Gavin stopped at the cafeteria doors. ‘Maybe. We’ll have to ask around some more. Sophia also mentioned Eli. He’s someone I do know.’
‘But she meant to say Calvin,’ I said.
‘I say we start with the first name she gave us,’ Gavin said. ‘It won’t hurt our investigation, and maybe he’ll know who this Calvin kid is.’
I couldn’t argue with him. ‘So where’s Eli?’
Gavin sighed as he glanced at the clock. ‘We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to ask him anything. That’s okay though. It’ll give us time to collect our thoughts.’ Gavin clutched his hands on his stomach. ‘Plus I’m starving.’
I smiled at the thought of food. We spent the rest of lunch eating nasty pickled meatloaf and arguing who would win in a battle between cowboys and ninjas.
My dad brought me to school early again so I could help Zoe. She didn’t ask for my help, but I figured that showing up was better than not. The few times I called her phone the night before, I could tell she hit the ignore button because it rang once and sent me directly to her voicemail.
As I walked through the halls, I saw photocopies of the missing penguin hanging from the brick walls. ‘Have you seen me?’ was printed in bold font underneath the picture.
Finally, I arrived at the cafeteria. Through the tinted windows, I watched as silhouettes of students moved back and forth within the room, setting up more random stuff for the talent show. I pushed the doors open and stepped inside.
I’d missed out on helping the day before, so I never got a chance to see everyone working together. I have to admit – the sight was incredible.
Several kids were on the far side of the room finishing up the banners that would be hung later in the day. They were huge – at least three metres wide and one metre tall.
Gavin and some other guys were fixing up the broken section of the stage. He was shouting orders at the guys on the other end of the platform, telling them to lift their side higher so he could slip some books under his corner.
All over the room, students working on tasks Zoe had assigned them. Some were playing with the coloured spotlights, switching them on and off with the controls at the back of the room. A few kids were testing the sounding-board on it. Everyone else was in a whirlwind of activity, running back and forth, setting up props for specific acts.
On the other side of the room was the long bench where students waited for their turn to perform. It was against the far wall that led backstage. Just above the bench was the metal scaffolding with paint cans still sitting on top of it.
Zoe was a couple of metres away from me She was wearing a yellow construction hat, holding a clipboard and shouting orders into a walkie-talkie.
‘We’ve only got four days until the show,’ Zoe barked. ‘And you’re only telling me now that we’ve got a problem with the pyrotechnics?’
Pyrotechnics? Like, fireworks and stuff? Man, Zoe was cool. She was planning the most epic talent show in history!
‘Zoe?’ I said as I walked up to her.
Zoe turned around, but didn’t smile. ‘Chase,’ she said, and then returned her attention to the walkie-talkie. ‘I don’t care how you figure it out, just figure it out! No more excuses!’
‘Who’re you talking to?’ I asked.
Zoe pressed her lips together and rolled her eyes. ‘Principal Davis.’
‘No way!’ I said. ‘You didn’t just command the principal to do something, did you?’
She set her walkie-talkie on a table nearby. ‘One of our acts has a pyrotechnic display, nothing huge, just some loud pops and sparklers, but we can’t test anything until the inspector comes in and says we can. But the inspector is out of town for the week, so the principal has to figure out another way to get our pyro approved.’
I gotta hand it to Zoe – if she wanted something done, she figured out how to get it done. I shuffled my feet, a bit embarrassed. ‘Look, I’m sorry about last weekend. I should’ve been here to help.’
Zoe looked at me. ‘Go on…’
‘But I’m here now,’ I continued. ‘And I’m willing to do whatever I can to make things right, even if it means picking up a hammer and getting my hands dirty.’
‘Don’t you live by some ninja code or something?’ Zoe asked. ‘Wouldn’t it have been the honourable thing for you to help family if they asked?’
‘Yes, you’re right,’ I said, ‘which is why I should’ve helped you.’
Zoe folded her arms. ‘It shouldn’t take a ninja code for you to understand how to be there for someone else… especially if that someone else is family.’
I tilted my head back, tired of getting scolded. ‘Come onnnn! You know I’m sorry! You know I’m a good kid at heart! Here’s a list of awesome things I’ve done since yesterday.’ I held my palm out and extended a finger for everything in my list. ‘I fed some stray cats. I helped an old lady find her car keys – it doesn’t matter that she was my mum, it still counts! I held the door open for some cute girls. I let that Davian kid borrow my mechanical pencil even though I fully knew he wasn’t going to give it back! I ate all of my vegetables last night for dinner, and you know that vegetables are one of my worst enemies! I didn’t get into an argument with the comic shop salesperson about how ninjas wouldn’t stand a chance in a zombie apocalypse because he clearly wasn’t thinking straight since his parents kicked him out of their basement! And I showed up to school early today so I could help you!’
Zoe frowned. ‘A real hero doesn’t need to take credit for every good thing they do. That makes you sound like you’re doing good things because you want people to say how great you are.’
‘Fiiiiiine,’ I whined. ‘I’m sorry!’
‘Your apology won’t mean anything if you get into a huff right now,’ Zoe said.
‘Okay,’ I replied, hanging my head low. I couldn’t help but smile. ‘You’re right, okay? Happy? I should’ve helped you and I was a butthead for saying no.’
Zoe wagged her finger at me. ‘I wouldn’t have cared if you’d just said no. Instead you lied and told me you didn’t want your nap to get interrupted!’
I chuckled. ‘Yes, you’re right about that too.’
‘Is that funny to you?’ Zoe asked, glaring at me.
I decided to be honest. ‘C’mon, it’s a little funny.’
Zoe stared at me for another second. Her eyes looked cold and mechanical, but suddenly she burst out laughing. ‘Fine,’ she said, coughing through her laugh. ‘It might be a little funny.’
I set my book bag on the table next to us and scanned the room. ‘Is there anything I can do to help right now?’
Zoe picked up her clipboard and read through her notes, silently moving her head back and forth with each new line on her task sheet. ‘I think Gavin still needs some help—’
‘Wait,’ I said. Something had caught my eye at the far corner of the cafeteria. It moved so quickly that it was a black and white blur.
Zoe set her clipboard down. ‘What is it?’
And then I saw it. The penguin had hopped down from the stage and stood out in the open. It was Hotcakes.
My body went from zero to sixty in about three seconds as I sprinted across the room.
‘Chase!’ Zoe shouted. ‘What are you doing?’
The penguin snapped its attention at me as I ran toward it. Spinning around, it started waddling to the long bench with the scaffolding above it. I don’t know what you’ve heard about penguins, but those little birds are fast. Faster than I’d expected.
The other kids gasped as I ran. Gavin shouted something from behind me, but I couldn’t tell what it was. I was too focused on catching the penguin.
The bird dashed along the wall, flapping its pointless wings in the air. I responded smoothly, cutting a curve across the middle of the room. He wasn’t going to get away again if I had anything to do with it!
Hotcakes made it to the long bench under the scaffolding, hopping onto it in one bounce. Racing across the cafeteria, I watched him jump onto one of the
metal rungs of the scaffolding. And then he slipped, falling against the wooden bench and flopping to the floor. He jumped back to its feet and started waddling again.
‘Don’t you move!’ I shouted.
I was only about a metre and a half away when I dropped to my side and slid along the ground like I was sliding for first base. The penguin stopped in its tracks and faced me. He opened his beak and screamed like a banshee. I’m not embarrassed to say it freaked me out enough that I broke from my slide, kicking my feet along the polished floor and covering my face.
I smashed into the long wooden bench. The scaffolding above the bench tilted back and forth until the wooden plank at the top flipped onto its side. The paintbrushes and rollers that were on the board crashed to the floor next to me. A heavily braided rope swung back and forth from the scaffolding to a dark spot backstage where it disappeared. The rope had pink and green threads sewn into it.
My eyes followed the rope from backstage all the way to the plank where it was tied to one of the corners. Thankfully, the plank itself didn’t fall off. I rolled onto my stomach, staring across the floor. There was no sign of the penguin.
I saw Zoe staring at me. Gavin was right behind her, laughing. Defeated, I lowered my face onto the cold floor.
‘Ya done?’ Gavin asked. He stepped into my field of vision, blocking my view of the rest of the cafeteria.
‘Is Hotcakes gone?’ I asked behind my palms.
Gavin took a knee on the floor. ‘That thing was gone before you hit the bench. It ran right back into the air vent.’
‘Chase! Are you okay?’ Faith asked as she jogged up to me.
‘I’m fine,’ I said, standing. ‘I’m just upset the penguin got away.’
Zoe approached, looking upset. ‘Nice one,’ she snipped, pointing at the paintbrushes and rollers on the floor. ‘You seem to make a mess of things everywhere you go, don’t you?’
Here I thought she was going to praise me for trying to catch the penguin. I huffed an annoyed breath, but I kept my mouth shut.
Anything I said would’ve only made things worse. Instead, I stared at the plank of wood that had tipped over on top of the scaffolding.
Zoe marched away and shouted more orders into her walkie-talkie about how there was another accident that needed fixing in the cafeteria. Faith smiled at me, letting me know that she wasn’t mad. Gavin was staring at the air vent the penguin had used to escape.
My eyes drifted across the broken painting supplies as I nudged them with my foot. Looking back at the plank, I noticed the paint cans on the end of it. I don’t know how I didn’t notice it before, but they were all tipped sideways too, still attached to the wooden board with the braided rope dangling off the side. Wow. Thank goodness those paint cans hadn’t fallen or else this whole thing would’ve been much worse.
I grabbed the handle of one of the cans and pulled, but it didn’t budge. My fingers slipped and the handle popped back into place.
‘What the…’ I whispered. Then I saw that the cans had been attached to the plank with nails around their base. Why would anyone nail paint cans down?
Gavin heard me. ‘What’s the matter?’
Tapping the plank, I said, ‘These cans are nailed to the plank.’
Gavin reached up and slid his finger along the base of one of the cans. ‘Man, you’re one lucky duck,’ he said. ‘If these cans had been open, I’m pretty sure Zoe would never speak to you again.’
‘That’s weird, right?’ I asked.
‘Sure is,’ Gavin said, turning toward me. ‘Bell’s about to ring. Meet before lunch? We still have to ask Eli about yesterday.’
‘Sure,’ I said, glancing at the clock just in time to see it tick over and hear the bell ring.
Gavin walked to the door but turned and said, ‘Eli won’t be in the cafeteria though. He’s one of those straight-A students who spend lunch working in the library, so we’ll have to look in there today. Grab Brayden before we go.’
‘Brayden?’ I asked. ‘Why?’
‘He’s a monster expert, right?’
I nodded.
Gavin smiled. ‘Library’s fulla zombies. We’ll need his help for this one.’
I stood still in the middle of the cafeteria as students left the room. I think my ears were trying to convince my brain that I had actually heard Gavin correctly.
Did he really just say something about zombies?
I stood on the sidelines in gym class. Coach Cooper said that the teams had been picked for the entire week so I was going to be stuck with the ridiculous moose costume for the next few days. You’d think he’d rotate another student out so that I could get in a game or two, but he just sat near the entrance of the gymnasium, sipping his half-lemonade-half-tea drink.
I guess I couldn’t complain too much. Keeping me in the mascot costume was a good way to stay out of trouble since apparently, trouble was looking for me.
‘Anyone see that dweeb, Chase?’ Jake hollered from the football field.
Several kids shook their heads. Brayden made sure to keep his eyes on the field rather than risk giving me away by sneaking a peek at me. I heard a few others comment on the fact that they had no idea there was even a ‘Chase’ in their gym class.
‘That kid’s so afraid of you that he’s not even coming out to the field!’ one of the boys in Jake’s wolf pack said.
‘It’s not his fault,’ Jake replied. ‘He’s just afraid of sports, like a true nerdling.’
Jake laughed at his own joke. His wolf pack took that as their sign to laugh too.
Once the game got started, it was easier for me to chill a little. After a few touchdowns from Jake’s team, they were so satisfied with the lead that they stopped asking about where I was.
After an embarrassing turnover, Brayden’s team had the ball. I’m not much of a sports guy, but at least I knew when a team was winning or losing. At that moment, Brayden’s team was losing. Bad.
I watched as a short kid on Brayden’s team hiked the ball. The quarterback snatched it and took a few steps back, searching for someone, anyone, to throw it to. I heard Brayden’s voice from down the field and I looked over to see that he was completely out in the open.
Turning my huge mascot head, I started jumping up and down, pointing at Brayden. The quarterback chucked the ball so hard that it wobbled through the air. Time seemed to stand still as the ball floated through space, until finally…
Jake jumped like a lion going after its prey. Snatching the ball with one hand, he sailed into Brayden, smashing against him. Brayden looked like a ragdoll as he fell to the ground. I could see the pain on his face.
Jake jogged back to his goal line and into the end zone, scoring another six points for his team. His wolf pack ran circles around Brayden, laughing while he sat on the ground, rubbing his hurt knees.
It was awful and I was starting to feel my anger swell up from deep within my stomach, but I knew I couldn’t do anything without starting something.
Jake danced in the end zone for what seemed like an hour. He kept pointing two fingers in the air as he tapped his knees together over and over and over… and over.
I jogged to the end of the field, behind the goal post, and watched as Brayden’s team helped him up. A few of my ninja clan were on his team, and it was good to see them by his side too.
After a moment, Jake’s team set up for the kick-off as Brayden’s team took their place at the other end of the field. A tall boy from the wolf pack ran at full speed towards the football He booted the ball so hard it flew all the way across the field, past the halfway line, past Brayden’s team, past the goal post …
…and directly at me.
I froze, watching the brown come closer and closer. My normal response to an inflated leather ball coming at me at a hundred kilometres an hour was to flinch and dive to the ground, but for some reason I didn’t do that. Instead, I held my arms out, catching the ball perfectly with the hairy moose gloves on my hands.
‘Go!’
Brayden cried.
I looked up through the eyeholes in my mask. All I could hear was my breath as it turned into quick gasps inside the mask. It sounds like it might’ve been cool, but it was more like something out of a scary movie.
I didn’t have to think about it anymore my legs starting booking it. I guess they decided they were going to try and score a touchdown.
‘Get him!’ Jake shouted from the other end of the field. ‘Get that moose!’
So there I was – a kid in an oversized moose mask running straight into a team of students who wanted to tackle me.
The wolf pack was close enough that I could smell their cheap body spray. I wanted to brace for impact, but my legs had something else in mind.
Something ninja.
As soon as the first kid dove at me, I jumped into the air, spinning around so I faced the opposite direction. Sailing over his head, I laughed as I completed the turn, landing on my feet at full speed. I clutched the ball closer to my side and leaned into my sprint. Oh yeah, this was going to be fun.
Two other kids ran right at me. The first one dove, but before he caught me, I dug my foot into the dirt and spun a circle clean around him. The other boy reached his arms out. I felt his fingers slide against the moose mask so I dipped my head down, slipping free from his grip, spinning circles like crazy, trying to confuse him. I didn’t have to worry about him after that. He fell face first into the ground.
I steadied myself as the world spun outside my moose mask. I had to keep running. If I stopped long enough, someone from Jake’s team was sure to tackle me.
Feeling a little dizzy, I ran as fast as I could toward the end zone. Most of the kids on Jake’s team had stopped running after me, letting me pass by with almost no effort at all. It was like they had given up because I was too fast for them!
‘Stop him!’ I heard another voice shout.
I took that as my hint to run even faster. My legs burned as I pushed myself to score for Brayden’s team. Sneaking a glance to my left, I could see the lines in the football field counting down as a sportscaster shouted in my mind.
Terror at the Talent Show Page 4
