Defeating Covid-19 Together, a story by Emily Gu, 9

       Purell had always wanted to get this much attention. Before he became the most popular kid in school, he was an unused loner sitting on the counter. Even worse, sometimes he was desperately waiting to be

rescued from the dark locker where the big “bully” tossed him away. Even though he was over 99.99% awesome at wiping out germs and disease, the students ignored him. They excluded him because they thought they were tougher than the germs. Therefore, they washed their hands so casually that they only rinsed it a bit. The teacher always tried to make Purell’s classmates give attention to him, but they just wouldn't listen and kept teasing him about how he was a poor substitute for Washing Hands. Just because Washing Hands had warm water and bubbly soap didn’t mean Purell was useless; he just wasn’t appreciated. Suddenly, thanks to our enemy, Covid-19, Purell became a quick and easy star! Now Purell’s classmates are always fighting for him. On the other hand, Washing Hands couldn't believe this was happening. He couldn’t ever had imagined being traded for the “used to be,” stupid Purell. But there he was sitting in the smelly bathroom waiting for someone to use him. Washing Hands had dropped down to the last person on the list.

        Now, whenever Purell’s classmates saw him, they would grab a hold of him and take him away to a secret place as if they were stealing him so they could use Purell for themselves. At the end of the day when the school bell rings, the custodian finds Purell either in the cabinet, in the bathroom, or even in the janitor's closet! As the days went on Purell got more and more popular. One day, a classmate brought him to the bathroom. He was sitting on the floor when he looked up and saw Washing Hands. Uh oh, he thought.Washing Hands was sitting near the sink offering soap looking very lonely and sad. Purell realized that there was no harm intended this time. Washing Hands was really sad, so Purell walked up to him and said, “Hello Washing Hands. Is everything ok?” Washing Hands didn't reply; he just shuffled away to a corner as his stomach grumbled. Purell sat down beside him and took out his lunchbox. “Want some of my sandwich? You look quite hungry,” he asked as he offered him half of his sandwich. Washing Hands took it. “Yes, thank you” he said shyly. “You are very welcome!” Purell replied with a smile. Before starting to eat, they traded anti-germ strategies. They each took a bite. Then another and another until their mouths were full of peanut butter and jelly. They grinned from ear to ear with messy hands and became best friends ever since. Now, whenever classmates came to clean their hands, they used both Purell and Washing Hands working together to keep their classmates from getting Covid, and the evil virus was finally defeated.