by R. L. Stine
I stared at him. “What do you mean?” I said. “Why not?”
“The Bone-Breakers watched the tape of Jennifer Ecch playing against the Pushovers,” he said. “Their team took a vote. They decided there was no way they could beat her.”
My mouth dropped open. “You mean—?”
“After watching Jennifer play, the Bone-Breakers chose to forfeit the game. They waved the white flag, Bernie. They surrendered. Do you know what that means?”
“I get to keep my knees?” I said.
“It means WE are the state champs!” Coach Bunz cried. “We win! We’re number one! We’re the champs!”
He tried to jump up in the air. His stomach slapped me a high five on the way up.
We both cheered. “Rotten Apples RULE!” I shouted.
I hurried off to tell my friends. I knew Feenman and Crench would like to carry me around on their shoulders for a while.
I saw April-May June standing with Sherman Oaks in front of the Dining Hall. I ran to tell them the good news.
“We’re the state champs!” I exclaimed. “The Bone-Breakers were too terrified to play. So we’re the champs!”
Sherman sneered at me. Then he turned to April-May. “I’m so bored with sports,” he said. “All these kids getting overheated and sweaty. It’s totally gross.”
He took her arm. “Let’s you and me go have lunch. I’ll let you push the buttons on my new DVD player.”
April-May spun away from him. “Sorry, Sherman,” she said. “But I promised Bernie if he won the championship, I’d have lunch with him.”
Yes! Yes! My big moment!
“Bernie, I’m so proud of you!” April-May said. She did a perfect cartwheel. “YAY, Bernie!”
I pictured myself sitting in the Dining Hall with April-May. And everyone staring at us. Maybe we’d even share a Fruit Roll-Up!
I took her arm and started to lead her up the steps. I stopped when I heard a loud cry.
“HONEY CAKES! HONEY CAKES!”
Jennifer came stomping up. She held a huge green, pink, and orange sweater in front of her. It was totally gross. It looked like something Cookie Monster might wear!
“Let’s go, Honey Cakes,” she said. “Sweater time.”
Before I could move away, she raised the sweater and pulled it down over my head.
“No—please!” I begged. But I was trapped inside it. It came down to my knees. The arms dragged on the ground.
And in big, red letters on the front…inside a crooked yellow heart…the words: BERNIE LOVES JEN.
April-May gasped. She stared at the big yellow heart. “Oh, Bernie, I didn’t know!” she said. “I didn’t know Jen was your girlfriend. That’s so sweet. You two should have lunch together.” April-May turned to leave. “Bye, Bernie.”
“No! Wait—!” I shouted. I tried to cover the heart with both hands. “Wait! April-May—come back! You can’t believe everything you read!”
But April-May was already walking into the Dining Hall with Sherman.
“OWWWW!” I let out a scream as Jennifer jabbed me in the butt with a knitting needle. “Move it, Honey Cakes. We’ve got nine sweaters to go!”
“OWWWW! Okay, okay!” I screamed. “OWW! Stop jabbing me! OWWW! Okay. I’m coming! Okay!
About the Author
R.L. Stine graduated from Rotten School with a solid D+ average, which put him at the top of his class. He says that his favorite activities at school were Scratching Body Parts and Making Armpit Noises.
In sixth grade, R.L. won the school Athletic Award for his performance in the Wedgie Championships. Unfortunately, after the tournament, his underpants had to be surgically removed.
R.L. was very popular in school. He could tell this because kids always clapped and cheered whenever he left the room. One of his teachers remembers him fondly: “R.L. was a hard worker. He was so proud of himself when he learned to wave bye-bye with both hands.”
After graduation, R.L. became well known for writing scary book series such as The Nightmare Room, Fear Street, Goosebumps, and Mostly Ghostly, and a short story collection called Beware!
Today, R.L. lives in a cage in New York City, where he is busy writing stories about his school days. Says he: “I wish everyone could be a Rotten Student.”
For more information about R.L. Stine, go to www.rottenschool.com and www.rlstine.com.
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READ ALL THE
ROTTEN SCHOOL BOOKS!
#1. The Big Blueberry Barf-Off!
#2. The Great Smelling Bee
#3. The Good, the Bad and the Very Slimy
#4. Lose, Team, Lose!
#5. Shake, Rattle, and Hurl!
#6. The Heinie Prize
#7. Dudes, the School Is Haunted!
#8. The Teacher from Heck
#9. Party Poopers
#10. The Rottenest Angel
#11. Punk’d and Skunked
#12. Battle of the Dum Diddys
#13. Got Cake?
#14. Night of the Creepy Things
#15. Calling All Birdbrains
#16. Dumb Clucks
Copyright
ROTTEN SCHOOL #4: LOSE, TEAM, LOSE!. Copyright © 2005 by Parachute Publishing, L.L.C. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Digital Edition March 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-190730-2
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