A scream came from the school, interrupting her. I jumped off the wall.
‘That was Max!’
We ran inside and up the stairs to the library. I threw my bag off my shoulder, pulling out my golf club. I saw Larry taking out his boxing gloves and Bethany getting her boots on as well. We all knew what was coming.
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The door to the classroom opened, and we all turned around. Mr Burne stood there. Then he saw Bethany, who was still holding his notebook in the air like, well, like a weapon. She gasped, but it was like she couldn’t move. None of us could move. For a moment, I wondered if Mr Burne’s hair was going to fall out, or if he would shout at us. But he just walked over, took the notebook out of Bethany’s hands, and threw it in the bin.
‘Get out,’ he said. ‘Now.’
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‘Y-yeah, I… Oh no!’
He turned around suddenly, and started shaking with fear. I looked where he was looking, and there it was.
The shadow was long, tall and thin, like a snake standing on its tail.
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I did my best. If I didn’t know the answer to something, I just thought of my own name. I made some wonderful new elements: Rickium, Larrium and Maxium. I wasn’t going to get any marks for them, but at least I had some fun.
As soon as we came out of the exam hall, Max said, ‘So how did it go?’
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‘Hey, what are you three losers up to?’
I turned around. Bethany was standing right next to us. She was the only girl in our team, and none of the other boys liked her very much. Sure, when we were on the field, we were a team, but it was strange when you were hanging out with other boys, and then suddenly there was a girl there. And she wasn’t like the other girls in our year, either.
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‘What’s up, Coach?’
‘Bad news, I’m afraid. Although the weather is lovely today, there’s a storm forecast for Saturday. A big one. A bit of rain might be OK, but a storm… Unless a miracle happens, I’m going to have to cancel the match.’
My stomach clenched again, and I felt like I was going to be sick.
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Jemima started hissing.
‘I agree, Jemima. He’s being a real—whoa!’
I turned around and saw why Jemima was so angry. Next to her, there was something. It was big and had lots of black hair, sharp teeth and claws. They made Jemima look like a mouse. The monster was moving slowly towards Max, and it looked hungry.
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‘Can you replace it this time?’ said Alex. ‘I know you did it last time, but I’m so tired.’
‘I didn’t do it last time,’ said Kayla.
‘Huh?’ said Alex. ‘You did! Last time, I went and looked under the pillow, but the tooth had already been replaced.’
‘I’m telling you, I didn’t do it!’ said Kayla.
‘I don’t understand,’ said Alex. ‘If I didn’t do it, and you didn’t do it, then who did? The Tooth Fairy?’
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