Who Let the Ghosts Out? by R.L. Stine Read Free Book Online Page B

kids started to laugh.
    “What's wrong, Max? Do you have a cramp?” Ms. McDonald asked.
    Nicky wrapped his hand around mine. “Let me help you, Max. I'm an ace at this.” He forced me to write a string of numbers on the board.
    “Stop! Don't help me!” I cried.
    “I won't help you,” Ms. McDonald said. “I know you never need help, Max.”
    “Let go of me,” I whispered to Nicky. But he gripped my hand and wrote out more letters and numbers.
    “Am I getting it right?” he asked Tara.
    “How should I know?” Tara answered. “I'm only in fourth grade. I never had algebra.”
    “Go away,” I whispered. My hand was writing out of control. Nicky wouldn't stop—and he was getting it totally wrong!
    I turned and saw Mrs. Wright, the principal,enter the room. She and Ms. McDonald began talking at the side of the chalkboard.
    “Do you know how to do this?” Nicky asked Tara.
    Tara tugged at her floppy red hat with both hands. “No way.”
    “I think I messed up,” Nicky said. He moved my hand and forced me to erase half the equation.
    Kids were mumbling to themselves in shock. They knew I'd never messed up an equation in my life.
    “Now what?” Nicky said to Tara.
    “Why are you asking
me
?” Tara snapped.
    I couldn't take it anymore.
“Shut up!”
I screamed.
“Both of you—shut up!”
    Ms. McDonald and Mrs. Wright both gasped.
    “Max—I am shocked at you. That's no way to talk to the principal and me!” Ms. McDonald exclaimed.
    Mrs. Wright glared at me angrily. “Max, you and I need to have a long talk about politeness. I'll see you right now. In my office.”

14
    M RS. W RIGHT AND I had a
very
long talk about politeness. Only, she did all the talking. I didn't get out of her office until lunchtime.
    Kids were laughing and shouting in the halls. Lockers slammed. The line was already a mile long in the lunchroom. I looked for Aaron, but I couldn't find him.
    “Hey, Max—shut up!” a kid from my class named Wilson Grant shouted across the hall at me. A bunch of kids laughed.
    “Yeah, shut up, Brainimon!” another kid echoed. They all laughed again.
    So, I was the joke of the day. The Shut Up Kid. Ha, ha. Remind me to laugh someday.
    I picked up a tray in the lunchroom and chose a bowl of the tomato soup and a slice of pizza, and a carton of chocolate milk. I was paying for my lunch when Nicky and Tara appeared.
    “Sorry about this morning,” Nicky said. “I thought I knew how to do that equation.” Hescratched his spikey brown hair. “Maybe I knew it when I was alive.”
    “Go away,” I said, looking for an empty chair. “You got me into major trouble. Let me eat my lunch—alone.”
    “There's your girlfriend,” Tara said. She pointed to Traci, seated at the cool kids' table on the side.
    “She's not my girlfriend,” I said. “Please—go away.”
    “Go talk to her,” Tara said. “There's an empty seat across from her.”
    “I can't sit there. That's the cool kids' table,” I said.
    Some kids turned to stare at me. I'm sure they wondered why I was standing in the middle of the lunchroom talking to myself.
    “You know you want to talk to Traci,” Nicky said. “Come on. You've got to be brave, Max—if you're ever going to help us find our mom and dad.”
    “Let go of me!” I shouted.
    More kids turned to stare.
    Nicky and Tara grabbed me under the arms and moved me toward Traci's table. I gripped the tray tightly in both hands. I tried to pull free.
    Despite my struggle to get loose, the two ghosts carried me all the way to Traci. They let go without warning. I lost my balance and tumbled forward.The tray flew from my hands—and sailed upside down onto Traci.
    Traci's hands flew up and she let out a scream as the tomato soup poured down the front of her T-shirt and vest. The pizza slice landed in her lap.
    Kids gasped. The other kids at Traci's table leaped away.
    I stared at her as she pulled the pizza off her legs. Long strands of cheese stuck to her jeans.
    My whole