Bully-Be-Gone Read Online Free PDF

out of her present pickle. Millicent had begun working on it while she had laryngitis earlier that year. Determined never again to be voiceless, she devised the VocoPad. The VocoPad was a miniature keyboard and looked as unimpressive as a regular computer keyboard. However, the VocoPad could do something a normal keyboard couldn’t: it could record and store the nuances of your voice through a tiny microphone; then, as the need arose, speak what you typed on it, sounding just like you.
    Millicent found the VocoPad and deprogrammed it, erasing all traces of her voice. Then she aimed the invention at Nina and waited for her to talk. She didn’t have to wait long.
    â€œI’m making up my own poem,” Nina announced,chuckling and waving Tonisha’s notebook over her head. “Roses are red, violets are blue…”
    Tonisha bit her lower lip.
    â€œThis book’s gonna be torched by you know who,” Nina said triumphantly. “Fletch. You got any matches?” she added, extending her palm.
    Fletch dug through his pockets.
    â€œNo!” Tonisha yelped.
    Fletch hesitated, then continued searching his pockets.
    Millicent had never typed so fast in her life. Her fingers flew across the VocoPad’s keyboard. She turned up the volume as high as it would go and pushed the enter key. Nothing happened. Millicent jiggled the VocoPad. Nothing. Millicent punched the enter key again. Suddenly, Nina’s voice filled the entire library from the rotunda to the children’s section.
    â€œWE AIN’T AFRAID OF NO STINKIN’ MISS OGELVIE!”
    The exclamation was so loud, Millicent gasped and dropped the VocoPad.
    Equally shocked at hearing the sound of her own voice coming from every which way, Nina dropped Tonisha’s book of poetry. “What the—?” she asked.
    Seizing the opportunity, Tonisha bent down and grabbed her notebook. Like a quarterback, she clutched the book close to her chest, weaving from side to side, as if one of the bullies would tackle her. Her headwrap wagged like a scolding finger.
    Leaving the VocoPad where it had fallen, Millicenttyped another sentence on it. Shortly, Nina’s voice reverberated throughout the library.
    â€œRIGHT, FLETCH? RIGHT, POLLYWOG?” Nina’s mechanical impersonator screamed. “BRING IT ON, LIBRARY WOMAN!”
    Nina twirled around, her eyes darting. Fletch looked around, too. Pollywog said, “Hey, Nina. Cool trick. I didn’t know you were a ventila—ventrila…I didn’t know you could throw your voice.”
    â€œI can’t, you idiot,” said Nina.
    Thunderous footsteps echoed in the bookcase canyons, approaching with the speed of a charging bison.
    â€œUh-oh,” whispered Nina.
    Tonisha happened to glance in Millicent’s direction, a glimmer of relief washing across her face. “Run,” Millicent mouthed. But rather than running toward the children’s section, Tonisha dashed for the bookcase where Millicent was hiding and collapsed behind it—and not a moment too soon.
    â€œDid you do that?” whispered Tonisha.
    â€œShhh,” warned Millicent.
    Miss Ogelvie exploded into the clearing, practically snorting steam from her broad and slightly hairy nostrils. Planting her feet a yard apart, she jammed her fists into her hips.
    â€œThe sanctity of my library,” she growled, “has been disturbed.”
    â€œWhat is—” said Pollywog softly.
    â€œSanctity,” said Miss Ogelvie knowingly, “is the sacred condition of silence that my library normally enjoys.”
    Pollywog shrugged.
    â€œOut,” said Miss Ogelvie, pointing to the front door.
    â€œHey—” said Fletch.
    â€œOut,” said Miss Ogelvie, flexing her Shakespeare-tattooed bicep.
    Fletch and Pollywog looked to Nina for a cue. Nina stared at Shakespeare’s bulging face.
    â€œC’mon,” Nina said. “We’ll get Fontaine,” she added,