Scare School Read Online Free PDF Page A

there.” He pointed down the hall. “I just got out.”
    I stepped past him and jogged to the end of the hall. I looked both ways down the back hall.
    Nothing moving.
    No sign of the creature.
    “I’m Tim Poster,” the kid said. “You’re the new guy, right? I’m in the fifth-grade class next to Mr. Kimpall’s room.”
    “Hi,” I said. I didn’t want to stand there and chat with the kid. I wanted to find the imp and rescue my jacket from the little green thief.
    “You sure you didn’t see him?” I asked.
    Tim shook his head. His face suddenly tightened with fear. “You—you didn’t fight with him—did you?”
    I snickered. “Yeah. I fought with him. I ripped off his tail!”
    Tim stared at me for a long while. Then his round face went wide with horror. “You—you’re kidding, right?” he stammered.
    “No way,” I replied, still struggling to catch my breath. “I tore off his tail and stuffed it in my locker.”
    Tim gasped and shrank back. “NO!”
    Then, to my surprise, he turned and started to run the other way.
    “Stay away from me!” he called back. “Really. Stay away! You’re not safe! You made a horrible mistake. You shouldn’t have made him angry!”
    “Why? What is he going to do to me?” I shouted. Tim kept running. He didn’t answer. He stopped at the end of the hall and glanced back.
    “What’s he going to do?” I shouted. “Tell me!”
    “You’re doomed!” Tim called in a trembling voice. “He won’t let you get away now. He won’t let you survive!”
     
    “Where is your jacket?” Mom asked.
    I stepped into the kitchen and dropped my backpack on the floor next to the counter. “I—I’ve got to change,” I said, shivering.
    “You’re soaking wet,” Mom groaned. She squeezed my hair. Water poured down my face. “How could you walk home in the rain without your jacket?”
    “It … it was stolen,” I muttered.
    Her mouth dropped open. “What?”
    I couldn’t hold back. I didn’t care about Tonya’s warning. I let the whole story out in one long tidal wave of words.
    “An imp haunts the school. He took my jacket. He … he’s an evil creature. He always picks on the new kids. He made my potatoes swarm with bugs. And. … and. … ”
    “You’re not making any sense,” Mom said. Shefelt my forehead. “Do you have a temperature?”
    “No, Mom—really,” I insisted. “There’s an imp, and he—”
    “Hey—your father is home,” Mom said, gazing out the kitchen window. “Finish your story when he comes in.”
    Dad burst into the kitchen carrying a large wire cage. He flashed Mom and me a big grin. “It’s show-and-tell time,” he announced. “Sam, I have a great idea for you. You’re going to love this.”
    He tossed his wet raincoat onto a chair. Then he motioned for Mom and me to come close to the cage.
    “How was your first day at Wilton Middle School?” he asked.
    “I was just telling Mom,” I said. “There’s a problem. You see—”
    Dad opened the cage door, reached inside, and pulled out a strange-looking rabbit. The rabbit had beautiful black fur, a tiny pink nose, brown eyes, and drooping ears that were a mile long!
    Dad held it carefully between his hands. “This is an ebony rabbit,” he said softly. “It’s very rare. Have you ever seen fur like that?”
    “It looks like mink. It would make a beautiful coat!” Mom joked.
    Dad is a director of the town zoo. Mom knows that cracking jokes like that makes him crazy. That’s why she does it.
    “We have only two of these rabbits,” Dad said, frowning at her. “They wouldn’t make a very big coat.”
    “Can I pet him?” I asked. Very gently, I rubbed my hand over its soft fur. “Where did you get him, Dad?”
    Dad handed the rabbit to me. “The National Zoo sent us a pair of them,” he said. “I brought it home for you. I thought you might like to take it to school. You know. Show it off. Impress the other kids.”
    I petted the rabbit’s soft black fur. “Huh?