Ghouls Gone Wild Read Free

wrapped my hands around the legs of his suit pants.
    “Got him!” I cried.
    I pulled hard. Leaning back, I gave a hard tug—
    —and pulled off the mayor's pants!
    “Whoa!” I staggered back against the wall. I had the mayor's pants in my hands.
    Finally, the teachers pulled the mayor out of the water. He stood on the side of the pool in his underwear, shivering and shaking the water from his body.
    A teacher came running with some towels. Mayor Stank wrapped a towel around his hips to cover his bare legs. Then he used another towel to mop his bald head.
    He squinted at me angrily. He glared at the pair of gray pants in my hands. He scowled and shook a fist at me.
    Mrs. Wright hurried over. “Max, I—I'm speechless,” she said. “I am very, very angry. Can you explain what just happened here?”
    I handed the soggy pants to her. “Would you believe it was an accident?” I said.
    Mrs. Wright squeezed my shoulder. “See me in my office after school,” she said throughgritted teeth. “Don't plan on going anywhere, Max. You and I are going to have a long, long talk.”
    Tara appeared at my side. “Want Nicky and me to come with you?” she asked.

6
    IDIDN'TGETHOME till almost dinnertime. Mrs. Wright and I had a very long talk. Only, she did all the talking.
    Nicky and Tara were waiting for me in my room when I got home. “Sorry, Max,” Tara said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Guess that didn't go very well.”
    “I really wanted to hear your speech,” Nicky said.
    “What a shame the mayor ruined everything,” Tara added.
    I let out a scream. “The
mayor
ruined everything?” I screamed again. “You got that wrong.
You two
ruined everything!”
    I'd never felt so angry in my life.
    Tara shrank back against the window. “We were only trying to help,” she said. “Why didn't you let me give him the trophy? I told you I really wanted to.”
    “You can't do everything you want!” Ishouted. “You ruined
everything.
You're ruining my whole
life!”
    Her mouth dropped open. “You're hurting my feelings, Max.”
    “We were only trying to help,” Nicky said. “Remember? We promised to help each other?”
    I tossed my backpack at him. It went right through him and bounced off the wall.
    “Don't be angry,” Tara said.
    “Angry?” I cried. “Angry? I’
m furious!”
    “Max, think how dull your life would be without us,” Nicky said.
    “I
like
dull!” I screamed. “After living with you, I want a dull life.
Years
and
years
of dull! I hope
nothing
interesting ever happens to me again! I want you to go away. Go
away!”
    Tara gasped. Nicky backed against the wall. They both vanished.
    My brother, Colin, peered into my room. “What are you doing, Fat Face? Why are you screaming like a baby? Need your bottle?”
    “These are screaming exercises,” I said. “It's a new workout. To build my lung power.”
    Colin stepped into my room. I saw that he was wearing boxing gloves. “You can help me with
my
new workout,” he said. He raised his gloves. “Come on, punk. Let's box.”
    I backed away. “No. No thanks,” I said. “Sounds like a lot of fun. But no thanks.”
    Colin danced closer. He waved the gloves in my face. “Help me with my boxing workout.”
    “But… I don't have any gloves!” I said.
    “You don't need any,” Colin replied. “You're the punching bag.”
    Powpow powpow pow powpow pow.

7
    C OLIN WAS HAVING an outstanding workout. Who says I'm not a good athlete? I make a
great
punching bag.
    Finally, after about ten thousand punches, Mom shouted for us to come downstairs to dinner.
    “Thanks for the workout,” Colin said.
    I was holding my stomach, in too much pain to answer. I stumbled down to the kitchen.
    Unless we have company, we eat dinner at the kitchen table with the TV on. Dad likes to watch the Channel 600 news because they show all the car accidents in town.
    Dad loves to watch car accidents. Maybe it's because he's a big Mack truck of a guy who can mow anyone