“Good night, Freddy.”

“Good night, Dad.”

“Good night, Freddy.”

“Good night, Mom.”

My mom felt my forehead. “Are you feeling all right?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

“Well, you didn’t eat your dessert tonight, and dessert is your favorite thing in the whole world. Instead, you gave your dessert to Suzie.”

“I … uh … I … uh … just didn’t feel like ice cream.”

“Wait a minute. You must be sick if you don’t feel like ice cream,” said my dad, laughing. “You would eat ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if we let you!”

“I was just too full from that awesome lasagna Mom made.”

“Well, all right,” said my dad.

“We’ll see how you’re feeling in the morning,” said my mom.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Sleep well. See you in the morning,” said my mom.

“Yep. See you in the morning.”

“Get a good night’s sleep,” said my dad.

“Oh, I will. Good night.”

Little did they know I was going to be up half the night!

I waited until my parents’ footsteps disappeared down the hall, and then I pulled my covers over my head and turned on my shark-head flashlight. I had to do something to keep myself awake. I had work to do once everyone went to sleep.

I sorted through my baseball cards for a while.

I read some of my favorite books.

I drew some pictures.

When the house seemed silent, I tiptoed over to my bedroom door and slowly opened it. I peeked out into the hallway. It looked like the coast was clear.

I pushed up my pajama sleeve to make sure that the rubber band I had put around my wrist was still there. It was.

Grabbing my flashlight, I crept out into the hall. I would have to wait to turn my flashlight on until I was downstairs or else the light might wake up my parents.

I walked very slowly to the top of the stairs and felt along the wall for the railing. I held on tight and made my way down, making sure to skip the step that creaks.

I tiptoed into the kitchen and turned on my flashlight, so I could see my way to the sink. Once I got there, I put the flashlight down on the counter and aimed it at the sprayer, so I could see what I was doing.

“This is going to be so funny!” I said to myself. “Mom is going to be so surprised!”

I took the rubber band off my wrist and wrapped it once around the button on the sprayer. Then I put the sprayer back in place.

I’d better wrap the rubber band around a few more times, I thought. I want to make sure it’s on there good and tight.

I grabbed the sprayer and wrapped the rubber band around a few more times. “There. That should work.”

I put the sprayer back. Wait, I thought. Kasey told me to make sure I did something with the sprayer. What was it? Oh yeah, she said to put the sprayer back facing up.

I turned the sprayer so the water would shoot right into my mom’s face, as soon as she turned on the water.

As long as I was down in the kitchen, I decided to have a little midnight snack. I had missed out on dessert since I had to give mine to Suzie because of our deal, so I would have some ice cream now. I didn’t want to put it in a bowl because my mom would see the dirty dish in the sink in the morning, so I grabbed a spoon and ate it right out of the container. It was delicious! My dad was right. I could eat this stuff for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I licked off my spoon and put it back in the silverware drawer. I grabbed my flashlight and tiptoed back to the stairs. I turned off my light and quietly went back upstairs, making sure once again to skip the creaky step.

“Now for secret mission number two,” I whispered to myself.

I first went back into my room to get the red washable marker I had hidden in my underwear drawer. I had to make sure I opened the drawer really slowly, so it wouldn’t make a sound.

I felt around with my hands in the dark and found the marker underneath a pile of underwear. I pulled it out and crept over to my door and back out into the hallway. The house was still silent.

I went into Suzie’s room. This mission would be a little trickier. I couldn’t use the flashlight because the light would wake up Suzie for sure, and I would be in so much trouble if she woke up while I was writing on her face!

I got down on my hands and knees and crawled over to her bed. Suzie was sleeping on her side.

I stood up quietly and leaned over the bed. I was about to start drawing on her face when Suzie snorted and rolled over. I thought she was going to wake up, so I ducked underneath her bed and held my breath.

I waited under the bed for a minute, but she didn’t wake up. She just started snoring really loudly. I had to cover my mouth so I wouldn’t laugh out loud!

I crawled out from underneath the bed. It’s now or never, I thought to myself.

I bent down and started making red dots all over her face as quickly as I could. Luckily, Suzie sleeps with a night-light, so I could kind of see what I was doing.

As soon as I finished the last dot, I crawled back out of her room, dashed into my room, and threw the pen back into my underwear drawer. Then I jumped into bed.

Phew! Mission accomplished, I thought to myself. Tomorrow is going to be so great! I don’t even need an alarm clock. I will wake up to the screams of my mom and sister.

I pulled up my covers and smiled to myself. But the best part will be watching Max Sellars, the biggest bully in the whole second grade, eat an Oreo full of toothpaste!