Body Switchers from Outer Space Read Free Page B

him.
    That will teach him. I grinned and strode off the court.
    I gazed at Chad in my body. My tall, thin, lanky body. My face was red, my mouth half-open, showing those stupid braces, and panting from running.
    For a second I thought about not going back to that mushroom shed and the purple change chambers.
    For a second I thought, No way, buddy. I’m staying right here.
    I looked at my watch. It was four twenty-five.
    I sighed.
    I had to go back. We had made a deal. I don’t back out on a promise.
    I raced over to Chad.
    â€œHurry! We’ve got to hurry or we may be too late!” he urged.
    â€œToo late for what?” I asked.
    â€œIf we don’t change back right now,” he told me, gasping for breath, “we could stay like this forever!”

4

    â€œC ome on, come on, come on,” Chad muttered as we ran.
    Amazing! I could run faster than he could. That’s never happened before.
    He sure was sweating!
    We snuck around the house again. “Open the door, open the door!” he hissed at me. I pressed the yellow-green patch, and the door whooshed open.
    â€œClose it. Hurry!”
    You’re pushing it, bud, I thought. Don’t forget. I’m the one with the muscles right now! I punched the yellow-green patch inside, and the door closed.
    â€œNow do exactly what I tell you,” he said. He led me over to the control panel with the colored patcheson it. He told me which ones to press and in what order.
    Chad hurried over to one of the chambers and stepped in. I punched patches the way he had told me to. I tried to memorize what I was doing. It seemed like a good idea.
    I hesitated for just a second before climbing into the chamber. What if I didn’t go through with it? But the machine was already humming. What would happen to Chad if he made the switch and there was no body in the other chamber?
    It could be horrible!
    I jumped in just before the door closed.
    Colored lights flashed in the slick black walls, and that weird perfumed mist flowed out again.
    My skin tingled, the floor pulsed with noise, and there was a lurch in my stomach.
    And then it was over.
    I blinked. My eyes worked right away. I glanced down at my stained shirt, my long skinny hands.
    I was me again. Will.
    Bummer.
    Chad must have run really hard in my body. I had trouble breathing, and I had a stitch in my side.
    The wall opened and Chad peered in.
    â€œCome on,” he ordered, pulling me out by the arm. “We’re really late. You okay?”
    â€œI guess I am,” I replied in my own voice.
    I followed him to the door and stumbled over alittle blue box. Yep. No doubt about it. I was back in my own clumsy body.
    We left the shed and snuck by the house. I got on my bike and rode as fast as I could back toward home.
    I pedaled past the school yard where sinking baskets had been a breeze when I was Chad. Where kids wanted me to join their game. Those kids were still playing basketball, but nobody called out to me. One or two of them even gave me dirty looks, as if they were mad that I had dragged Chad off.
    If they only knew.
    After being Chad, I hated being me even more.
    *   *   *
    After dinner that night we took our regular places on the couch. Mom on the left, Dad on the right, and me and Pepper in the middle.
    Pepper is nine. She has short curly brown hair and a lot of freckles, and her eyes are green. She’s still short, especially compared to me, but Mom says we Kennedys are late bloomers. Pepper might turn into a giraffe sometime soon.
    As usual, she clutched one of her creepy porcelain dolls. She has a lot of dolls. She collects them.
    Dad had rented a couple of action-adventure videos. He was looking for ideas for the Judo-Jabbing Coyotes.
    I usually love those movies. Only tonight I wasn’t into watching them. Tonight I was thinking abouthow it felt to be Chad. Jumping up and dropping the ball right through the hoop.
    Looking at the other kids. Seeing