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she wouldn’t be at school for the next two days.
    She was calling her best friend, Zoe, as her mum was glaring into the fridge.
    ‘I can’t believe I did a full shop this morning. Look! The fridge is absolutely packed, and we won’t be here to eat it.’
    ‘Yeah, annoying,’ Iris said, only halflistening to her mum as she waited for someone at Zoe’s to pick up the phone. Iris knew her mum hated wasting food, but a holiday was surely worth a mouldy loaf of bread, wasn’t it?
    Zoe finally answered. ‘Hello,’ she puffed, as if she’d been running for miles. ‘Zoe speaking.’
    ‘Hello, Zoe speaking!’ teased Iris. ‘I was about to hang up. Guess what?’
    Iris quickly told Zoe the news, and Zoe said excitedly that Iris would totally love the hotel bathroom. Zoe had stayed in hotels before and always brought back the tiny soaps and mini shampoo bottles that hotels put out for guests to use.
    Iris glanced at the clock on the microwave. ‘Better go, Zo,’ she said. ‘I’ve still got to pack and I haven’t called Isabelle yet.’

    The more Iris thought about it, the more there was for her to do. She’d have to clean out the fish tank in her room or it would be really gross by the time she got back. She also wanted to tidy up her room a bit, so it would be nice to come home to. And she had to phone Mia and Siri to say she wouldn’t be around after all for the sleep-over they had planned for the school holidays …
    Boy, going on a holiday is a lot of work , she thought, pulling her favourite bag out from under her bed so she could start packing.
    But the hard work didn’t seem like a big deal at all when she thought about flying on a plane and staying in a hotel, and then about the great time ahead with her nan and pa. She felt so happy and excited about the holiday, she couldn’t imagine grumbling about a bit of tidying up ever again.
    A plane! Iris kept whispering to herself in amazement. How cool!

    The next morning Iris woke up so early that it was still grey outside. She felt incredibly happy and bubbly, but for a second she couldn’t remember why. Then it hit her.
    It’s today! Iris smiled to herself. We’re going on holiday, and I didn’t dream it because there’s my bag – all packed and ready.
    She bounced out of bed and pulled on the outfit she had laid out ready the night before. Then she practically skipped down the hallway.
    She could already tell it was going to be the most perfect day. She would be doing about a hundred things she’d never done before, starting with getting a taxi to the airport. And she still had ten dollars in her back pocket, left over from her birthday and ready to use for holiday shopping. Excellent!
    ‘Iris!’ her mum called. ‘Can you please wake Kick up? He needs breakfast before we go.’
    Iris caught a whiff of the bacon and mushrooms her dad was frying up in the kitchen, and her mouth watered as she ran to get her brother. Things kept getting better and better!

After a massive breakfast, where their parents tried to get Iris and Kick to eat practically everything in the fridge, Iris took a box of vegies and the leftover bread and milk next door to Mr Calder. She got back just in time to check that her bag was zipped up properly before the taxi came.
    It felt like a dream to be winding her way through the city to the airport at exactly the time Iris and Kick would normally be catching the bus to school. And it was so cool to be having her bags weighed at the airport check-in desk at exactly the same time that she would normally be lining up in the playground for roll call.

    At the check-in desk, Iris watched her luggage roll along a conveyer belt and then disappear through a wobbly black rubber curtain.
    Then her dad led them through the security check. That meant any luggage they wanted to carry onto the plane with them had to be put through a big X-ray machine, while they had to walk under a special scanner that beeped if they had anything metal in