Chapter 19

What the heck is that?” I yell to Spotch over the noise.

“Fire drill,” he says. Fire drill? Awesome! It looks like my secret is safe, at least for another hour. “Or maybe an actual fire,” he adds. “Who knows?”

A real fire? That could be bad. I could be seriously hurt. I could even die. We all could. But to be honest, the whole secret-being-safe thing has me pretty pumped right now.

“Okay,” Professor Plutz shouts to the class. “You know the drill. Exit the classroom calmly and in single file, and head straight to your lockers. And keep your hands to yourselves. I’m looking at you, Marvin!”

I’ve never been through a fire drill in space before, so I stick close to Spotch as we head to our lockers. Once we get there, we put on our helmets, and Spotch attaches a cable hanging from his locker to his belt.

“What the heck is this thing for?”

“Attach it to your belt, so when they open the air lock, you’re not sucked out into space.”

“Oh.”

“If there’s a real fire, they’ll open the nearest air lock and suck out all the oxygen until the fire goes out. That’s why we have to wear our helmets and strap in.”

“Do you think this is a real fire?”

“If it is, we’re going to need a new principal.”

Spotch points behind me. A helmetless Principal Ort is slithering down the hallway toward us.

“You were all too slow getting secured to your lockers. TOO slow! DANGEROUSLY slow! I-OBVIOUSLY-DON’T-CARE-IF-I-GET-SUCKED-OUT-INTO-SPACE-OR-BURNED-TO-A-CRISP slow! If this were an actual fire, there is no telling how many of you would be floating around outside the school right now. We need to improve on this.

“Also, this was most definitely NOT a scheduled fire drill. Someone pulled the alarm. And when I find out who the culprit is, he or she will be in big trouble. BIG trouble! MAJOR trouble! YOU-DON’T-EVEN-WANT-TO-THINK-ABOUT-IT trouble!”

Ort slithers back down the corridor, leaving a trail of slime behind. So, no real fire. That’s a relief. Plus, we got to leave class before I had to answer that question, so at least I didn’t look like a doofus in front of everybody.

Until now, that is.