CHAPTER TWO

The First Fib

The bell rang as I rushed into the classroom, sweaty and out of breath. Miss Dullworth was too busy writing on the chalkboard to notice my tardiness. I sat down at my desk and waved to my two best friends, Sandro and Chloe.

“Today, we are talking about earthquakes,” the teacher began. “As you all know, Boulder City had one this morning—though we shouldn’t have. Boulder City isn’t anywhere near a fault line. That means something strange is going on. But in this town, I guess that’s normal.”

As Miss Dullworth droned on, I was dreading the part where she asked everyone to turn in their science reports. Was I lucky enough for her to forget? (Nope.)

Chloe knew something was wrong with me. It’s tough to hide my emotions from a super smarty-pants like her. “You still shaken up, Peter?” she asked.

“I know I am,” Sandro said. “Earthquakes are freaky. Where were you when the shaking began?” He snuck a pretzel out of his pocket and into his mouth. He loves snacking.

“I was in the middle of a breakfast meltdown,” I whispered. “My science report got burnt to a crisp because my brother is about as smart as a shoe. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“Total bummer, dude!” whispered Sandro. “But enough about you. Aren’t you going to ask me where I was during the earthquake?”

“Where were you?”

“I was on the toilet! Duh. I thought I was the one causing the earthquake. You should have heard the rumbles. My belly did not agree with last night’s Tex-Mex,” Sandro said. Chloe and I groaned. “What? You asked!”

“There’s damage all over town, and a big sinkhole opened up in the Chow Palace parking lot,” Chloe whispered. “After school, let’s take a look.”

“Heck yeah!” said Sandro. “Have you tried Chow Palace’s Lord of the Fries? They’re the best chili cheese fries in town. It’s like a tasty explosion in my mouth.”

“Enough chitchat, class. Bring your science reports to my desk!” shouted Miss Dullworth. She seemed to be having a rough day so far. Her hair was a mess and her shirt was on backward. Her attitude, however, was as positive as it always was.

Sandro sauntered up to Miss Dullworth. “My dog ate my homework,” he said. Chloe and I rolled our eyes at such a lame excuse. “I know how that sounds, but it’s true! I was eating beef jerky the whole time I wrote the report, and I guess it smelled like doggy treats, ’cause he chowed down on it.”

“Likely story, Mr. Santiago,” Miss Dullworth said. “You get a zero.”

“But I’m telling the truth!” Sandro said. As he turned toward me and Chloe, he shrugged. “My mom’s going to kill me. But don’t worry. One day Sandro the Hungry shall rise again.” Then he started doing all these weird karate-esque fighting moves. He spends too much time on the Internet.

Sandro told the truth and got a zero. What was I going to do? I couldn’t fail!

“Peter, are you okay?” Miss Dullworth asked as I stepped forward. “You’re sweating a lot.” I’m a nervous sweater. When I get nervous, I have to try not to start popping out ice cubes. I have a secret identity to maintain! Still, way embarrassing.

“Where’s your paper, Mr. Powers?”

“It’s… it’s…” I sputtered uncontrollably. “It’s… my grandpa Dale. He’s in the hospital. I didn’t get to finish my paper because my whole family was with him last night.…”

Oh no! Why did I just lie? I thought.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Peter. Would it help if you had some extra time to turn in your report?” Miss Dullworth asked. I nodded yes without a second thought.

“Take the time you need to get the work done,” Miss Dullworth said.

I suddenly felt so relieved. I had lied and nothing bad had happened. This was awesome!

Then Miss Dullworth added, “Just make sure you get a signed note from your parents.”

Uh-oh, I thought. Now I’ve done it. As I rushed back to my desk, my stomach began to growl. I think it was angry with me for lying.

“What did she say?” Chloe asked. “And why are you so sweaty? Did your ice powers turn wonky all of a sudden?”

“I just lied. Big time. I don’t even know why I did it,” I said. “I couldn’t stop myself!”

“Not a good choice, Peter,” Chloe said.

“I know,” I said, dropping my head on the desk. What was I going to do?

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw it… a LIZARD PERSON staring at me through the window. He darted across the schoolyard and disappeared into the woods before anyone else saw him.

Great, I thought to myself. I told one little lie, and now I’ve gone crazy.