Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet Read Online Free PDF

rows of folding tables stretching from one
end of the room to the other.  Lunch was one of the few parts of school Jack
actually enjoyed.  Indeed, Jack often looked at lunchtime as his sanctuary.  It
was when Jack could forget about all the bad stuff he had to suffer through
during the day and just relax with some of the few people he actually enjoyed
spending time with.
    First off, there was his best friend Matt Nunan, who’d been
Jack’s partner in crime since the two of them first got into a fight over who
got to play with the red Mighty Morphing Robot Ninja in the first grade. 
Matt’s mom was white, and his dad was black, but on the color scale, Matt
tended to skew on the lighter end – a fact that really annoyed him.  Thus, Matt
dressed in extremely baggy clothes, sports jerseys (even though he never played
sports), and attempted to grow his hair out into dreadlocks - a process that made
him look like he had constantly just stuck his finger into a light socket.
    Then, there was Jasper Kreig, whom everyone called “Chunk,”
an unfortunate nickname Jasper had been given in the third grade due to his
short, squat, and rather rotund frame.  Chunk was widely regarded as the class
clown, always willing to yell out a funny quip, make an inappropriate farting
sound, or flash various parts of his anatomy when the situation called for it
(and even when it didn’t).
    Peter Mercer and his sister Norma were there, too.  Though
Norma was a year older than Peter, they both shared the similar features of a
weak chin, long neck, and extremely scrawny legs.  However, even though the two
of them looked similar, they couldn’t have been more different when it came to
their personalities.  While Peter was goofy, Norma was serious.  While Peter
was laid back, Norma was prone to over-reacting.  While Peter was all about
swords, sorcery, and high fantasy, Norma was about biographies, documentaries,
and quite a bit of prim-and-proper girlie stuff. 
    Then there was Gothy.  Her real name was Gretchen, but her
penchant for wearing an abundance of black eyeliner, black lipstick, black fingernail
polish, black clothes, dyed-black hair, listening to the most depressing music
imaginable, and writing extremely bad poetry about the pointlessness of life
had earned her the nickname.
    Finally, there was Yoshi, a foreign exchange student from
Japan.  Yoshi was an extremely skinny kid, with eyes so narrow Jack was
surprised he could see out of them at all.  Yoshi had been very popular when he
first showed up at school last year.  He was quiet, shy, extremely polite, and
the nicest person anyone could ever possibly hope to meet.  But soon after all
the upperclassmen had taught him every swear word they knew and had him repeat
them to the teachers a few times, the novelty quickly wore off and Yoshi’s
so-called “friends” began ignoring him.  That’s when he found Jack and the
others, and with their help, his English had been greatly improving – though
his habit of using the swear words he had learned at the most inappropriate
times still was a problem.
    Since Jack had forgotten his lunch again, the group had
pitched in to make sure he didn’t go hungry.  In fact, it was so common an
occurrence that everyone had taken to packing a little extra food, just for
him.  A peanut butter and jelly sandwich from Matt, an apple from Chunk, a
granola bar from Norma, and an orange juice box from Yoshi made up his current
meal.
    “So,” said Matt, “heard Shepherd gave you detention again.”
    “Yeah,” growled Jack.  “I swear, that guy has it out for
me.”
    “Want me to try and get detention, too?  I could slip some
laxatives into Mr. Jacob’s coffee again.”
    “Nah, no reason for both of us to suffer.”
    “Just say the word, dude,” said Matt.  “I’d totally lax up
Mr. Jacob for ya.”
    “I know you would, buddy” smiled Jack, patting his friend on
the back.
    “I had detention with Mr. Shepherd once,” chimed