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Deep in the night, a sound woke Joy. BEEP ... Joy peeled her eyes open. She glanced around the darkened room. The other Emotions were asleep in their beds. She could hear their gentle snoring. Joy was about to go back to sleep when she heard it again. BEEP ... BEEP ...
Sadness leaned over from the top bunk.“What the heck is that?”she asked. Joy and Sadness roused the others. The sleepy Emotions crept downstairs. They followed the annoying sound to the control room. On the console, a dim red light flashed. It was the puberty alarm! BEEP ... The Emotions leaned in closer. BEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPP! The alarm turned into a wailing siren!
Anger’s head burst into flames, Fear screamed, and Sadness started to cry.
“Turn that off, Joy! What is happening?”Disgust snapped.
Joy tried to muffle the alarm with her hands, but it blared on. In a panic, she wrenched the alarm off the panel, stuffed it into the tube, and sent it soaring to the Back of the Mind.“Whew. Problem solved,”Joy said. The Emotions sighed with relief.
SMASH! A wrecking ball crashed through the window! The Emotions screamed. Through the gaping hole, they saw a construction platform lift a crew of Mind Workers in hard hats. They were all looking back.
“Okay, let’s clear it all out!”a foreman shouted.“It’s demo day!”With a cheer, the workers spilled into Headquarters through the smashed window.
“ DEMO? ”Joy exclaimed.“Wait, what’s happening?”
The Emotions watched in horror as the workers attacked the walls with sledgehammers and electric saws. They began to jackhammer the floor and tear apart every inch of Headquarters. Joy spotted a worker carrying a stack of papers.“Hey! Are you the one in charge here?”Joy asked, running over to him.“Could you do me a favor and stop tearing Headquarters apart?”
“No can do. Didn’t ya hear? Permits just came through.”The foreman dropped a stack of papers into Joy’s hands.
“Permits?”Joy exclaimed.“For what?”
“Expanding the place!”the foreman said.“You know, for the others.”
BOOM! A wall exploded, throwing dust in Joy’s face.“What others?”Joy spluttered.
The foreman rolled his eyes.“They’re not here yet? Ah, for Pete’s sake... Hey, Margie,”he called out to a worker.“You got that console?”
“Yeah, gimme a sec!”the worker called back. She had her hand inside the console and was stirring the wires around like a pot full of spaghetti. A second later, she slammed it shut.“All right, she’s all set!”
“Set with what?”Joy asked in alarm. Suddenly, all the lights in Headquarters came on. That meant one thing—Riley was awake!
A whistle sounded.“Lunch break!”the foreman called out. The workers dropped their tools and began to leave.
“Whoa! Wait! You can’t leave it like this!”Joy cried, rushing after them.
“Don’t worry. We’ll be back,”the foreman told her.
As quickly as they’d come, the workers were gone. The Emotions looked around in dismay. Headquarters was in chaos! How were they supposed to work in this mess?
Just then, they heard Dad’s voice.“Come on! We’re gonna be late! Grace is waiting.”
The Emotions rushed to the console. They saw Mom standing in the doorway of Riley’s bedroom. Mom looked at Riley’s duffel bag.“Riley, you aren’t packed yet?”she asked.
Anger touched a button on the console.
“UGH!”Riley shouted.“YOU’RE ALWAYS ON ME! CAN’T YOU JUST LAY OFF FOR, LIKE, ONE SECOND?”
Disgust raised an eyebrow at Anger.“Uh, overreact much?”she asked.
“I barely touched it!”Anger snapped back.“Those morons broke the console!”
On the screen, Mom’s forehead wrinkled.“Riley, what’s wrong?”she asked with concern.
“Oh, Mom looks sad,”Sadness said, stepping forward to drive.
The second Sadness touched the console, Riley burst into tears.“I’m the worst!”she wailed.
Sadness stepped back.“I barely touched it!”she said.
“That’s what I said!”Anger agreed.
Riley stopped crying mid sob. She sniffed her armpit.
Disgust stepped up to the console and cracked her knuckles.“Let the professional handle this,”she said. But as her finger grazed the console, Riley shouted,“I’M TOO GROSS TO GO TO CAMP OR ANYWHERE EVER AGAIN.”
Disgust removed her finger from the console.“Oh yeah, this is totally broken,”she said.
Mom carefully sat down on the bed, eyeing Riley like a bomb that might go off any second.“You are not gross, honey,”she told her.“You’re just changing. Remember that beautiful butterfly we saw in the park last week?”
In Headquarters, the Emotions huddled together, standing far away from the console. They reached toward the controls with a long stick.
“Well, that butterfly began as a caterpillar, and just like that caterpillar, you’re about to get your wings. Not literal wings,”Mom went on.“But if you have questions...”
“Easy... easy...”Joy murmured. The stick grazed a button.
“OH MY GOSH, MOM! JUST GO AWAY! UGH!”Riley exploded. She jumped out of bed, walked past her mother, and exited the room.
Mom looked defeated. The Emotions felt defeated. Nothing in Headquarters was working right. All they could do was wait until the Mind Workers came back and straightened out this mix-up. They just hoped that would be soon.