Every morning, Melissa packed her lunch box. Every afternoon, she cleaned out her lunch box and put it away.

But one day Melissa didn't eat her banana at lunch. When she got home, the banana was covered with brown spots and was very soft. Melissa thought it must be a magical banana to change like that. Melissa loved magic and was always very curious. "I'll leave it in there," she said, "and see what happens."

The next morning, Melissa's mother gave her another banana for lunch. Melissa didn't want to tell her mother about the experiment, so she just slipped the banana into her lunch box and hurried to the bus stop.

At lunch Melissa was surprised to see both bananas were brown and very, very soft. "I'll leave them in my lunch box and see what happens," she said. She grabbed her lunch box and closed the lid.

The next morning, her mother gave her another banana. When Melissa added this one to her collection, she noticed the others were almost black. "Amazing!" she muttered. But on the bus Melissa began to worry. What would they do next? Would they change colors again? Would they come to life? Melissa decided to ask her teacher.

That day, Mr Rex was talking about food and colors. He said that apples were red, kiwis were green, mangoes were orange, and bananas were yellow!

"Are they ever brown or black?" Melissa asked.

"Yes, if they're bad," Mr. Rex answered.

"Bad?" Melissa repeated.

"Yes. Bad. You know, rotten," said Mr. Rex.

"Yikes," Melissa said. To herself she thought, What have I done? That day she didn't even open her lunch box. She didn't even take it to the cafeteria. She just left those bad bananas all alone in the classroom.

After lunch, Mr. Rex said, "Something rotten is going on in here."

Oh, no, Melissa thought, the bananas!

"During lunch," Mr. Rex continued, "someone snuck in here and spilled yellow paint on my desk."

Melissa gasped. Maybe the bananas tried to paint themselves yellow, she thought.

"Someone erased the homework assignment on the board," Mr. Rex said.

Bananas hate homework! Melissa thought.

"Someone broke all the pencils in the pencil jar," Mr. Rex said.

Melissa slumped in her chair. Her face turned red. She knew the bad banans were up to no good.

"And," the teacher said, "there is something very sticky on my chair."

Oh, no, Melissa thought, the secret trail of bad bananas.

For the rest of the day, Melissa didn't hear anything the teacher said. She just stared at her desk and hoped the bad bananas wouldn't cause any more trouble. When the bell rand, she rushed out of the classroom.

"Don't forget your lunch box," Mr. Rext said.

Melissa reluctantly took the lunch box, wondering if the bananas were still inside. I hope they don't do anything bad on the bus, she thought.

Melissa was so hungry when she got home she hurried to the kitchen and made herself a big sandwich. Her mother asked, "Why are you so hungry? Didn't you eat your lunch?"

She started to open the lunch box.

"Stop!" Melissa cried, but it was too late.

Her mother looked into the lunch box and paused.

"Melissa, these bananas are very bad," she said.

"Yes, Mother. I know. But what can I do?" Melissa said.

"Be brave, Melissa," her mother said. "Take them out, peel them, and mash them with a fork."

Melissa stared at her mother.

"Now. Before they make an even bigger mess," her mother said.

Does she know what these bananas did at school? Melissa wondered.

"Now," her mother repeated.

So Melissa carefully picked up the bad bananas one by one, peeled them and mashed them with a fork. Melissa was surprised that the bad bananas didn't fight back. Then she mixed them with flour, sugar, eggs, oil, baking powder, and salt. Then she added a touch of cinnamon. Then she and her mother baked the bananas in the oven until they turned into moist, heavy, sweet, and delicious banana bread.

As she ate a slice, Melissa said, "They were bad bananas, but they sure made good bread!"