leaving a nest.
My nest was empty. My mind was a total blank.
I stood there in panic. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak.
I woke up in a cold sweat. My entire body trembled. My muscles had all knotted up. I had kicked all the covers onto the floor.
What a horrible dream.
I couldn’t wait to get dressed and get to school. I wanted to forget about that awful nightmare as quickly as I could.
I had to walk Jeremy to school. So I didn’t get there as early as I wanted.
Jeremy kept asking me about the play. He wanted to hear more about the Phantom. But I really didn’t feel like talking about it. I kept remembering my dream, remembering the panic of standing in front of three hundred people and looking like a total jerk.
I dropped Jeremy off, then hurried across the street. I found Zeke waiting for me by the front door. He was staring impatiently at his watch.
I don’t know why. It doesn’t have the correct time on it. It’s one of those digital watches with seventeen different controls on it. Zeke can’t figure out how to set it. He can play games on it — and play a dozen different songs. But he can’t get it to tell the time.
“Sorry I’m late,” I said.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me right into the classroom. He wouldn’t even let me get my books from my locker or take off my coat.
We marched up to Ms. Walker, who was sitting behind her desk, glancing over the morning announcements. She smiled at us, but her smile faded as she saw the solemn looks on our faces.
“Is something wrong?” Ms. Walker asked.
“Could we speak to you?” Zeke whispered, glancing at the kids already in class. “In private?”
Ms. Walker gazed up at the wall clock. “Can’t it wait? The bell is going to ring in two minutes.”
“It will only take a minute,” Zeke promised.
She followed us out into the hall and leaned her back against the tile wall. “What’s the problem?”
“There’s a phantom in the school,” Zeke told her breathlessly. “A real one. Brooke and I have seen him.”
“Whoa!” Ms. Walker murmured, raising both hands to say
stop.
“No! Really!” I insisted. “We
did
see him, Ms. Walker. In the auditorium. We sneaked in. To use the trapdoor, and —”
“You did
what?”
she cried, narrowing her eyes first at me, then at Zeke.
“I know, I know,” Zeke said, blushing. “We weren’t supposed to. But that’s not the point.”
“There’s a phantom,” I said. “And he’s trying to stop the play.”
“I know you think I’ve been doing all those things,” Zeke added. “But I haven’t. It’s the Phantom. He —”
Ms. Walker raised her hands again. She started to say something, but the bell rang — right over our heads.
We raised our hands to protect our ears.
When the bell finally stopped clanging, Ms. Walker took a few steps toward the classroom door. It was really noisy inside. The kids were all taking advantage of her not being in there.
“I’m sorry I upset you with that story,” she told us.
“Huh?” Zeke and I both cried out.
“I never should have told that old phantom story,” Ms. Walker said fretfully. “It got a lot of kids upset. I apologize for scaring you.”
“But you didn’t!” Zeke protested. “We saw a guy, and —”
“Have you been having nightmares about a phantom?” Ms. Walker demanded.
She didn’t believe us. She didn’t believe a word we had said.
“Listen —” I started.
All three of us jumped when we heard a loud crash inside the room. A crash followed by wild laughter.
“Let’s get inside,” Ms. Walker said. She pointed at Zeke. “No more practical jokes — okay? Nomore jokes. We want the play to be good, don’t we?”
Before we could answer, she turned and hurried into the room.
“What am I doing here?” Brian moaned. He shivered and stared up at the dark trees. “Why am I doing this?”
“You came with us because you’re a nice guy,” I told him, patting the shoulder of his sweater.
“No. Because
Ditter Kellen and Dawn Montgomery
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