"Today we're going to turn our old crayons into rainbow candles," Miss Shelly said.
She held up a colorful, striped candle.
Nina looked into her bag of old, broken crayons.
She wasn't sure she wanted her purple crayons in a rainbow candle.
"First let's see what colors we have," said Miss Shelly.
The kids emptied their bags of crayons onto the table.
"We've got red, orange, yellow, blue, green, and . . . lots of purple from Nina!" Miss Shelly said.
"Perfect for rainbow candles."
Nina raised her hand.
"Miss Shelly, can I make a purple candle?
I don't want a rainbow candle."
Miss Shelly paused.
"Well, we're all going to share crayons.
If you only want purple, it may be a short candle.
Is that okay?"
Nina nodded. "Uh-huh. As long as it's purple."
"Okay. First we need to peel the paper off the crayons," Miss Shelly said.
"We don't want the paper in our candles."
When the kids were done, Miss Shelly lit the hot plate.
"Now we'll melt the crayons, one color at a time.
We'll melt them in this top pot," she said.
"Red crayons please."
The kids dropped handfuls of red crayons into the pot.
"Ooh, they're melting!" Jason said.
"Be careful. The pot is very hot!" Miss Shelly warned.
"Now we pour the wax into your glass jars.
Carefully hold the wick in the center of your jar like this.
I'll pour the wax.
Do not let go of your wick!" Miss Shelly said.
She poured a layer of red wax into the bottom of Izzie's jar, Jason's jar, and then Bobby's jar.
She did the same for orange, yellow, green, and blue wax.
Nina just watched.
Her jar was empty.
"Here we go. The last layer," Miss Shelly said.
Nina jumped up and held out her jar.
Finally they were ready for purple!
Miss Shelly poured everyone some purple wax.
"Miss Shelly, my candle doesn't reach the top of my jar," Nina said, frowning.
"Nina, I warned you about that," Miss Shelly said.
"I know. But I didn't think it was going to look like this!" Nina said.
She looked sadly at her short candle with its long, droopy wick.
"I've still got some red crayons," Bobby said.
"And Jason has blue crayons.
Red and blue make purple.
We can make more purple wax."
Bobby looked at Miss Shelly.
Nina smiled at Bobby.
"Thanks," she said.
Sometimes he was nice.
They melted the red and blue crayons together in the pot.
"I think that will do.
Don't you?" Miss Shelly asked Nina.
Nina's candle wasn't as tall as the rainbow candles.
But now it almost reached the top of her jar.
"Yeah. It's better," she said.
Later Miss Shelly trimmed everyone's wicks.
Then she lit the candles and turned off the lights.
Everyone's candles flickered brightly in the dark.
"Our candles look awesome!" Jason said.
"Your rainbow candle is really pretty," Nina told Izzie.
"Thanks. Your purple one is too," Izzie said.
Nina looked at her Kids Central friends and teacher in the glowing lights.
She couldn't imagine school without them!
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