Pinocula
Page 6
My father said a few more things to me that he thought a dad was supposed to say. He wrapped up his speech by saying,
My dad left my room and then my mom came in. It was like they were professional punishers in a tag-team match. My mom told me all the things I’d be grounded from and informed me that I’d be writing apology notes to a lot of people.
My mom gave me a list of all the things I needed to do. The list seemed really long. It all looked painful, but the most painful thing she wanted me to do was at the very top.
Apologizing to Janae was the thing I least wanted to do. I felt horrible about all the lies I had thrown around like a lying super villain.
I felt the worst about Janae. It was impossible to stop thinking about the kiss and how I’d never be able to look her in the eyes again. I took a shower, got dressed, and walked slowly over to her house to apologize. I stood on Janae’s porch for at least five minutes before working up the courage to push the doorbell. Her sister, Lisa, answered.
Lisa turned around and went to get Janae. A few minutes later, Janae came to the door. She looked more hurt than mad. I swallowed and began to speak. Before I could get a single syllable out of my mouth, she slammed the door in my face.
I stood there staring at the closed door for a few moments and then turned to walk back home.
In the spirit of being honest, I must say that this is not how I wanted this book to end. I like when the ending of something turns out perfect, like those movies where everybody laughs and dances and sings.
This time, however, I still had a little work to do. Janae had just shut the door in my face, but as my dad always says,
Sure, I wanted to ring Janae’s doorbell again and explain my crazy behavior, but I had a feeling that wouldn’t help. Maybe I just wasn’t ready to understand girls. One door had definitely slammed. Now I just needed to wait for another door to open.
COMING SOON
Praise for THE CREATURE FROM MY CLOSET SERIES
BOOK 1
WONKENSTEIN
“Original and hilarious.”
—School Library Journal
“Highly amusing new series starter.… Skye gives Rob a self-deprecating charm and highlights the pleasures of books both subtly and effectively.”
—Booklist
“This pitch-perfect offering should appeal to reluctant readers, not to mention the legion of Wimpy Kid fans.”
—Shelf Awareness
BOOK 2
POTTERWOOKIEE
“Skye captures all the silly action in the winning text-plus-cartoons format.…”
—Publishers Weekly
“The text is hysterical by itself, but acts as the straight man in relation to the one-two punch of the childlike drawings and captions.… Get multiple copies of this book: it will fly off the shelves.”
—School Library Journal
OBERT SKYE grew up in the mystery section of his public library. He has been writing since he typed his first word at the age of four—the word was slump. Obert is a renowned public speaker and the author of Wonkenstein and Potterwookiee in The Creature from My Closet series. He has also written the bestselling Leven Thumps series and the Pillage Trilogy. He lives with his family in Idaho.
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Henry Holt and Company, LLC
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Copyright © 2013 by Obert Skye
All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Skye, Obert, author, illustrator.
Pinocula / Obert Skye. — First edition.
p. cm. — (The creature from my closet; book 3)
Summary: Things are going pretty well for Rob Burnside until Pinocula—a cross between Pinocchio and a vampire—emerges from his closet, lying, joking, and doing his best to drive Rob crazy.
ISBN 978-0-8050-9689-7 (hardback)
[1. Monsters—Fiction. 2. Conduct of life—Fiction. 3. Books and reading—Fiction. 4. Schools—Fiction. 5. Family life—Fiction. 6. Humorous stories.] I. Title.
PZ7.S62877Pin 2013 [Fic]—dc23 2013017882
First Edition—2013
eISBN 9781466845657