Say Cheese - and Die Screaming! Read Online Free PDF

believe you!” Shari cried, running up beside me. “You’re unreal! You
pulled that thing from the Coffman house?” She stared at the camera, shaking her head.
    “Well… not exactly,” I replied. “How come you’re so early, Shari?”
    “I was watching out the window for you,” she confessed. “I wanted to see if
you were crazy enough to get that camera.”
    I frowned at her. “You were spying on me? Why?”
    “Because I’m not letting you take that evil thing to school.” She stepped in
front of me, blocking my way.
    I snickered. “Who made you queen of the world?” I sneered. “It’s a
free country, you know.”
    She crossed her arms over the front of her plaid vest. “I’m serious, Greg.
You can’t take it. I won’t let you.”
    I faked to the left and tried to edge past her on the right.
    But she stayed in front of me. I bumped into her—then backed up a step.
    “I’m serious,” she repeated. “Take the camera home.”
    “Shari, you’re being a real jerk,” I muttered. “You can’t tell me what to
do.”
    Her expression changed. She uncrossed her arms and tugged her black hair back
over her shoulders. “Don’t you remember how dangerous that camera is? Don’t you
remember all the horrible things it did to us?”
    I gripped the camera in both hands. It suddenly felt very heavy. The metal
felt cold against the front of my T-shirt.
    “Don’t you remember, Greg?” Shari pleaded. “I disappeared because of that
camera. Disappeared into thin air! You don’t want that to happen to someone else—do you? Think how terrible you’d feel.”
    I swallowed hard, remembering the night before.
    The camera had already injured someone.
    “I’m not going to take any pictures,” I told her. “Really. I’m just going to
show it to Mr. Saur so he’ll change my grade.”
    “Why will seeing an old camera make him change your grade?” Shari demanded.
    “Because I have a photo to show him, too,” I declared. I pulled the snapshot
of Jon out of my pocket and flashed it in front of her face.
    “Oooh—gross!” she cried, shoving the photo away with both hands. “That is
sick!”
    “I know,” I agreed, sliding the photo back in my pocket. “The poor kid. I
took this picture. Then, a minute later, it really happened to him.”
    “So I’m right!” Shari declared, her eyes narrowed at the camera in my hands.
“You just proved my point—didn’t you, Greg! I’m right!”
    A car rumbled past, filled with kids on their way to school. A small brown
dog stuck its head out the back window and barked at us.
    I glanced at my watch. If we stayed here arguing another few minutes, Shari
and I would be late for school.
    “We’ve got to go,” I told her. I started walking, taking long strides. But
she hurried to block my way.
    “No, Greg. I can’t let you. I can’t.”
    I rolled my eyes. “Shari, give me a break.”
    “It’s too dangerous,” she insisted. “I know I’m right. I know it will get you
into big trouble.”
    “Get out of my way, Shari.”
    “Give me the camera.”
    “No way!” I cried.
    She grabbed for it with both hands. And yanked it off my shoulder.
    I grabbed it back.
    And the camera flashed in Shari’s face.

 
 
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    Shari blinked. Her hands shot away from the camera. She let out a startled
cry.
    “Oh! Sorry!” I cried, backing away. “Sorry! Really! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean
to—”
    The camera felt warm in my hands. I reached for the square photo that slid
from the slot.
    “Give me that!” Shari demanded. She swiped the snapshot away from me. “What
have you done to me?”
    “It was an accident!” I shouted. “You know I didn’t mean to snap it.”
    Shari stared down at the square as it started to develop. “What have you
done? What have you done?” she repeated. Her voice trembled more each time she
said it. I saw that her hand was shaking.
    “I told you not to bring out the camera,” Shari cried. “I begged you to leave
it at