Chameleon Chaos Read Online Free PDF Page B

dear.”Hector ambled slowly out onto Petty’s other shoulder. He was bright green and not as surprised-looking as he might have been. He was getting used to this S.W.I.T.C.H.ing lark.
    â€œAh—good—you S.W.I.T.C.H.ed!” Petty said, scooping the small chameleon into her hands.
    â€œErm … not
so
good,” added Petty a minute later. Something very peculiar had just happened. Something very peculiar indeed …

Danny liked his head teacher. Mr. Hurford was a friendly man with a good sense of humor, often ready for a joke while passing in the corridor. He was also a strict man, and nobody ever messed around when he was running assembly or stepping into their class for a while. Kids respected him. Danny respected him. And liked him.
    Although possibly not enough to throw himself bodily around Mr Hurford’s neck and cling on to him.
    Which is why it was really quite embarrassing when this happened at 11:05 a.m. that day, just outside the head teacher’s office.
    The trouble was, Danny had just gotten a little too relaxed. After failing to gore Billy Sutter and Jason Bilk with his nose horn, Danny thoughtabout chasing after them as they walked away up the corridor. Then he thought better of it. There really was no way he was traveling anywhere faster than a dawdling snail right now. And even if he did catch up, Billy would have to stand patiently, waiting for him to expertly scale his leg, stomach, and chest before Danny could attempt to very slowly gore his face.
    Danny sighed and climbed back up the fig tree. As he made his careful way from branch to branch, snacking on a couple of small flies his tongue had found along the way, the bell went off again. It made his head buzz, but at least he knew what it was this time, and he was ready for the hubbub of all the kids coming back in from play and getting off to lessons. Within five minutes he was back on his favorite perch just above the radiator and as the heated air rose from it, gently warming his cold reptilian blood, Danny relaxed. He became perfectly still. Stiller than he had ever been. Even his heartbeat seemed to slow down. Before long, Danny nodded off.
    The next thing he knew, someone was standing very close by and making hurrumphing noises. It took a moment, as his eyes rotated and focused on the sandy-haired head just below his branch, to work out who it was. Then Danny heard the hurrumpher say, “Who the devil has been playing around with the thermostat? Hurrumph! My poor
Ficus benjamina
will drop all its leaves in this heat!”
    It was the head teacher! What if he looked up and saw him? Danny felt his scales pulse again and noticed darker flashes rolling across his camouflage.
    He couldn’t imagine what he would do if Mr. Hurford discovered him.
    Three seconds later, Danny had no need to imagine. Mr. Hurford discovered him. Not by peering up into the tree and gasping in amazement at the sight of a rather beautiful Meller’s chameleon—but with a sudden DOOF! as Danny abruptly S.W.I.T.C.H.ed back to boy shape and fell onto his head.
    â€œGah—da—gah—wha? Wha? Gah? Wha?”queried Mr. Hurford as a healthy eight-year-old suddenly arrived out of thin air, whacked into his skull and slid down his back.

    Danny was making similar noises of surprise and instinctively grabbing at the head teacher’s neck to stop himself from falling.
    â€œWhat the blazes are you DOING?” squawked Mr. Hurford as a Year Four boy finally tumbled onto the carpet. “Danny? Is that you? Or … Josh? No … it has to be Danny!”
    Danny had to think fast. What possible explanation could he offer for this situation? There wasn’t an obvious bluff for this.
Falling onto a Head Teacher (A Guide)
was one self-help paperback he’d never seen at the local bookstore.
    â€œI—I’m sorry. I—I was the one who turned up the heating,” spluttered Danny. “I just wanted to confess