The Attack of the Aqua Apes Read Free Page A

waiting for it to reappear. But it never did. And so, finally, Scott turned off his light and went to sleep.
    *   *   *
    â€œScott! Wake up!” His mother nudged him hard.
    Scott rolled over and pulled the blankets tighter around himself. He couldn’t wake up. Not yet. He felt as if he’d just closed his eyes.
    â€œCome on, Scott.” His mother nudged him again. “You’re going to be late for school if you don’t get a move on.”
    â€œI’m up,” he mumbled. “I’m up.”
    â€œYour eyes aren’t even open,” she scolded.
    Scott rolled over and opened them for her. “Happy?” he grumbled.
    â€œNo,” she answered. “I want to see you up.”
    Scott pulled himself to a sitting position.
    That seemed to satisfy his mother.
    â€œGood,” she said as she headed for the door. “Now hurry up and get dressed so you can have a decent breakfast before you leave.”
    The moment Scott’s mother left the room, Scott plopped back down and closed his eyes again.
    â€œMommy said move it, you little twerp,” Kelly growled as she passed his open door. “Ma,” Kelly screamed loudly over her shoulder. “The little twerp is still in bed.”
    â€œI am not!” Scott screamed back as he jumped out from under the covers. He stumbled over to check on the aqua apes.
    They were still really small. But they didn’t look like tiny little white dust specks anymore. They looked like bigger little white dust specks!
    They’re growing. Cool! Scott grabbed a sweatshirt from his dresser. When he had it halfway over his head, he heard a faint tapping sound. What is that? he wondered. He yanked the sweatshirt down.
    Probably just some tree branches blowing against the side of the house , he figured. He peeked out the window next to his desk. The tree outside was still.
    But Scott kept hearing the sound. Tap, tap, tap.
    He listened to it carefully—and realized it wasn’t coming from outside.
    It was coming from inside.
    Right next to him.
    Scott leaped away from his desk. Then he stared into the tank. And he couldn’t believe what he saw.
    An aqua ape was pressed against the side of the tank. And it was tapping on the plastic!
    This aqua ape was big—bigger than all the little white dust speck aqua apes put together. Scott figured it was about the size of a tadpole.
    Scott grabbed the magnifying glass and studied the creature. Up close, it looked even better than the picture in the ad. And it really did look like a monkey, too—all brown and kind of fuzzy. It even had arms and legs.
    It stood there, at the bottom of the tank, staring back at Scott. Without a doubt this was the coolest thing that Scott had ever seen!
    â€œScott! Now!”
    Scott could tell by the tone of his mother’s voice that she meant business.
    â€œI’ve got to go,” Scott explained to his brand-new pet. “But I’ll see you later. Okay, little guy?”
    The minute the words came out of his mouth, the most amazing thing happened.
    I’m imagining it, Scott thought. This just can’t be.
    Scott blinked hard. Then looked again.
    No. He wasn’t seeing things.
    The brand-new aqua ape was waving at him.
    *   *   *
    â€œI’m telling you, he was waving at me,” Scott insisted for the ten thousandth time as he and Glen parked their bikes in Scott’s garage after school. “And he really does look like a monkey.”
    â€œYeah, right.” Glen laughed. “The whole tank exploded last night, and now we have a giant swimming monkey who waves.”
    â€œI didn’t say he was a giant,” Scott protested. He climbed off his bike and shoved the kickstand down.
    â€œYou did too,” Glen shot back. “In the cafeteria you told Randy and Zack he was a giant aqua ape.”
    â€œOh, right,” Scott agreed as he headed towardthe door that opened