The Quirks, Welcome to Normal by Erin Soderberg Page B

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cone on your head?” Amelia, Stella, and Norah all laughed, too.
    Oh no!
Molly thought, groaning. Penelope must have been thinking about the “cone of safety” they’d been joking about.
    Penelope fled from the room. “She’s hilarious!” Izzy giggled.
    “Penelope is always super funny,” Amelia agreed, laughing. “Where did she even
get
a traffic cone?”
    Molly laughed, too, but she didn’t think it was that funny.
    As the night went on, things didn’t improve. While they played games, Penelope’s pieces kept moving on their own. When everyone was busy setting up their sleeping bags in the
basement, Molly caught Niblet peeking around the door to wave at them. By the time they went upstairs to get late-night snacks, Pen was slumping along behind everyone else with slitted eyes and a
sour look on her face. Both Quirk girls were exhausted and miserable. Stella, Izzy, Norah, and Amelia had spent the night talking and giggling together, while Molly and Penelope had stayed on the
outside of everything, trying to keep Pen’s magic out of view. It was the
opposite
of fitting in. Molly was crushed.
    “Ladies!” Stella’s mom called to the girls from the living room. They were in the kitchen, hastily filling bowls with M&M’S (every piece of chocolate in the bag had
mysteriously turned red, Pen’s favorite color). “They’re announcing the challenge for Normal Night! Come quick.”
    All the girls ran to the living room just in time to hear the announcer say: “And now, it’s time to reveal this year’s challenge for Normal Night! As everyone in the region
knows, Herman Normal Night is a big deal in the fine town of Normal. Party time!” The newscaster chuckled and adjusted his tie. Then he looked down and yelped. His orange tie looked
suspiciously like an orange safety cone hanging off his neck. Molly swung around and saw that Penelope had joined them on the couch. She shrugged miserably and hummed to herself.
    “Well, then,” the announcer said, touching his tie again. “There were more than eight hundred suggestions this year—can you believe it, Georgie?” He turned to the
woman sitting beside him.
    Georgie shook her head and said, “I can’t, Tom. There are only two thousand and some people in Normal—that means almost half the town must have made a suggestion. That’s
what I call town spirit!” She laughed, a tinkling little laugh that sounded like tiny bells. Molly knew Finn and Grandpa Quill had put a lot of those suggestions in the box.
    “So,” Announcer Tom continued. “This year’s challenge, which was selected by the descendants of Herman Normal, comes from a suggestion made by a young man named Finnegan
Quirk.”
    Molly’s and Penelope’s eyes opened wide, and all their friends gasped. “That’s your brother!” Amelia cried.
    “He’s famous!” Izzy seconded.
    “No one
ever
gets their suggestion picked for Normal Night. At least, no one I know,” Stella said. She looked a little disappointed. Molly knew Stella had put a few
suggestions of her own into the box.
    The announcer continued, and Norah shushed them. “This year, the town of Normal will be trying to build the world’s largest ball of ABC gum on record.” He stopped, then flipped
the card in his hand over, looking for more information. “What
is
ABC gum? Is that some kind of brand? Or a flavor? Do you know, Georgie?”
    Georgie’s face split into a smile. “If I’m not mistaken, Tom, ‘ABC’ stands for ‘already been chewed.’ It sounds like the people of Normal are going to
be making a big, sticky ball of chewed-up gum.” She and Tom looked at each other and laughed. “All I can say is, watch where you step that night, folks! Sounds like a mess to
me!”
    Tom nodded, and Molly noticed his tie had turned back into an orange fabric tie. “Good luck, Normal. And now, to sports!”
    Stella’s mom flicked off the TV.
    “ABC gum?” Stella said, her mouth agape. “That’s