"I used my button, too," said Greta. "My mistake was the opposite. I was too mean to my platoon. Nicola told me I should encourage them and that sort of . . . irritated me. So I did the opposite. Next thing, all the writers and poets had walked off in a huff and convinced all the other Whimsians to pull out of the battle. It was terrible!" She paused. "Although I still think they were big crybabies and we shouldn't have had to coddle them like that."
"Aha!" Nicola pointed at Greta. "I knew it was strange when you were so nice to me!"
Greta narrowed her eyes at Nicola. "Wait a minute. What about that time
you hugged me outside the food hall. That was so weird! I bet you'd come back in time to fix a mistake, right?"
Nicola admitted she was right and told them what had happened.
"Wow," said Shimlara."And all along I thought my mistake must have been the worst. You made some doozies! All I did was drive the school bus off the crater of a volcano."
"You didn't!" said Tyler. "When?"
"It was when we came back to Volcomania after we'd won the battle," said Shimlara. "I was in such a good mood, showing off, driving too fast, and next thing you know, we were sailing through the air into a live volcano. You were all screaming, 'Unbutton your mistake!' So I did, just before we hit the lava."
"I'm glad I have no memory of that," said Katie. "That must have been terrifying."
Nicola looked at Sean and saw that his button was missing from around his neck, too.
"Ha! You messed up, too! Confess!"
Sean looked embarrassed.
"I used it about thirty seconds ago," he said.
"What? You made a mistake while we were swimming in the pool?" said Greta.
"It was when I was on the diving board," admitted Sean. "Katie said, 'Be careful' so I did an extra big bounce. The diving board is made for Globagaskarians and it's extra bouncy. I hit the spaceship roof headfirst and when I landed I hit my chin against the side of the pool. I think I broke my arm and my mouth was full of broken teeth and blood. It was the worst pain I'd ever experienced. So, yeah, I was pretty happy to unbutton that mistake."
"You idiot," said Greta.
"That's what you said the first time," said Sean.
"So Tyler is the only one who hasn't made a mistake," said Nicola.
"I guess I'm just perfect," said Tyler.
"I wish we had an endless supply of those gold buttons," sighed Katie.
"Don't worry," said Tyler. "If you make another mistake, you can use mine."
"What are you all talking about so seriously?" Princess Petronella had paddled her inflatable throne over to join them.
"Mistakes," said Shimlara.
"I don't know anything about mistakes," said the princess. "What's it like to make one?"
"Didn't you make a mistake ordering Earth to be destroyed?" said Nicola.
"Nope," said the princess. "Because otherwise I would never have collected so many dear friends!"
"Oh, that's sweet," said Katie.
"Except we're not stamps," said Greta.
A message came over the spaceship loudspeaker."Attention, all passengers. Our estimated time of arrival on Earth is approximately twenty minutes."
"I wonder how much time will have passed on Earth," said Nicola as they all climbed out of the pool and dried themselves. "Hopefully only a few minutes, so no one will have missed us."