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

He
yawned. “It is after midnight. Now who is calling so late?”
    “It’s some kind of a joke,” I told him. “You know. Kids from school.”
    He brushed his sandy hair off his forehead. “I don’t think it’s funny,” he
said.
    I lowered my head. “I know. But it isn’t my fault—”
    He raised a hand to silence me. “Tell your friends to stop,” he said. “I mean
it. If they keep calling so late, I’ll have to take your phone away.”
    “I’ll tell them,” I promised.
    I’d tell them to stop, I thought, if I knew who they were!
    Dad yawned again. He has the loudest yawn in the world. It sounds more like a
roar.
    When he finished yawning, he clicked off the light and disappeared back to
his room.
    As soon as he left, the phone rang again.
    “Please—” I started.
    “I’m a Creep,” a whispered voice told me. A girl this time. “I saw your
message. I’m ready. Ready to plant. Ready to rule. When will the Creeps meet?”
    “Huh? Meet?” I didn’t wait for an answer. I hung up the phone.
    Staring at the phone, I felt totally confused.
    Why am I getting all these calls? I wondered.
    Is there some kind of a mix-up?
    And why are the calls so strange? Why did that girl say she’s ready to plant?
Ready to rule?
    What is going on?
    The phone rang again…

 
 
14
     
     
    The next morning, I dragged myself to school. The phone hadn’t stopped
ringing until two in the morning. That’s when I took it off the hook. I spent
the rest of the night twisting and turning, thinking about all the weird calls.
    I didn’t fall asleep until seven. Which is the time my alarm goes off to wake
me up!
    At breakfast, my head nearly dropped into my corn flakes. I just wanted to go
back to bed. But Mom and Dad didn’t feel sorry for me at all.
    They were furious. The ringing phone had kept them awake too.
    “You tell those kids not to call again,” Mom warned. “Or else I’ll go in to
your school and tell them myself!”
    “No—please!” I begged. “I’ll tell them. I’ll tell them this morning! They
won’t call again. I promise!”
    Can you think of anything more embarrassing than having your mom come to school, barge into your classroom, and lecture
the kids in your class?
    They already make fun of me every day and call me “Sicky Ricky.” Can you imagine what they would call me if my mom came to school and yelled at them
all?
    Whoa!
    Just thinking about it gave me icy chills.
    It took all my strength to pull myself to school and slump through the
crowded hall to my locker.
    “There you are!” Iris cried.
    I saw her waiting across from my locker. She wore a loose plaid shirt over
navy blue corduroy pants. Her long plastic earrings jangled softly.
    She had been leaning against the tile wall. Now she pushed through a group of
girls to get to me. “Here, Ricky. Take a look.”
    She handed me the latest copy of the Harding Herald. I grabbed it
eagerly and lowered my eyes to the bottom of the front page.
    Yes. There it was. In tiny type across the whole bottom margin. My message.
    Except it had been changed a little.
    I moved my lips, reading it softly to myself:
    “Calling All Creeps. Calling All Creeps. If you’re a real Creep, call Ricky
after midnight.” Then it gave my phone number.
    My phone number. Not Tasha’s.
    My name and number.
    I let out a low moan and weakly handed the paper back to Iris.
    She shook her head and tsk-tsked. “You look terrible. Did you get any sleep
at all?” she asked.
    “No,” I murmured.
    I grabbed the newspaper back and read it again. “How did this happen?” I
cried.
    Tasha’s grinning face flashed into my mind.
    “Tasha!” I screamed her name. And then I took off, pushing my way through
groups of kids, hurtling over someone’s backpack.
    I ran down the long, curving hall to the eighth-grade classrooms. And burst
into Tasha’s room just as the early bell rang.
    My eyes frantically swept the room. I spotted her near the front, handing a
notebook