Once, in a sunny classroom with drawings taped to every wall, a teacher named Ms. Parker made an announcement that made four children groan.

"Matthew, Lucy, Hector, and Nina—you'll work together on the animal habitat project," she said with a cheerful smile.

Matthew crossed his arms. He liked doing things his own way. Lucy rolled her eyes—she thought the others were too silly. Hector slouched in his chair, feeling bored. Nina just wanted to work alone, hiding behind her notebook.

The next day, they gathered around a wobbly table in the corner. Their job was to build a pretend forest where animals could live. They had cardboard, paint, glue, and scissors—but nobody wanted to start.

"I'll be in charge," Matthew announced, grabbing the cardboard.

"No way," Lucy said, snatching it back. "You're being too bossy!"

Hector yawned. "This is going to take forever."

Nina said nothing. She just drew pictures in her notebook, wishing she could disappear.

They tried to work, but everything went wrong. Matthew cut the cardboard too fast—*snip-snap*—and it looked like a tiny, crooked shoebox instead of a forest. Lucy mixed all the paint colors together, and instead of pretty green trees, everything turned brown and muddy—*splat!* Hector accidentally knocked over the glue bottle—*splash*—and it dripped all over the floor.

Nina stayed quiet, drawing her animals while the others argued.

"This is terrible!" Matthew said, his face turning red. "It's a huge mess."

"You ruined it!" Lucy pointed at Hector.

"I didn't mean to," Hector mumbled, looking down at his shoes.