The Ooze by R.L. Stine Read Free Book Online Page B

one wrong answer after another in the Science Bowl.
    * * *
    Alix and Colin were waiting for me on the school steps. “You ready for the big day, Al?” Alix asked.
    â€œI studied for it,” I said. That was true. And it was better than telling Alix she now had an idiot for a Science Bowl partner.
    â€œI’m betting on both of you!” Colin told us as we headed toward Miss Scott’s class.
    Eric was already there when we walked through the door. And he did not look happy.
    I carefully slid my backpack under my seat and pretended not to notice him.
    â€œI flunked the math homework,” Eric told me. “You know what that means?”
    I shrugged.
    He poked me in the back. “That means I had to stay after school again. And you know what that means?”
    I shook my head. Why was he asking me so many questions?
    He poked me in the back again. “That means I had to miss baseball practice again. No one makes me miss practice and gets away with it, Sterner! No one.” Poke. Poke. Poke.
    â€œI couldn’t figure out the problems, okay?” I blurted out. “I’m not smart enough.”
    â€œOh, yeah. Right,” Eric shot back. “I’m going to get you, Brains. You can count on it. . . . ”
    Wrong, Eric, I thought. I don’t know how to count anymore.
    Eric would have gone on and on, but Miss Scottentered the room. She paused by my desk. “Are you feeling better today, Al?”
    Huh? Why was she asking me that? She didn’t know about the ooze. Did she?
    â€œYou left school early yesterday,” she reminded me when I didn’t answer. “I hope you’re feeling well enough for the Science Bowl this afternoon.”
    Oh, yeah, I thought. I did leave early yesterday. “I’m okay,” I mumbled.
    Miss Scott continued up to her desk. “You aren’t going to be okay when the lunch bell rings,” Eric whispered. “When I catch up with you, you are going to be very dead meat.”
    I didn’t bother trying to follow Miss Scott’s social studies lesson. Or the grammar lesson after that. I just kept my eyes focused on the top of my desk and hoped she wouldn’t call on me.
    Eric never let me forget for a second that he was going to get me. He dropped his pencil next to my desk and muttered “meat” when he bent down to pick it up. He threw a tiny note over my shoulder that said “ very dead meat.”
    The morning crawled by. But finally it was almost lunchtime.
    At least I thought it was. The big hand and the little hand of the clock were both straight up.
    â€œWho can tell me what the direct object is in this sentence?” Miss Scott pointed to the chalkboard.
    Don’t look at her. Don’t move a muscle, I told myself.
    â€œAl?” Miss Scott called.
    â€œAl?” Miss Scott said again. “The direct object?”
    Eric snickered.
    I felt my hands start to sweat. My throat tightened up.
    Then the intercom crackled. “Will the contestants in this afternoon’s Science Bowl please meet in the library,” the school secretary said over the speaker. “Mr. Emerson would like to have a brief meeting with you before lunch.”
    Saved! At least for now. I grabbed my backpack and hurried out of the room with Alix and Toad.
    The other Science Bowl kids—Melanie, Tanya, and Geoff—met us in the hall.
    Mr. Emerson kept us in the library for only a few minutes. He went over the rules of the Science Bowl and told us we were all winners just for competing.
    Tell that to my parents, I thought. Or Michelle.
    The six of us trooped down to the cafeteria together. “Let’s sit at the same table,” Alix suggested. We didn’t usually eat with each other, but today everyone seemed to feel like it.
    I know I did. Even Eric wouldn’t try to drag me away from five other kids. At least I hoped he wouldn’t.
    â€œI’m too nervous to