leave?
Did he leave because I yelled at him? I wondered.
Would he come back?
I was still asking myself these questions on the way to school the next
morning.
An invisible kid.
An invisible kid was in my room yesterday.
Whoa!
This was hard to believe.
I wanted to tell Mom and Dad about Brent last night. But I wasn’t allowed out
of my room. Even after I had cleaned it up.
That was Simon’s fault. He told them I made him fall. So Mom and Dad ordered
me to stay in my room all night—and think about how lucky I was to have a
younger brother.
That took about a second.
The rest of the night I thought about Brent.
What did he really want? I wondered, as the school bus rumbled toward school. He says he wants a friend. But should I
believe him?
I mean—a kid shows up in your room. An invisible kid. That’s pretty
weird right there. And then he says he just wants to be your friend.
Suddenly, I had a bad feeling about him.
He wants something from me. I just know it. I’ve read tons of books about
ghosts… monsters… you name it.
And I can tell you this. They always want something. Your body. Your
brain. Your blood. Something.
My body. That’s it.
That has to be it.
Brent is a ghost who wants to fool me into being his friend—so he can take
over my body!
The thought made me shudder.
Last night, I’d been too shocked—too amazed—to be frightened of him. But
now, I had time to think. And I was really getting scared.
Why did he come to our house? To my room?
Maybe I can make a deal with him, I thought. Leave me alone—and
I’ll give you my brother!
I knew Brent wouldn’t go for that one—but it made me smile.
I didn’t smile for long, though.
I walked into school and stopped inside the doorway. I saw Claire, a girl
from my class, standing by the water fountain.
“Sure. I’ll go with you after school,” I heard her say. “Don’t worry—I’ll
be there.”
My mouth dropped open.
Claire was talking—to no one.
I walked slowly to my locker.
A boy I knew from art class struggled with his lock. “Why can’t I get this
thing open?” he complained. “It never got stuck before.”
He turned to his left and said, “Okay—you do it.”
And there was no kid standing next to him.
He was also talking to someone invisible!
I stared down the long hall.
It was filled with kids. Kids talking. Kids talking to invisible kids!
The school is filled with them! I realized to my horror.
The school is filled with invisible people!
14
“Sammy!”
I turned to see who called my name—praying I could see who it was.
I sighed with relief.
It was Roxanne.
“Roxanne! You’re not going to believe—” I started. Then I stopped.
Roxanne was grinning.
She walked up to me and laughed right in my face.
All the other kids in the hall began to laugh too.
“You—you told everyone?” I sputtered. “You told everyone about the
invisible kid in my room?”
Roxanne tried to speak, but she couldn’t. She was doubled over, laughing
really hard now. She nodded yes.
“How could you do this to me?” I screeched.
“Calm down.” Roxanne patted me on the shoulder. “It was just a joke. You have
to admit we all did a good job of keeping a straight face.”
“Ha ha,” I said weakly. I didn’t think it was the least bit funny. I’m
going to get Roxanne for this, I promised myself. I don’t know how—but I will.
I headed into my classroom with my head down and took my seat quickly.
The other kids piled into the room. Some of them were still laughing. When
they saw me, they pretended to talk to invisible people again.
My face turned red.
“Everyone is so chatty this morning!” Ms. Starkling noted. “Time to settle
down. Please take out your homework.”
“Oh, no,” I groaned.
I didn’t do my homework last night. I’d forgotten all about it.
I glanced around the room.
I was the only one without the assignment.
“Please pass your homework to the front of the
Elizabeth Amelia Barrington