“Stop messing about,” Starr’s mum said, “the bus is coming, we will miss it.”
They got there as the number 23 arrived. Starr sat next to an old man, with her mum behind.
The bus was silent. Nobody used it because they thought strange things happened, but Starr didn’t believe in fairytales.
The old man said, “Look under your seat, there’s a shiny blue button only children can see.”
Starr looked and saw it. “Press it,” he said, and she did.
A tiny hole appeared and got bigger. Suddenly Starr was sucked in.
There were flashes of colour and she landed on rainbow flowers at another bus station.
There was popping candy falling from the roof and unicorns decorating the timetable.
Then a creature with a lion’s head and a panda body came past shouting “the bus is coming” and disappeared.
A 400 decker bus arrived. “Get on,” said a mysterious voice.
Starr got on. It was full of children. “Next stop is the roof of Elland Road,” the voice said, “Welcome to the Leeds 400 bus, the magic bus that stops 400 times, for your safety, please do not wear your seatbelts.”
There was a loud pop and Starr was on a roof with Elland Road underneath her. “Pinch me,” Starr said. A tall girl pinched her. “Ok we aren’t dreaming…that hurt,” said Starr.
Starr got back on and saw 399 more stops on the timetable. The tall girl said, “Hi I’m Ava, let’s go upstairs, we don’t want to miss the next stop.”
“Stop 100,” the voice said. “This is Roundhay Park lake,” Ava said. “Drink this potion so you can breathe underwater.”
For the next hour, Starr travelled around Leeds, going on adventures at each stop.
“Stop 400,” said the voice. Starr was tired but didn’t want it to end. This stop was the stage of Leeds Arena. This was where you get picked for another adventure, and you get to choose it.
As the girls went on stage, the voice said “Ava and Starr.” “Hooray,” the girls cheered. “We won!”
“Where would you like to go?” the voice said. “The Showcase Cinema!” the girls yelled.
Suddenly they were in a huge cinema watching movies with bags of popcorn. “This has been the best day of my life,” said Starr. “How are we going to get home?”
“Have you never heard of the teleportation bus?” laughed Ava.
