We enter to some city-looking place, also full of yucky trash.
"This kinda reminds me of New York, but waaay trashier and less exciting." Harold told us. I've never been to New York, so I don't have a good idea of what he is talking about.
"You see a lot more apple cores and rotten apples here." I say confused.
"They sometimes call New York the Big Apple." Alia states.
"Welcome to the Big Apple Core!" Trashworld Tristan points to a giant statue of an apple core next to where he was standing. "This is the pride of Trashworld, where everyone comes from all over the world to study, work, or play. I can't believe you guys have never been here. You really need to skip school more often."
"This place makes going to school very appealing," Harold says as he looks around.
Downtown Big Apple Core is a big metropolitan area, filled with irregularly sized, dilapidated buildings, pale yellow taxi cabs that breathe out black smoke, and—something moved on the ground.
"Is that a cat? Right in the city?" I point slowly at a humongous, weirdly misshapen black cat.
"Oh no, Olive, that's actually a rat, a baby one. Its mother is probably around somewhere. Would you like to pet it? It's pretty friendly," says Trashworld Tristan.
My eyes widen with fear. "Uhm, no, thanks! Let's move before the mom sees us. I don't want to know how big a mother rat is!"
***
A few minutes later, Trashworld Tristan left us. I was about to question where he was until I saw a veryfamiliar, and unfunny, girl my age, next to Tristan. She reminded me of Miriam. The girl turned around. She was Miriam.
"Umm.." I say as I tap Alia and point at possibly-Trashworld Miriam.
"Miriam!" Alia whispered in a raspy voice. "Let's hope she doesn't notice."
"MIRIAM?" Harold screamed as he overheard us. "WHE-"
"Shh!" I shushed as I pointed to Trashworld Miriam.
Tristan came back, with guess who- Trashworld MIRIAM! Oh no.
"Remember Miriam?" Tristan asked, all excited.
We nodded our heads, still worried.
"Turns out, she's here too!" Tristan told us.
"Yay..." I lie.
"Hey guys!" TrashWorld Miriam says with a friendly smile, a little less smilier than our Miriam. "I have some new jokes for you!"
"Oh no-" Harold says quietly.
"Why do melons have weddings?" Miriam asked.
"Why?" we all groaned, except Tristan.
"They cantelope!" Miriam answered.
Surprisingly, Harold started to crack up. But--so was I! I don't know what it was, I heard this Miriam joke before, and it was an earbleed! But now, this joke makes Miriam seem like a professional comedian!
Alia wasn't making a sound, but I could tell she was trying to stifle a giggle.
As we were all still laughing over Miriam’s last joke, she suddenly had a spark of inspiration. “You guys! I have something totally awesome to tell you!”
“What is it this time?” Alia asked, probably hoping it would be another joke.
“I can actually tell you where the president's building is—T.R. Ash! You know, the one who runs the world!” Miriam exclaimed, her excitement bubbling over.
“Wait... You know where the president is?” Harold asked, his eyebrows shooting up in disbelief. “Where we can find him?”
“Of course! But here’s the thing,” she said, leaning in closer as if revealing a top-secret mission. “I can only find it through my best friend's brother's classmate's first cousin’s uncle’s coworker’s wife’s boss’s neighbor’s son!”
There was a tiny pause as we tried to interpret the confusion. Finally, I said, “Did you just pull that out of a hat?”
"Where can we find this 'brother's best friend's neighbor's...coworker's... Something!" Harold asked.
"You're looking at him right now!" Tristan said, gesturing to himself.
"You?" Alia asks.
"Why didn't you just say something!?" Harold beamed.
"What are we waiting for?" Tristan motioned forward. "Let's move!"
ns216.73.216.152da2
and then Add to home screen.