50 - Calling All Creeps! Read Online Free PDF Page A

what?” I demanded when I had told her every detail. I
laughed. “The paper comes out tomorrow,” I said. “Tasha won’t be sleeping much
tomorrow night. She’ll be getting calls all night from every kid in school!”
    I waited for Iris to laugh. But I heard only a long silence on her end of the
line.
    “Don’t you think it’s funny?” I asked finally.
    “Kind of,” she replied. “But I have a bad feeling about it, Ricky. A very bad
feeling.”
    “Iris, it’s just a joke,” I told her. “What could go wrong?”

 
 
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    When I arrived at school the next morning, guess who I saw first.
    You’re right. Tasha.
    She turned her nose up as if she smelled rotten fish. Then she hurried past
me without saying a word.
    I didn’t care. I thought about my little surprise for Tasha on the bottom of
the Herald’s front page. I knew it would keep me smiling all day.
    Believe me, I needed something to smile about.
    As I turned the corner to go to my locker, Josh and Greg, two kids from my
class, deliberately bumped into me. “Ricky, stop bumping into me,” Josh said.
    Greg bumped me again. Then he pushed me into Josh.
    “Hey—give me a break! I said stop bumping into me!” Josh cried.
    “Get a life,” I muttered. I dodged away from them.
    They walked off laughing, bumping each other from one side of the hall to the
other.
    Funny guys, huh? About as funny as a broken arm.
    I pulled open my locker and started unloading books from my backpack.
    “Hey, Ricky—want to wash my dad’s car?” a kid named Tony shouted from
across the hall.
    I had my head in my locker. I didn’t look around.
    I heard kids laughing at Tony’s hilarious joke.
    “Hey, Ricky—want to wash something?” Tony called. “Wash your face!”
    What a joker.
    Everyone laughed again.
    I slammed my locker door and walked past them without saying a word. This is
all Tasha’s fault, I told myself. But I’m going to have the last laugh tonight.
    I turned the corner and headed to class. I saw Brenda and Wart at the water
fountain against the wall. I tried to run past them. But I wasn’t fast enough.
    Brenda pressed her hand over the fountain—and shot a spray of cold water
onto the front of my shirt.
    “Have a squirt—Squirt!” Wart called.
    Big laughter, up and down the hall.
    “My dad is suing you for wrecking his car!”
    Wart called. “He’s suing your family for every penny they’ve got!”
    “Tell him to get in line,” I muttered under my breath.
    “Ricky Rat! Ricky Rat!” someone chanted.
    Welcome to “Pick on Ricky Day” at Harding Middle School.
    Unfortunately, every day is “Pick on Ricky Day.”
    But today I didn’t care. Today I knew I’d end up a winner.
    Today the joke was on Tasha. The student newspaper would be handed out this
afternoon. And Tasha would be up all night, answering phone calls.
    Sweet, sweet revenge was mine.
     
    That night I had to go out for dinner with my parents and my cousins who live
across town. Mom and Dad didn’t bring me home until nine thirty, and I had about
two hours of homework to do.
    So I didn’t tuck myself into bed until nearly twelve—very late for a school
night.
    I just started to drift off to sleep when the phone beside my bed rang.
    I squinted at my clock radio—two minutes until twelve.
    “Now who would call this late?” I asked myself.

 
 
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    I fumbled for the phone in the dark. Knocked it off the bed table. It
clattered loudly onto the floor.
    I dove out of bed and grabbed the receiver. Then I hunched on my knees,
listening for Mom and Dad. Did they hear the phone ring? I’m not allowed to get
calls after ten o’clock.
    I cleared my throat and raised the phone to my ear. “Hello?”
    “Ricky—it’s me. Iris.”
    I glanced at my clock radio again. “Iris? It’s midnight. How come you’re
calling so late?” I asked. “Are you okay?”
    “My father was on the phone practically the whole night. Ricky—did you see
the school