My Best Friend Is Invisible Read Free

the
laser.
    “It’s kind of like an X-ray,” Dad explained. “I can shine it in the air and
see all kinds of insects and things that you normally can’t see.”
    “I know what we can use it for.” Simon turned the light toward me. “We can
use it to find Sammy’s BRAIN!”
    Everyone laughed. Even Mom.
    “Hey! Good one!” Roxanne patted Simon on the back. “That’s the first time I
ever heard you make a joke.”
    “I wasn’t joking,” Simon said flatly.
    That made everyone laugh even harder.
    “Out!” I yelled. “I want you all to leave!”
    Mom, Dad, and Simon left the room. Still laughing.
    “What about our math homework?” Roxanne demanded. “I thought we were going to
do it together.”
    “I don’t feel like doing it now,” I grumbled.
    “Okay. Okay.” Roxanne backed out of the room. “You don’t have to do it. But I
do. Ms. Starkling said it’s my turn at the chalkboard tomorrow. I want to make
sure I get the equations right.”
    Roxanne left to do her homework.
    I opened my math book to do mine.
    I stared down at the numbers.
    But I couldn’t concentrate.
    I’ll get up early, I decided. And do my homework in the morning.
    I got up from my desk to change for bed.
    Brutus jumped into my desk chair—his favorite place to sleep.
    I crossed the room—and tripped on something in the middle of the floor.
    “Hey—what was that?” I spun around.
    I glanced at the floor.
    “Huh?”
    Nothing there.

 
 
4
     
     
    I stared at the floor.
    I shook my head.
    I tripped over— nothing?
    It’s a good thing Roxanne didn’t see this one, I thought. I could hear her
making fun of me now. “Practicing—to make sure we lose the race next
week, Sammy?”
    I got into bed.
    I propped up my pillows and picked up the ghost-story book I was reading. I
stared down at the page, but it was all just a blur.
    I closed the book and drifted off to sleep. But I tossed and turned all night
long. Half asleep, half awake, I fluffed up my pillow. I pulled the covers up
around me. I drifted off again—then woke up to a noise.
    Flapping.
    The flapping of my curtains in the night breeze.
    I sat up. I rubbed my eyes.
    I stared at the window.
    The open window!
    I bolted out of bed and slammed it shut.
    Who opened this window? WHO?
    Is it possible for a window to slide up ?
    NO.
    It must be Simon. Simon must be playing a joke on me, I decided.
    But it couldn’t be Simon. Simon doesn’t play jokes. He’s always serious.
    I climbed back in bed—and stared at the window. Watching. Waiting. Waiting
to see it open.
    But my eyelids grew heavy and I fell asleep.
     
    The next morning I woke up late. Brutus always wakes me up. But he didn’t
today.
    I bolted up in bed to check the window. Closed.
    I glanced at my desk chair. Brutus was gone.
    I dressed quickly. I caught my reflection in the mirror as I headed out of my
room. I looked wrecked.
    “Sammy, you look awful,” Mom said. “Did you get to bed late last night?”
    I slumped down at the kitchen table. Dad sat across from me, reading the
newspaper.
    “No, not too late,” I told Mom.
    Dad peered over the newspaper. “You’re reading too many of those ghost books,
Sammy. If you read about real science, you’d sleep better.”
    Dad went back to his newspaper.
    Mom poured some cereal into my breakfast bowl. I ate one spoonful—and Simon
called me.
    “Sammy—come up here,” he shouted from his bedroom. “I need your help.”
    I ignored him.
    I ate another spoonful.
    “SAM-MY!” he screamed.
    “Sammy, go see what your brother wants,” Mom ordered.
    “SAM-MY! SAM-MY!”
    “WHAT?” I cried, charging into his room. “What’s your problem?”
    “That!” he said, pointing to the bed. “That is my problem.”
    Brutus lay curled up in Simon’s bed.
    “He slept in here last night,” Simon said. “And now I can’t get him out. He
won’t move.”
    “Brutus slept in here?”
    I couldn’t believe it.
    Brutus always sleeps in my room. Always.
    “Yes,