadness as far from the controls as possible.
Sadness stood inside the circle, looking a little lost and confused. “You’re a pro at this!” Joy cheered. “Isn’t it fun?”
“No,” Sadness said quietly as Joy walked back to the console.
“All right, everyone, fresh start!” Joy sang. “We are going to have a good day, which will turn into a good week, which will turn into a good year, which turns into a good LIFE!”
Riley was ready to go to school. She had her backpack on and was walking toward the front door.
“So, the big day!” Mom said, encouraging her with a smile. “New school, new friends, huh?”
“I know! I’m kinda nervous, but I’m mostly excited! How do I look? Do you like my shirt?” Family Island was lighting up and working like crazy as Riley chatted away.
“You want us to walk with you?” Mom said.
Disgust quickly made the call on that one. “Mom and Dad? With us in public? No, thank you.”
Joy took care of the situation by pressing a few buttons on the console.
“Nope! I’m fine,” Riley said, upbeat. “Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!”
“Have a good day at school, monkey,” Dad said. Riley and her mom made monkey sounds as she walked out the door, which caused Goofball Island to power up.
Riley walked to her new school and stopped in front of the gate to take in the scene. There were tons of students, and the school was so big. “Are you sure we want to do this?” Fear said.
“In we go!” Joy said, totally ignoring Fear.
Riley smiled and walked up the steps to the school. Once she got inside, she found her classroom and sat down at a desk. The Emotions checked out the different groups of kids scattered around the room.
“Okay,” said Disgust. “We’ve got a group of cool girls at two o’clock.”
“How do you know?” asked Joy.
“Double ears pierced, infinity scarves…”
“Whoa,” said Joy. “Is she wearing eye shadow?”
“Yeah, we want to be friends with them,” said Disgust, who actually seemed excited.
Fear approached Joy. He was almost finished with his very long list of potential disasters. “Worst scenario is either quicksand, spontaneous combustion, or getting called on by the teacher,” he said. “So as long as none of those happen…” His voice trailed off as the teacher addressed the class.
“Okay, everybody,” she said, motioning for Riley to stand. “We have a new student in class today.”
“Are you kidding me? Out of the gate? This is not happening!” Fear yelled.
Then the teacher asked Riley to introduce herself in front of everyone.
“Nooooooo!” Fear cried, flipping out. “Pretend we can’t speak English!”
第 5 章
第二天早上,樂(lè)樂(lè)充滿陽(yáng)光和正能量,她在情緒總部里拉著手風(fēng)琴,想用音樂(lè)喚醒其他情緒小人。“哈嘍!我把你們吵醒了嗎?”伴著手風(fēng)琴富有穿透力的聲音樂(lè)樂(lè)高聲叫著,其他情緒小人可不像她這么有活力。
“好了,上學(xué)第一天!”樂(lè)樂(lè)將手風(fēng)琴扔到一邊并說(shuō)道,“真令人激動(dòng)!”今天是萊莉第一天去新學(xué)校上課,樂(lè)樂(lè)必須保證一切完美。她立即開始組織情緒小人,給他們安排任務(wù),要求怕怕詳盡列出第一天上學(xué)可能遇到的任何麻煩。
“早就想好了。”怕怕一邊說(shuō)一邊在記事本上狂寫,“有沒(méi)有人知道怎么拼‘meteor’這個(gè)單詞?”
“厭厭,”樂(lè)樂(lè)說(shuō),“確保萊莉今天的打扮出眾……當(dāng)然也要合群。”
厭厭開動(dòng)腦筋,說(shuō)道:“等我裝扮完畢,萊莉一定美極了,其他孩子只有看著自己的衣服吐的份。”
在樂(lè)樂(lè)繼續(xù)忙著情緒總部里的事情時(shí),思想火車咔嚓咔嚓地經(jīng)過(guò),扔下一個(gè)包裹。“來(lái)得正是時(shí)候。”樂(lè)樂(lè)笑著說(shuō),“怒怒,拆開包裹,里面是我預(yù)訂的白日夢(mèng)點(diǎn)子,我特意多訂了一些以防上課時(shí)間太難熬。”
“如果新學(xué)校里都是些無(wú)聊又沒(méi)用的課——這是很有可能的,確實(shí)該多備著些……”怒怒說(shuō)著朝包裹走去。
憂憂從休息室走了出來(lái),樂(lè)樂(lè)一邊朝她走過(guò)去,一邊說(shuō):“我有一項(xiàng)非常重要的工作要交給你。”
“真的嗎?”憂憂問(wèn)。
樂(lè)樂(lè)把憂憂帶到房間后面,讓她待在一個(gè)特定的地方。“你要干什么?”憂憂問(wèn)。
樂(lè)樂(lè)蹲了下來(lái),用粉筆在憂憂雙腳周圍畫了一個(gè)圈。“這是憂傷之圈,”樂(lè)樂(lè)說(shuō),“你的工作就是確保所有的憂傷都待在這里面。”
憂憂不解地問(wèn)道:“這么說(shuō)……你要我做的就是站在這兒?”
“嘿,怎么做好你的工作可輪不到我來(lái)管,”樂(lè)樂(lè)說(shuō)著把憂憂的腳輕輕地推到圓圈里,“你只要確保所有的憂傷都待在圓圈里就行了。”
樂(lè)樂(lè)知道這一天要過(guò)得順利就必須讓憂憂盡可能地遠(yuǎn)離控制臺(tái)。
憂憂站在圓圈里,看上去有些失落和困惑。“你可是這方面的專家!”樂(lè)樂(lè)想令她振作起來(lái),“不是挺有趣的嗎?”
樂(lè)樂(lè)往回走向控制臺(tái),憂憂小聲地說(shuō)了個(gè)“不”字。
“好了,各位,全新的開始!”樂(lè)樂(lè)高興地唱了起來(lái),“我們將度過(guò)美好的一天,然后是美好的一周,再然后是美好的一年,這就是美好的生活!”
萊莉已經(jīng)準(zhǔn)備好去上學(xué)了,她背起書包朝前門走去。
“那么,重要的日子到了!”媽媽笑著鼓勵(lì)她,“新學(xué)校,新朋友,是吧?”
“可不是嘛!我還有點(diǎn)緊張呢,不過(guò)主要還是激動(dòng)!我看起來(lái)怎么樣?這件T恤好看嗎?”萊莉閑聊的時(shí)候家人島亮了起來(lái),快速地運(yùn)作著。
“要不要我們陪你走過(guò)去?”媽媽問(wèn)道。
厭厭迅速做出反應(yīng),“媽媽和爸爸?和我們一起在公共場(chǎng)合?謝謝,還是不要吧。”
樂(lè)樂(lè)按下控制臺(tái)上的幾個(gè)按鈕,解決了當(dāng)前的困境。
“不用!我自己可以的。”萊莉樂(lè)觀地答道,“媽媽,再見(jiàn)!爸爸,再見(jiàn)!”
“上學(xué)愉快,小猴子。”爸爸說(shuō)道。萊莉出門的時(shí)候和媽媽一起模仿猴子叫了起來(lái),于是耍寶島亮了。
萊莉走到新學(xué)校,停在大門前,看著校園中的景象。寬闊的校園里有成群結(jié)隊(duì)的學(xué)生。“確定我們必須這么做?”怕怕問(wèn)道。
“讓我們進(jìn)去吧!”樂(lè)樂(lè)完全無(wú)視怕怕,開口說(shuō)道。
萊莉微笑著走上學(xué)校的臺(tái)階,一進(jìn)去就找到了自己的教室,找了個(gè)座位坐下。情緒小人們審視著一群群分散在教室各處的學(xué)生。
“好了,”厭厭說(shuō)道,“兩點(diǎn)鐘方向有一群看起來(lái)很酷的女生。”
“你怎么知道的?”樂(lè)樂(lè)問(wèn)道。
“兩只耳朵都打了耳洞,圍著可無(wú)限變換的圍脖…… ”
“哇,”樂(lè)樂(lè)說(shuō)道,“那個(gè)女生是不是涂了眼影?”
“是啊,好想和她們做朋友。”厭厭好像挺激動(dòng)。
怕怕走近樂(lè)樂(lè),他差不多完成了那長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的有關(guān)潛在麻煩的單子,“最糟糕的設(shè)想莫過(guò)于流沙、自燃,或是被老師點(diǎn)名。”他繼續(xù)說(shuō)道,“既然這幾樣都沒(méi)發(fā)生……”話音未落,老師的聲音就在班上響了起來(lái)。
“好了,各位,”她一邊說(shuō)一邊示意萊莉站起來(lái),“今天我們班有一位新同學(xué)。”
“開玩笑吧?一開始就來(lái)?這不是真的!”怕怕叫了起來(lái)。
接著老師讓萊莉當(dāng)著全班同學(xué)的面進(jìn)行自我介紹。
“不——!”怕怕叫了起來(lái),他已經(jīng)失去了理智,“假裝我們不會(huì)說(shuō)英語(yǔ)!”