by R. L. Stine
I jumped as a loud buzzer erupted.
“Time’s up!” Hess shouted. “Ovens off, everyone! Put down your utensils. It’s time to be judged!”
Chairs scraped as the three judges moved closer to their table. They shifted papers around and tapped on their iPads, getting ready to judge.
Hess introduced them as Larry Ming-Lee, Mary Franklin, and Jake Fortuna. Larry was an older man, dressed in a dark suit and tie. He had friendly dark eyes and black hair brushed straight back off his forehead.
Mary was about my mom’s age. She had her brown hair piled up in a bun with a bandanna tied around it, and wore bright orange lipstick.
Jake was young and very thin. He wore a blue polo shirt over denim jeans. He seemed tense. He kept tapping a pencil on the tabletop.
Nicole and I bumped knuckles for luck. I felt a little fluttery and my hands were suddenly cold and clammy.
It would be so awesome to win this tryout and go on TV, I thought. Not to mention the two-thousand-dollar prize.
Hess checked his clipboard, then set it down. “Team Number One,” he announced. “Debra and Miller. We’ll taste your entry first.”
He carried their serving dish to the judges’ table. The judges cut slices of it and set them on their plates.
Mary sat between the two men. She sniffed the dish. “Mmm. Smells wonderful. What is this you have made for us?”
“It’s a cheese and mushroom pie,” Debra answered.
“This is like a quiche,” Larry said.
He took a forkful and chewed for quite a while. “I like the flavor. The mushrooms don’t overwhelm the taste of the cheese.”
He took another small chunk. He made a face as he swallowed. “But I’m not happy with the texture,” he said. He turned to the other two judges. “Are you finding it dry?”
They both nodded.
“It’s overcooked,” Jake said. “That’s the problem.”
“Thank you, Debra and Miller,” Hess said, taking the plates from the judges. “You may go back to your kitchen.”
Hess handed the plates to Morgan, the assistant. Then he crossed the room and picked up the dish by Ashli and Nathan. He placed it on the judges’ table, and they helped themselves to slices.
“This is Ashli and Nathan,” Hess said. He turned to them. “Tell the judges about your creation.”
“We made a bacon omelet. And then we made a separate dish from the mushrooms and cheese.”
“We call it a mushroom melt,” Nathan added. “We think it makes a good side dish for the omelet.”
The judges all chewed in silence for a while.
I turned to Nicole. “Show-offs,” I whispered. “That mushroom thing probably tastes like paste.”
“The omelet is perfection,” Mary declared, closing her eyes and smiling. The other two judges nodded.
“Fluffy and very flavorful,” Jake said.
“Just the right amount of bacon,” Larry added.
My heart leaped into my mouth. Ashli and Nathan can’t win this! I thought. It just wouldn’t be fair.
Nicole squeezed my wrist. She must have seen how upset I was. “I’m sure our omelet is better,” she whispered. “You and I are pros, remember?”
“This is very good work,” Larry said to Ashli and Nathan. “Very impressive.”
All three judges applauded. Ashli and Nathan took little bows. They had mile-wide grins on their faces.
Hess picked up our omelet plate in both hands to carry it to the judges’ table. But as he started to walk, Nathan shot a hand out and bumped him in the side.
“Whoa!” Hess let out a cry. He fumbled for the plate and caught it without spilling anything.
“Oops. Sorry,” Nathan said quickly to Hess. “I didn’t see you there.”
A burst of anger shot through my body. Both of my hands clenched into tight fists. Nicole had her teeth gritted and was scowling hard at Nathan.
He paid no attention to her. He and Ashli exchanged grins.
The omelet looked a little lopsided when Hess set it down in front of the judges. They divided it up onto their plates. “What do you call this?” Larry asked.
“It’s a cheese omelet,” I answered. “With mushrooms and bacon. Simple.”
“Simple, but I’m sure, delicious,” Mary said, flashing her nice smile.
All three lifted their forks and began to chew. I watched with my fists still clenched as they took their second bite.
Mary was the first to grab her neck.
She made a choking sound, squeezed her throat, and jumped to her feet.
I saw Jake’s eyes bulge. He groaned and coughed. Then he leaped to his feet, gasping and choking.
Larry shut his eyes tight and screamed. “Burning!” he choked out. “My throat … burning!” He tried to stand up. But lost his balance. And collapsed to the floor on his side. His chair fell on top of him.
Mary and Jake were bent over, gagging and choking. Their faces were tomato red and tears ran down their cheeks.
“Hellllp,” Mary groaned. “Helllllp me!”
Larry struggled to sit up. Holding his throat with one hand, he began to scream. “My throat is burning! Somebody—HELP! Burning! Too hot! …”
Watching them, I felt sick. I grabbed the top of the counter to keep from sinking to the floor.
Nicole’s mouth gaped open. Her eyes were wide with shock, and I could see she was trembling.
I turned to her. “Nicole,” I cried. “What have we done?”
Later. Much later. It seemed like years later.
Nicole and I were in my bedroom. I sat tensely on the edge of my desk chair. She was sprawled on the carpet with her back against the bed.
I felt shaky and strange, like I could burst into tears at any moment.
Nicole’s black hair fell in tangles around her face. Her cheeks were very pale. She kept clasping and unclasping her hands.
“Well, that went well!” I said. I was trying to keep it light. But it didn’t come out very funny.
Nicole started to say something. But Toby burst into the room, screaming like a wild man.
I covered both ears. “Stop it. Why did you scream like that?” I cried.
His eyes flashed. “Did I scare you? I was trying to scare you.”
“No. You just annoyed us,” I said. “Go away, Toby. We’re not in the mood—”
He stepped right over Nicole and grabbed my backpack off the bed.
“Put that down!” I screamed.
“Where is it?” he said. “My birthday present. It’s in here, isn’t it?”
I suddenly remembered the cans of Monster Blood. I’d forgotten all about them.
“No present,” I said. “I didn’t get you a present this year.”
“Liar!” He tore open the flap and began pawing through the backpack.
“Give that to me!” I shouted. I scrambled to my feet and dove for it.
“Hey—!” Toby let out a shout as I swiped the backpack from his hands. He made a two-handed grab for it, but I tossed it to Nicole.
Toby swung around and started toward Nicole—when my mother’s voice from the hallway interrupted. “Toby, come here. Right now. I need to talk to you about your party.”
Nicole tossed the backpack to me, and I hugged it tightly in my arms. “Get lost, pest.”
Toby stuck his tongue out at me and made a long spitting noise. Then he stomped out of the room. I closed the door behind him.
“I’ve got to hide the Monster Blood,” I said. I glanced around the room.
“Your closet is the best bet,” Nicole said. “Does he go in your closet?”
“He goes everywhere,” I said. “He’s a total snoop. It’s unbelievable.”
I pulled out the two cans of Monster Blood and carried them to the back of my closet. I have a very long, narrow clothes closet with a small dresser at the back wall.
I shoved the two cans as far as they could go under the dresser. Then I took a few pairs of dirty jeans I had piled on t
he closet floor and stuffed them under there to completely hide the Monster Blood.
I sat down again across from Nicole, and we stared at each other for a long time. “I’m just speechless,” I said finally.
Nicole sighed. “Sascha, what can we say? We’re out. We’re toast. We’re losers.” She sighed again. “And it’s all because of Nathan and Ashli.”
“Wish we could prove it,” I said. “Wish we could prove they did it.”
“What if we could?” Nicole said. “Then what? We go and report them to the TV people? Who is going to believe us? It’s Nathan and Ashli’s word against ours.”
I realized I was pounding my sides with my fists. I took a long, slow breath and uncurled my hands. “At least no one died!” I said. “That judge Larry was choking so hard, I thought he was a goner.”
Nicole shook her head. She pushed back her hair. “They were all better by the time the paramedics arrived,” she said. “I mean, their throats were all burned …”
“But at least they stopped gagging and coughing,” I said. “They were breathing almost normally.”
Nicole gripped her stomach. “I’m suddenly starving. Do you have any snacks or anything?”
“There’s some tortilla chips and salsa in the kitchen,” I said.
She rolled her eyes. “As long as it’s not too spicy!”
“Haha,” I muttered. I led the way downstairs.
I couldn’t stop thinking about what happened at the TV studio. Nicole and I both knew that Nathan had poured a whole bottle of yellow hot sauce into our omelet.
The poor, choking judges were in terrible pain. Even after the paramedics had treated them, two judges—Mary and Larry—couldn’t speak at all. And Jake could only whisper.
Hess was frantic. He kept running back and forth, shouting at his assistants, making phone calls. Then he told us to gather up our backpacks. He led us to the studio doors.
“Of course, you’re off the show,” he said, keeping his eyes down, not looking at us. “I will assume what you did was an accident. But I have to warn you …” He leaned closer and whispered, “If the judges have medical expenses, your parents will have to pay them.”
“But—but—” I sputtered.
He swung the glass door open and practically pushed us out. “You two should probably take up another hobby,” he said. “Maybe hang gliding?”
Did he think that was funny?
He closed the door behind us.
We walked home with our heads down, not saying a word.
Now, back in my kitchen, the salsa and tortilla chips were tasty, but they couldn’t distract us from the horrible thing Nathan and Ashli had done to us.
“They are such total cheaters,” I said. “And they’re going to get away with it.”
I opened the fridge door and pulled out a can of Coke. I started to hand it to Nicole. But a shrill scream from upstairs made me drop the can.
“HELP ME! HELLLLLP ME!”
Toby!
“Toby! What’s wrong?” I shouted.
I turned to run to the stairs and stumbled over the Coke can. Nicole caught me before I fell. We both took off running.
“Help me! Hurry! HELLLP!”
Toby’s frightened screams rang in my ears as I took the stairs two at a time. I burst into his room, breathing hard. Nicole ran in right behind me.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” I cried, gasping for breath.
Toby stood in the middle of his room, waving his right arm up and down. It took me a few seconds to see the bright green blob around his wrist. He shoved it in front of my face. “Look at it! I can’t pull it off.”
Nicole bent down and lifted an open blue can off the rug. She squinted at the label. “It’s the Monster Blood.”
Toby tugged hard at the shiny green gunk. “I—I found my birthday gift,” he stammered. “You’re such a terrible hider, Sascha. It’s awesome. But it climbed up from my hand and won’t let go.”
“Serves you right for sneaking into my closet and taking it,” I said.
Nicole laughed. “Toby, you really think we’ll fall for anything, don’t you!”
“No. You have to help me. I’m not joking. It really is moving up my arm, Sascha. And it’s holding on tight.”
I stared at it. The green blob was an inch or two above his wrist now. Had it really moved?
“Toby, you pushed it up. You can’t fool us,” I said.
He grabbed it with his left hand and tugged with all his strength. “Don’t you see?” he demanded in a high, shrill voice. “It’s totally stuck to me. It won’t come off!”
Nicole laughed again. “You’re such a good actor. It’s just green slime. That’s all it is.”
“YOU try to pull it off!” Toby screamed. “Come on! YOU try!”
He stuck his arm out. I grabbed one side of the green ring and Nicole grabbed the other. The Monster Blood felt warm in my hand.
We both pulled.
It stretched a little but it didn’t break off. I tried using both hands. “Pull!” I shouted at Toby. “Pull back!”
I tugged one way. He pulled the other.
“Hey—!” I tried to slide my hand away. But the sticky, warm Monster Blood stretched with it. “Hey—let go!”
“My hand is stuck, too!” Nicole cried. “Oh … weird. Weird.”
The sticky green goo spread over the back of my hand, tugging it deeper inside it. “It’s swallowing my hand!” I cried. “Look! It’s spreading out. Like it’s ALIVE!”
Toby laughed. “It’s awesome!”
I glared at him. “A minute ago, you were screaming for help.”
“But this is the coolest slime ever!” he cried.
I swung my arm hard—and my hand came free with a loud pop.
The green goo had climbed over my brother’s arm up to his elbow. “I can feel it. I think it’s breathing!” he said.
Nicole slid her hand free and wiped it on the side of her shorts. “It’s … yuck,” she choked out. “It’s too scary …”
“Let’s just get it back in the can,” I said.
“It’s so warm,” Toby said. “Like I’m wearing a sweater.” His smile faded. “Hey—I can feel it tightening around my arm. Get it off! Hurry!”
“Make up your mind,” I said. “Do you think it’s awesome or frightening?”
“Both,” he murmured. “Hurry. Get it off me.”
“I … I don’t want to touch it again,” Nicole said.
I had an idea. I crossed the hall to my room and pulled two pairs of latex gloves from a bottom drawer in my dresser.
I’d used them for a school science project. I don’t know why I kept them. Maybe they would come in handy now.
I rushed back to Toby’s room. The Monster Blood had stretched up to his shoulder. Nicole was staring at it in horror, her hands pressed against the sides of her face.
I handed her a pair of gloves. “Put these on. Maybe the gloves won’t stick to it.”
Toby grabbed a hunk of the green gunk with his free hand and tugged. It stretched like bubblegum and wrapped around his hand.
Nicole and I went to work with our gloved hands. We rolled the goo down from Toby’s shoulder. The gloves didn’t stick. I pulled a big chunk free. Then another.
“Sascha, you’re a genius,” Nicole said. “These gloves are working. We’re getting it off Toby’s skin.”
“Don’t wreck it,” Toby said. “I want to show it to the kids at my birthday party.”
“No way,” I said. “Are you kidding me? This is going right back to the store. You can’t keep it.”
“But it’s my birthday gift!” he wailed.
I slid another chunk of Monster Blood from his arm. “I’ll get you a better gift,” I told him. “Something that doesn’t try to swallow you alive.”
“Toby, you’re weird,” Nicole said. “You can’t hate it and like it at the same time.”
He stared at her. “Seriously?”
Nicole and I now held big blobs of
Monster Blood in our hands. “Go wash your arm,” I told my brother. “We got almost all of it off.”
He hurried to the bathroom.
I spotted the can on the floor beside his bed. “Come on. Let’s shove this stuff back in the can.”
Nicole and I dropped to our knees. I lowered my hand to the open can and started to push the green gunk inside it.
“Sascha, it’s not going to fit,” she said.
“Huh?”
She was right. I had filled up the can. But I still had a big handful of the stuff. And Nicole had two handfuls.
“It … grew,” I said.
“And look at it,” Nicole said in a trembling voice. “It’s still growing. I can see it.”
I could feel the panic rise to my throat. I suddenly had to force myself to breathe. “Wh-what are we going to do?” I stammered.
And then I heard voices. And footsteps coming up the stairs.
Mom and Dad.
“Don’t tell them about this!” I cried.
Nicole’s mouth dropped open. “But—”
“Quick. Hide it,” I said. “They always say I buy terrible gifts.”
She squinted at me. “But—”
“They’re going to blame me,” I said. “If this is a disaster, they will ground me for a month. Hide it!”
I heard them coming closer. I spun around and shoved the Monster Blood and my gloves under Toby’s bed. “Quick—” I pushed Nicole toward the bed, and she slid her handful of green gunk and gloves under the bed, too.
We both turned as Mom and Dad stepped into the room.
“Hey,” I said. “What’s up?” I forced a smile. Could they see how frantic I was?
“What are you two doing? Where’s Toby?” Dad said, glancing around the room.
“Washing his hands,” I said.
Mom’s mouth dropped open. “Washing his hands in the middle of the day? Without being forced to? Is he sick?”
“No. He’s not sick,” I said. “His hands were dirty.”
“Well, why are you in his room?” Dad asked. He kept looking around. I glanced under the bed to check if the Monster Blood could be seen.
“We were talking about Toby’s birthday gift,” Nicole chimed in.
