Who Let the Ghosts Out? Read Free

right? And I'm starving right now. Ghosts don't get cold or hungry, do they?”
    I stared at her. “How should I know? I've never been a ghost before!”
    “What do we do now, Nicky?” Her voice broke.
    “I don't know,” I whispered. I started to feel very strange … weak. “Tara …”
    A thick gray mist filled the room. Max and his mom disappeared behind the mist. I couldn't hear their voices anymore.
    “Nicky—I'm fading.” I heard Tara's frightened whisper. “I'm fading away … disappearing.”
    “Me too,” I choked out. I struggled to hold on. But something was pulling me away … away …
    “Goodbye,” I whispered to my sister.
    “Goodbye.”
    I could barely hear her reply.

3
    W HY DOES D AD MAKE such a big deal about phys ed? I got straight As this semester. I always get straight As. The kids call me Max the Brainimon because I'm the brainiest guy in my class. But Dad doesn't care about brains.
    That football hit me so hard in the gut, I thought I was going to toss my dinner on the couch. And what did Dad do? He laughed.
    Ha, ha. What a riot. Dad thinks if he throws enough footballs at me, I'll start to want to learn how to catch them. But I won't.
    What I'd really love to do is heave the ball into Colin's gut. I'd love to see the look on his face. Well … actually, he probably wouldn't have a look on his face. Baboons don't have expressions, do they?
    He probably wouldn't even feel it. He's always in his room with those workout tapes of his.
Perfect Abs. Stomach of Steel. Buns of Titanium.
    He has to spend all that time on his bodybecause there's no point in developing a brain that small.
    Ha, ha.
    Dad thinks Colin is so perfect. Just because he stars in three sports, he's really popular with girls, and has a million friends.
    Big deal.
    Okay. He's perfect. Colin is perfect.
    But there's more to life than being perfect, isn't there?
    How about being nice to your little brother?
    Could he pass a
Lord of the Rings
trivia test? No way.
    Has he reached Level Seven in
Tomb Raider V
on PlayStation?
    Does he know how Houdini did his famous straitjacket escape? Does he know how any of the great magicians did their tricks? No. But I do.
    There's a lot Colin doesn't know.
    Why do I have to go to the Plover School? So
what
if Dad loved it so much? Maybe I don't
want
to go to a school that will make a man out of me. I'm eleven! I don't want to be a man yet!
    I was so steamed, I wanted to punch the wall. But I knew I had to be careful. I need my hands for my magic tricks. Besides, I'd probably cut myself, and I hate the sight of blood.
    Can Colin make a live pigeon disappear?
    Can he?
    I don't think so.
    At school, I've been spreading the rumor that Colin wets the bed every night. It isn't true, but so what? I think at least a couple people believe me.
    And Dad is wrong. I
do
have friends. Well, I have one good friend—Aaron.
    But Mom and Dad don't want me to be friends with Aaron. They think he's weird. Hey, what's wrong with being a little weird?
    Okay, okay. So he wears swim goggles to school every day. He needs glasses, so he had prescription lenses put into them. A little oddball, maybe, but who are they to judge?
    He does some other strange things too. For one thing, he never does his homework. He says it takes too much time away from watching TV.
    On Career Day, Aaron wrote that he plans to study to be a superhero and fight crime everywhere in the universe. He got an F on that paper, and his parents had to go in for a conference.
    Aaron is a little whacked, okay? But he's also a really good friend.
    What can I do? I can't let Dad send me to that school. I can't go to a school where you have to wear an ugly gray uniform. I look terrible in gray.
    Yes, sir. No, sir. Yes, ma'am.
They turn kids into robots at the Plover School. Aaron and I are going to make a video about kids who get turned into robots. But I don't want the movie to be my life story!
    I
can't
let them send me there!
    Okay, okay, Max. Easy,