Mean Ghouls Read Online Free PDF Page A

Betsy. They all giggled.
    The scene felt way too familiar. It reminded her of the way Hailey Hansen and her friends acted back home.
    Feeling like she’d already started enough trouble, Megan decided that she’d stay away from the Ghouls from now on, like Sam had suggested.
    Megan lowered her hand. “Forget it,” she told Mr. Hornsby.
    Which he immediately did.
    With an “Uhhhh-uhhhh” groan of her own, Megan opened her book to chapter two.
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    When math was over, it was time for English. The class was taught by the teacher Megan had met at the nurse’s office, the one with the knee-locked legs. Her name was Mrs. Yarrow and she leaned against the wall while she lectured the class. She was interesting, and a dramatic storyteller. Rachel would love her. Megan was preoccupied with thoughts of home until Mrs. Yarrow mentioned their new assignment five minutes before the end of class.
    â€œA woman named Mary Shelley wrote the book Frankenstein in 1818. It’s the story of a man who creates a monster. There are copies on my desk. Please take one and read chapters one through five for homework. When we meet on Wednesday, we will be discussing the question, Is the Frankenstein monster a zombie ?”
    The bell rang and Megan checked her schedule. She had PE next.
    Sam showed her where the locker rooms were, and once they’d both changed, they headed out to the ball field. Megan soon realized that PE at Zombie Academy was anything but typical.
    About half of the kids in the class couldn’t bend their knees. A few had their arms stuck straight outand couldn’t lower them. She’d never seen so many bloody wounds, at least not before a game.
    Taking a scrunchie out of her pocket, Megan tied back her mop of hair. She bent her knees to make sure they weren’t stuck and jogged in place to warm up.
    The coach was another fully transformed zombie.
    â€œHe played in the Olympics,” Sam told her.
    â€œCool.” Megan asked which year and sport.
    â€œ776 BCE,” Sam replied, pausing for Megan’s jaw to drop. “He was a wrestler.”
    â€œYou have to be kidding.” Megan checked out the coach, who looked to be about thirty years old. He was bald, with patchy places on his arms where his bulging muscles stuck out through the skin. “I’m supposed to believe that he’s more than twenty-five hundred years old?” Megan asked. “No way.” She shook her head.
    â€œZombies are immortal,” Sam reminded her. “He’s the same age now as when he got the disease. Coach Ipthos was haunting Mount Olympus, scaring tourists, when Mr. Jones invited him to teach here.”
    â€œThis is all very strange,” Megan said, letting out a long breath.
    â€œCome on. Follow me.” Using a hand-drawn map, Sam helped Megan dodge around several deep holes dug in the field.
    Coach Ipthos divided the kids into teams and then — threw out soccer balls.
    â€œSoccer!” Megan was excited.
    â€œKind of,” Sam said. “We call it shuffle ball.”
    Megan and Sam were on opposite teams. He grinned, challenging her to show what she could do.
    â€œIf this is anything like soccer …” Megan muttered to herself, checking out the field. “He has no idea who he’s up against.”
    The game was similar with a few new rules.
    No bending knees. Even if you could, bending was a penalty. That gave the players who couldn’t bend a chance.
    The deep holes in the field were traps. If you fell in, you were out. Coach would rescue the fallen players at halftime so they could rejoin the game.
    The holes added a fun obstacle since five seconds after being rescued, most kids couldn’t remember where the traps were and fell right back into them.
    Megan wondered why Happy wasn’t at PE, but when the whistle blew, she pushed that thought aside and went for the ball.
    Turned out, Sam was as good a player as Megan. Maybe