[Janitors 01] Janitors Read Online Free PDF

secret!
    “Where’d you get this special soap?”
    “ You know!” Spencer said. “You left it lying around!”
    Marv suddenly released his backpack and Spencer staggered sideways a few steps. “You’ve got yourself into real trouble, boy,” Marv whispered. “Stuff like that’s not meant for you.”
    The bell rang to announce the beginning of class. Spencer moved toward the stairs.
    “I haven’t seen the last of you,” Marv said. “But tomorrow, we’ve got an even bigger problem, so you’ll have to wait. What’s your name?”
    “I’m not telling!” Spencer raced up the stairs.
    “Then I’ll find out!”

Chapter 7
    “Look out behind you!”
    When Spencer reached the classroom, the Bath and Body Works fragrance of Miss Leslie Sharmelle had been replaced by a slight odor of cabbage.
    Mrs. Natcher was back.
    “Good morning, class,” Mrs. Natcher said.
    “Good morning, Mrs. Natcher,” the class recited in unison.
    Along with smelling like a steamed veggie, Mrs. Natcher was very conservative and formal. In her late fifties, she didn’t bother to dye her graying hair or paint her nails. After Miss Sharmelle’s flash and flare, Mrs. Natcher seemed drab and boring.
    Daisy ignored Spencer all morning. The liquid soap in the girls’ bathroom had taken the blue flames off her face—mostly. Her cheek was scrubbed raw and her determination was clearly set. Even Dez knew something was wrong with Daisy when she refused to believe that his tennis shoes had once belonged to the president of the United States. Gullible Gates had finally decided that no one could be trusted.
    With the events in the storage closet as a prelude to his day, Spencer stayed far away from the janitor’s stairwell. Before lunch, he entered the boys’ bathroom to wash up, ducking past Marv in the hallway.
    In the bathroom, he encountered a third type of creature. This one was slimy, pale yellow, and looked like a salamander. It was perched on the rim of the sink, its long black tongue working at some grimy film that had built up next to the tap. Spencer froze to watch, but the creature quickly sensed him and slid into the bowl of the sink. Its body flattened as though bones were optional and quickly slithered down the drain.
    A few minutes later, Spencer was looking at a tray of mediocre cafeteria food, trying not to think that gross little creatures might live in the kitchen.
    “’Sup, Batman?” Dez turned away from his food, shouting at Spencer over his shoulder. Dez was surrounded by his usual knucklehead buddies. “See any bats with beaks today?”
    Spencer froze, his lunch tray gripped firmly. Don’t even look over there, he told himself. Just keep walking. But it was a good thing he looked, because there was a bat monster perched right on Dez’s milk carton. Its bald head bobbed as it wedged a sharp beak into the carton for a slurp of milk.
    “Look out behind you!” Spencer shouted at Dez, winning the attention of everyone in the cafeteria. Whether it was the sincerity in Spencer’s voice or the suddenness with which he shouted, Dez whirled around in genuine surprise. His clumsy turn tipped the milk carton, sending the invisible creature into the air and cold milk into Dez’s crotch.
    The noisy room erupted with laughter at Dez’s blunder. Across the cafeteria, Spencer glimpsed Daisy looking up from her sack lunch. Spencer watched the creature’s jagged flight pattern until it ducked out the doorway. When he looked back down, Dez was coming right for him.
    Sudden loss of appetite, coupled with the urge to run, made Spencer dump his lunch directly into the nearest garbage and head for the door. Bursting outside, he raced across the playground, not daring to check over his shoulder until he reached the far side of the soccer field. There was no sign of pursuit, so he slumped against the goalpost.
    Tears were trying to surface. Spencer shut his eyes. His sixth-grade year was turning out to be worse than he could have