54 - Don't Go To Sleep Read Online Free PDF Page A

What did you think—we were going to the circus?”
the man replied.
    “This isn’t the way to school,” I said.
    The man just snorted and shook his head. He didn’t believe me.
    He pulled up in front of a junior high school—but not mine. I’d never seen
this place before.
    “Okay, son. Have a nice day.” The man reached across me and opened the car
door.
    What could I do? I climbed out of the car.
    “Dad” drove off.
    Now what? I thought. I’m twelve again—but I’m at a totally different
school.
    Am I awake?
    I kicked myself in the shin to test it. Ow! That hurt.
    I figured that meant I was awake.
    Kids poured into the school building. I followed them in. I didn’t know what
else to do.
    Ahead of me I saw a girl with a long, thick blond ponytail. She turned around
and smiled at me.
    She looked familiar. Where had I seen her before?
    “Hi,” I said to her.
    “Hi,” she said back. Her blue eyes sparkled at me.
    “I’m Matt.” I was still racking my brains trying to figure out where I’d met
her before.
    “I’m Lacie.”
    Lacie! Of course. I’d crashed into her the day before—outside Horrible
High.
    I started to say, “I met you yesterday—remember?” But I stopped.
    Did she recognize me? I couldn’t tell. But why should she? I looked
completely different from the day before. How could she guess that the
twelve-year-old kid standing next to her was also the clumsy teenager from
yesterday?
    “What’s your first class?” she asked me. “I’ve got lunch.”
    “Lunch? But it’s eight-thirty in the morning!”
    “You’re new here, aren’t you?” she said.
    I nodded.
    “This stupid school is so crowded, they can’t fit everyone into the cafeteria
at lunchtime,” she explained. “So I’ve got lunch now.”
    “I’ve got lunch too,” I lied. Or maybe it wasn’t a lie—what did I know? I
had no idea what was going on anymore. School was beginning to seem like a lot
more trouble than it was worth.
    I followed her to the cafeteria. They really were serving lunch there. The
powerful smell of brussels sprouts stank up the air. I gagged.
    “It’s too early in the morning for brussels sprouts,” I noted.
    “Let’s eat out on the playground,” Lacie suggested. “It’s a nice day.”
    We slipped out of the cafeteria and settled under a tree. Lacie sipped a
carton of chocolate milk. I rummaged through my backpack for some lunch. I
figured my new “mom” must’ve packed me something.
    She did, all right. Baloney and ketchup on white bread. A little plastic bag
full of carrot sticks. Vanilla pudding for dessert.
    Everything I hate.
    Lacie held out a chocolate cupcake. “Want this? I can’t face it this early in
the morning.”
    “Thanks.” I took the cupcake.
    Lacie seemed like a really nice person. She was the nicest person I’d met since my life became a nightmare. She was the only nice person I’d met since then.
    Maybe she would understand. I really wanted to talk to somebody. I felt so
alone.
    “Do I look familiar to you?” I asked her.
    She studied my face.
    “You do look kind of familiar,” she said. “I’m sure I’ve seen you around
school….”
    “That’s not what I mean.” I decided to tell her what had happened to me. I
knew it would sound weird to her. But I had to tell somebody.
    I started slowly. “Were you walking past the high school yesterday?”
    “Yes. I walk past it every day on my way home.”
    “Did someone bump into you yesterday? A teenager? In front of the high
school?”
    She started to answer. But something caught her eye. I followed her gaze to
the school door.
    Two guys were walking toward us. They were tough-looking guys in black jeans
and black T-shirts. One wore a blue bandanna around his head. The other had
ripped the sleeves of his T-shirt to show off his beefy arms.
    They had to be at least sixteen or seventeen. What were they doing here?
    They headed straight for us.
    My heart began to pound. Something told me to be