CHAPTER 5

DISLIKE OF COOTIES

When I got to my room, my closet door was opened a few inches and Beardy was smiling at me. I jumped toward him just as the door slammed shut. I tried as hard as I could to pry it open.

I knew it was useless to keep trying, but I couldn’t think of what else to do. Beardy never opened up unless he wanted to. Puck barked loudly at the door as if it would help.

Libby came into my room and politely told me to shut up. When I explained to her that it was Puck barking, not me, she said,

Libby sniffed a couple of times and left. Puck growled at the closet door a few more seconds and then rolled away to find something to eat. I picked up my piece of wood as Trevor popped up at my window.

Trevor opened the window and spilled into my room. He was going on about how the girl had gotten away, but he stopped talking when he noticed the block of wood I was holding.

Trevor was really excited. He had always wanted to be in a band. His uncle had just sent him a guiro, which was a Spanish instrument made from a dried vegetable gourd that you rubbed with a stick. Trevor was always itching to play it.

So far nobody had taken Trevor up on his offer. He begged me to ask Principal Smelt if he could play at the funstival with us. When I told him we had more important things to talk about, he looked hurt.

Trevor wouldn’t drop it. He made me call Principal Smelt and ask if he could play in the band with us at the funstival. He wouldn’t answer my questions about the girl unless I did. So I called Principal Smelt. Not surprisingly, our principal was okay with it.

As soon as I hung up I asked Trevor about the girl that had stalked us. He got his comb out of his pocket and began to comb his hair again.

Trevor started to argue with me about how his mother thought he was handsome and how any girl would be lucky to be friends with him. I begged him to stop.

Trevor told me that she had run past the island and slipped into the alley behind Aaron’s house. He said she was a fast runner and that she didn’t look very mixed-up like the other creatures who had come out of my closet in the past.

I paced my bedroom trying to think of what to do. One piece of me wanted to go after her. Another piece was a little scared that a girl had come from my closet. Another was trying to figure out who she was, and another piece just wanted to jump into my bed and pretend my life was as normal as it used to be.

It was one thing for Wonk and Hairy and Pinocula to mess up my life, but it was something altogether different to have the visitor be a girl. Plus, she wasn’t little like the others. She was relatively normal sized and wouldn’t fit in my drawers or locker or backpack.

Trevor and I crawled out my window and walked to the rock island. I scanned the area, hoping she might have come back, but there was no sign of her. Jack, Aaron, and Teddy were on the island, beneath the palm trees, carving bars of soap with kitchen knives. Jack had seen someone carving soap in a movie, and now he spent a good part of his time trying to make things. The best thing he had ever carved was a bird’s nest with three eggs. His other attempts were awful.

Aaron was apparently bored with carving; he chucked his piece of soap at me and hit me in my knees. I picked it up and threw it back at him. Jack was suddenly the soap police.

Jack wanted us to sit down and carve our own creations, but first we needed to find the new guest. I told them all that we were looking for something, and they became very curious. I knew they’d find out sooner or later, so I decided to spill the beans. I told them about the girl who had followed us, and how I thought she must have come from my closet, and how we now had to find her.

They all jumped up and volunteered to help. When they asked what she looked like I finally said what I had been thinking since I first saw her.

I thought Aaron and Jack didn’t care for The Hunger Games, but they seemed pretty pumped up about Katniss.

For those of you who don’t know, The Hunger Games is all about a dark future where the world’s gone nuts and kids have to compete against each other for food. It’s a cool story, but it’s not always happy. Katniss is a strong, brave girl who volunteers to take her little sister’s place in the games. She does a bunch of amazing girl-power things, and she has mad bow and arrow skills. There are a couple of boys in the book that like her and a few grown-ups that don’t. In the end she … well … I don’t want to spoil the ending.

Trevor started to say something about how important it was to look for her before the trail grew cold, but he was stopped by Teddy who suddenly looked scared and was pointing to the top of the palm trees above us. I glanced up. But because of the sun I couldn’t see anything besides the shadow of the huge leaves.

I should have looked harder.