Ellray Jakes the Dragon Slayer Read Online Free PDF Page A

doesn’t this
do
anything?” she asks, frowning. “And don’t you have any clothes for it? It has to stay
bare
?”
    I don’t even bother answering such a goofy question, because—clothes for a killer insect? Or for a robot or a truck, for that matter? What’s it going to wear, pants and a hat?
    “You have to talk to her,” I say. “Look, we’ll practice. Let’s pretend you’re you, okay? And I’m Suzette. What are you going to say to me? To Suzette?”
    “But I thought you didn’t like playing pretend,” Alfie says, her brown eyes wide.
    “I’ll do it just this once,” I tell her. “You have to learn, Alfie. And I guess I’m the one to teach you. Now, you be you, and I—”
    “I’m
alweady
me,” Alfie argues. “That’s not pretending.”
    “But pretend you’re talking to Suzette.
Go
.”
    “
You
go,” she mumbles.
    “Okay,” I reply, hiding my sigh. “Hi, Alfie,” I say in a loud and whiny voice. “Why are you still hanging around? Can’t you take a hint?”
    “What’s a hint?” Alfie asks me, EllRay, frowning again. “I forget.”
    “It’s like a little clue,” I try to explain. “Like if I said you are going to eat something crunchy for breakfast, and it comes in a box. Guess what it is?”
    “Toast is crunchy,” Alfie says, thinking about it.
    “But it doesn’t come in a box,” I remind her.
    “It could,” Alfie points out. “If you put it there. Cereal wasn’t
born
in a box.”
    “I’m Suzette Monahan,” I say, trying hard to get back to the point. “And I’m saying, ‘Get lost, Alfie Jakes. You are invisible to me and my friends.’”
    “They’re my friends, too,” Alfie argues, finally getting into it. “And they’re only minding you because you’re so mean, Suzette. And you
scratch
.”
    “Who cares?” I say in my best Suzette voice. I pretend I am fluffing up my headful of brown curls like I think they’re so great. As if they’re what gives me my dragon powers. I’m glad my friends Corey and Kevin can’t see me! “I’m the boss, and that’s what matters,” I continue, being Suzette.“Those girls have to do what I say,
or else
.”
    “But they already did what you said,” Alfie says, her voice wobbling a little. “Can’t you boss them to do something else?”
    “No,” I say, shrugging in that I-don’t-
think
-so way like Suzette did the time when my mom offered her homemade oatmeal cookies instead of saying okay, she would drive everyone to McDonald’s. “I’m not bored yet. I’m having too much fun.”
    “But why is making me invisible
fun
?” Alfie says, tears filling her eyes. This makes them look even bigger than they already are, which is huge.
    Pretending is harder than I thought. “Don’t cry,” I whisper.
    “Are you Suzette now, or are you EllWay?” she whispers back, wiping her eyes.
    “EllRay. But just for a minute. Now I’m Suzette again,” I tell her, changing my voice. “It’s fun because it bothers you so much,” I say in my best stuck-up Suzette way. “Why
wouldn’t
I do it? What else is there to do around here? You
care
the most. That’s why it’s fun.”
    “I could tell the teacher on you,” Alfie says,trying to put up a fight, if only a puny one.
    “Go ahead,” pretend-Suzette says. “Everyone will think you’re a tattletale, and I’ll say you’re lying.” Now
I’m
getting into it.
    “Then I’ll tell my mom,” Alfie says, trying a different idea. “And she’ll call your mom, and they’ll talk.
Then
you’ll be sorry.”
    “No, I won’t. Go ahead and tell your mom. I don’t care,” I say with a Suzette sneer. “I can handle
my
mom. Anyway, she’s too busy to care what bothers you.”
    “Then she’s mean, too,” Alfie says, slamming my action figure to the ground so hard that I almost forget for a second to be Suzette Monahan.
    POOR TECHNO-ROBO-BUG!
    Alfie’s really angry, I can tell. Electric sparks are practically coming out of her soft, puffy black braids, she’s so