Then Miss Moon appeared out of NOWHERE and said, “Actually, I’m feeling quite exhausted myself. I’m going to go for a lie-down in my tent while you cook dinner, Miss Jones.” And then she left.
Miss Jones looked FURIOUS and before we could ask her any more questions about Jodi she STORMED off.
That’s when Maisie said that she had never SEEN Miss Jones as mad as that before and that it must be because she was very ANGRY at Miss Moon for turning Jodi into a WEREWOLF.
Even though Miss Jones had said not to disturb Jodi, Maisie said that we knew a LOT more about werewolves than Miss Jones did because she was new to this whole WEREWOLF THING and that she probably didn’t even REALISE that it was almost a FULL MOON. So we sneaked over to Miss Jones’s tent and peeked inside.
But Jodi was GONE!
It was hard not to PANIC when we realised Jodi was ON THE LOOSE but we knew that we had to
and THINK so that we could find her and stop her from doing something she didn’t mean to, like eat a rabbit. Because that would be HORRIBLE because Jodi is actually a vegetarian.
Zach said that Jodi might be having a
with Miss Moon, so we all RAN over to Miss Moon’s tent but her tent was WIDE OPEN and there was NO ONE inside, even though Miss Moon had JUST SAID that she was going for a nap.
Maisie started to panic because she said that Jodi could be ANYWHERE and then she started shaking LOADS and her eyes went all SWIRLY.
But then Gary Petrie picked up Maisie and put her over his shoulder and said, “FOLLOW ME!!” and started running down towards the river.
So we ran after them and that’s when I realised that Gary was taking us to the PHONE BOX!
And that’s when we found her.
Jodi was INSIDE THE PHONE BOX!
But then Zach suddenly PUSHED us all into the bushes and said, “SSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH, Gary!” because Gary was still shouting stuff about the river and waving a stick around like a sword.
Zach said that we couldn’t let Jodi SEE US because then she might RUN and then we’d lose her again. He said that we should try to keep Jodi in the phone box because she wouldn’t be able to use her WEREWOLF CLAWS to SCRATCH her way out of there and that we could try to WHISPER HER NAME into her ear using the SURVIVAL STRAW.
Maisie said that she thought Jodi was in the phone box because she was speaking to a WEREWOLF HELPLINE and that they were probably trying to keep her CALM and ALREADY whispering her name into her ear to try to stop the FULL TRANSFORMATION.
But Gary Petrie said that Jodi had probably gone into the phone box to TRANSFORM, like Superman, and that she might be able to use her
to break the glass and ESCAPE.
Maisie pulled her BINOCULARS out of her backpack and when we looked through them we saw that Jodi’s face was now covered in LONG HAIR.
Then Jodi started shaking her head ALL OVER THE PLACE and that’s when we got a peek of her face and it was SERIOUSLY RED and BLOTCHY.
That’s when we knew that, even though it wasn’t actually dark yet, Jodi’s transformation had BEGUN.
So we made a plan. The plan was that Gary Petrie would keep the door shut so Jodi couldn’t ESCAPE and eat a rabbit while Maisie sang a SOOTHING SONG and me and Zach tried to whisper her name into her WEREWOLF EAR and CURE HER.
Then Maisie took a SPOON out of her pocket and said that we should also try to tap Jodi’s head THREE TIMES if we got a chance.
Gary Petrie looked at us all like we were a bit MAD but that was because he didn’t know all about WEREWOLF CURES like we did. So we told him that there wasn’t time to explain and that we just needed him to hold the door shut.
Gary said that was “TOO EASY” and “A WASTE OF HIS POWERS” but that he would do it anyway.
And then all of a sudden Zach yelled, “GO!”
So we ran.
We all CHARGED towards the phone box and Gary held the door shut and Maisie started singing at the TOP OF HER LUNGS.
Then I shouted through the glass to Jodi that we were going to SAVE her and that she was our BEST FRIEND and that we actually LOVED her but Jodi didn’t say anything back; she just stood there covering her face with her hands so that we couldn’t see her WEREWOLF FUR or SO-CALLED MONOBROW.
Then I noticed that Zach was trying to say something to me. But I couldn’t hear him because Maisie’s SOOTHING SONG was actually MEGA LOUD (and not really very soothing).
So Zach pointed at the straw and pointed to the door and that was when I realised that the only way we were going to get the straw into the phone box was to open the door a little. So we told Gary Petrie to open the door just a TINY BIT so we could slip the straw through and position it next to Jodi’s ear.
But as SOON as Gary opened the door just a crack Jodi started PUSHING at it and making loads of weird
And Gary said,
And then before I realised what was happening Gary let go of the door and Jodi ESCAPED!
And as I watched Jodi run towards the woods, I thought that it might be the last time I was EVER going to see my best friend and that we would LOSE HER in the WILDERNESS for ever!
But then Zach GRABBED the sleeping bag Maisie had attached to her backpack and RAN after Jodi AS FAST as he could and we all followed.
Jodi wasn’t running as fast as she usually does because she was still trying to cover her face so Zach managed to catch up with her and then he threw the sleeping bag over her to stop her running away.
Then me and Zach GRABBED Jodi and started carrying her back to camp and Maisie said, “Don’t worry, Jodi. We’re trying to HELP you. The sleeping bag is so you don’t SCRATCH anyone. It’s for your own good. We know that you’re a WEREWOLF.”
And THAT’S when Jodi started shaking and wriggling like MAD and Gary Petrie started SCREAMING, “THIS IS IT!” and that when we took the sleeping bag off Jodi she would be
But then we heard Jodi say, “WHAT? No, I WON’T!”
And then Jodi started LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY and it was REALLY hard to carry her because she was jiggling ALL OVER THE PLACE so we had to put her down.
Zach said what we were WITNESSING was the effect of the FULL MOON and that the moon was starting to drive Jodi to MADNESS.
That was when Jodi sat up and showed us her face and there was NO HAIR (even though it WAS red and blotchy).
And she said, “What’s WRONG with you all? I’m not a WEREWOLF!” and she could BARELY get her words out because she was laughing so hard.
So we explained about how Miss Moon had SCRATCHED HER and how she’d gone a bit WEIRD after that and went to bed early without eating all her marshmallows and then slept in Zach’s tent by herself and kept disappearing off to the phone box and LYING about where she was going.
And Jodi stood up and went all CALM and said, “Do I LOOK like a werewolf?”
And we all said no because her hair wasn’t in her face any more and she seemed really calm now (even though her face was STILL a bit red and blotchy).
So that’s when I asked Jodi why she had been HIDING HER FACE FROM US and why her face was all RED and BLOTCHY and also why she wasn’t wearing her SILVER LOCKET that she ALWAYS wears.
And THAT’S when Jodi went REALLY WEIRD and her face started TREMBLING and she started to making a GRUNTING SOUND and then before I knew what was happening she was HOWLING!!
And THAT’S when we realised what was happening.
Jodi was just CRYING.
I mean, REALLY crying. And I realised that I’d never seen Jodi cry before. EVER! (And also that she was really, really TERRIBLE at it!)
Zach and Maisie looked
and then eventually I said, “Jodi, are you CRYING?”
And Jodi said, “GRRRRSSS YAAASS! I AAAAAAM!”
So we all stepped SLOWLY towards Jodi and hugged her a bit and asked her what was wrong and also if she was in any PHYSICAL PAIN because she sounded a bit like a WOUNDED BEAST.
That’s when Jodi told us EVERYTHING. She said that it was HER CRYING that I’d thought was HOWLING on the first night and
that she had tried to hide it from everyone by going to sleep in Zach’s tent.
So we patted Jodi’s back and Maisie stroked her hair and we told her that she was our BEST FRIEND and that everything was going to be OK.
Then Maisie said, “But what are you crying about, Jodi?”
Jodi looked like she didn’t want to tell us.
But then she took a deep breath and said, “Because I’m HOMESICK and I miss my MUUUUUUUUUUUM and I lost my locket and I’ve been trying to phone my mum to hear her voice but every time I come down to use the phone box my mum doesn’t answer and I-I-I JUST WANT MY MUUUUUUUUUUUM!”
And I was
because I had NEVER seen Jodi get HOMESICKNESS before and I felt REALLY BAD for her.
Jodi said that she’d been SO HOMESICK that morning that she’d packed all of her stuff and taken it with her to the phone box and tried to phone her mum to ask her to come and take her home.
Maisie said, “Why didn’t you just TELL US about losing your locket and being homesick? We could have helped you find it.”
But Jodi said that she didn’t want us to think that she was a BIG BABY because SHE was meant to be a SURVIVAL EXPERT and survival experts aren’t meant to get HOMESICK and that she was meant to be the BRAVE ONE and that she was EMBARRASSED about being homesick.
Then Jodi started sobbing again and saying that her special locket was GONE FOR GOOD and that she’d already tried looking for it and it was
So we all sat on the ground and hugged Jodi for ages and Maisie gave her a tissue from her sleeve and some Maltesers that she had in her pocket.
Then Zach asked Jodi why she had pretended Maisie’s phone battery was dead when we were lost in the wilderness. And Jodi said that she hadn’t and that she must have switched the phone off by accident when she was trying to phone 999 because of all the PANIC.
When Jodi eventually calmed down her face was all red and blotchy from crying and her hair was hanging all over her face and she looked just like she had earlier when we’d seen her in phone box.
Jodi wiped her face and fixed her hair and said, “OK. I’m OK.”
And then she stood up and said, “Right. We need to FOCUS.”
And I wasn’t sure exactly what Jodi wanted us to focus on until she said, “We still have the small problem of Miss Moon being a WEREWOLF!”
And that’s when we heard the
When we got to camp we were a hundred per cent PREPARED to come face-to-face with Miss Moon in WOLF FORM.
But we didn’t. We came face-to-face with Miss Moon in HUMAN FORM wearing her DRESSING GOWN!
We all stood with our mouths WIDE OPEN because Miss Moon looked TERRIFIED and she was running around in circles SQUEALING at the top of her LUNGS and Miss Jones was trying to get her to STOP and we had NO IDEA what was going on!
Miss Moon stopped running and jumped up on to one of the picnic benches and that was when Zach said, “Does Miss Moon look a bit different to you?”
So we all looked more closely and THAT’S when we saw that Miss Moon DID look different! Her hair was all straight and shiny and her legs weren’t hairy at ALL and her monobrow had completely DISAPPEARED!
Then all of a sudden Miss Moon screamed, “THERE THEY ARE! THE WILD BEASTS! LOOK!” and she pointed a shaky finger at one of the CARAVANS behind all of our tents. And that’s when we saw two huge FOXES pulling a string of sausages out of a caravan and into the woods.
Then Miss Moon started SCREAMING, “Those WILD BEASTS have been TERRORISING me since I got here! They crawled ALL OVER my tent one night and I didn’t get A WINK of sleep. And NOW they’ve INVADED my caravan and stolen all of my SAUSAGES!!”
And THAT’S when Miss Jones’s face went RED and she shouted, “EXCUSE ME, Miss MOON! But what do you mean YOUR CARAVAN?!”
Miss Moon’s face went BRIGHT RED, too, and that’s when Jodi shouted, “GET BACK EVERYONE! Miss Moon is about transform into a WEREWOLF!!”
So we all ducked under one of the picnic tables and waited.
But nothing happened.
And then Miss Jones said, “What on EARTH is going on?!”
Miss Jones made us all come out from under the picnic table and then she asked us why Jodi had called Miss Moon a werewolf and why Maisie wouldn’t open her eyes and why Gary Petrie was hiding inside a sleeping bag!
So that’s when we told Miss Jones about Miss Moon’s SUPER STRENGTH and her MEAT OBSESSION and the GLOWING WEREWOLF EYES that we’d seen when we did the HAM PLAN.
Miss Jones listened carefully, and she even made us repeat some bits, like the bits about Miss Moon being GRUMPY and having a MONOBROW.
Miss Jones said that she was CERTAIN that Miss Moon WASN’T a werewolf but she agreed that Miss Moon had some explaining to do and then she crossed her arms and STARED at Miss Moon until Miss Moon eventually did a bit of a gulp thing and said, “OK.”
And that’s when Miss Moon told us that she WASN’T a werewolf and that werewolves didn’t actually exist (as far as she knew) and that the reason she had been so GRUMPY was because she wasn’t enjoying the OUTDOORS very much and that she hadn’t had enough PROTEIN.
Zach asked Miss Moon about RUNNING in the woods and the SMILING as she ran and her SUPER STRENGTH. And Miss Moon said that she went for a run EVERY DAY and that she’d been smiling because exercise makes her FEEL BETTER and released POSITIVE FEELINGS and also because when we saw her she’d just run into the village and had a bacon roll.
But then Jodi said that didn’t explain the HAIRINESS and Miss Jones smiled a tiny bit and Miss Moon gave her a LOOK.
Miss Moon’s face went red again and she said that she might have been struggling a bit with TENT LIFE and that camping in the wild had TAKEN ITS TOLL on her. And that even though she may have looked a bit more HAIRY than normal it wasn’t POLITE of us to point it out. And Miss Jones nodded in agreement but she was still smirking a little bit even though I could tell that she was trying not to.
That’s when Miss Moon said that she’d been SO MISERABLE about not getting any sleep because of the
that were TERRORISING her that she had decided it would be best for everyone if she booked herself into one of the LUXURY CARAVANS so that she could be more comfortable and get back to feeling like her usual self because camping really wasn’t her cup of tea.
But then I said that didn’t explain her MEAT OBSESSION and why she had stood in the rain for ages trying to get the barbecue to work and why she ate like ONE HUNDRED burgers and no buns. And her GLOWING WEREWOLF EYES when we did the HAM TEST. And the TREE SCRATCHES. And the GIANT POO!
Miss Moon said that the tree scratches might have been made by a RABBIT or maybe even a WILD CAT and she had NO IDEA who the GIANT POO belonged to but that we shouldn’t go near it again and Miss Jones agreed.
Then Miss Moon said that she just really liked meat and that she was on a FULL PROTEIN DIET. And then she got a bit cross about the Ham Roof Thing and said that foxes had SURROUNDED HER TENT that night because of all the ham and that it must have been FOX EYES we saw.
I felt a bit bad when Miss Moon told us that because I knew Miss Moon must have been stuck in her tent all night listening to loads of foxes eat two hundred slices of ham off her tent and that must have been scary.
So I said sorry and so did Zach and Jodi and Maisie. And Gary Petrie said sorry, too, even though he wasn’t even part of the Ham Plan.
Then Miss Jones said, “SPEAKING of MEAT. Were those the MISSING SAUSAGES we just saw the foxes run off with?!”
Miss Moon put her head down a bit and she didn’t say anything and we all knew that meant that they WERE and that she had STOLEN THE SAUSAGES for herself.
That’s when Miss Moon said, “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry about EVERYTHING. I’ve not been very good on this trip, have I?”
But nobody said anything because it seemed like one of those questions that you’re not meant to answer.
Miss Moon said that she HATED camping and that the only reason she’d suggested it was because she�
��d heard that everyone in our class REALLY wanted to go on a school trip and she had been trying to make us happy.
And that’s when I realised that even though Miss Moon is a bit of a MOAN, she was actually a nice person for taking us on a trip and obviously not a werewolf.
The next day when we were packing up Maisie started CRYING because she said that she “LOVED IT HERE” and that she didn’t want to go and we all BURST out laughing because we hadn’t expected her to say that after everything we’d been through!
When it was time to get on the bus Jodi RAN on so that she could SECURE the Bus Sofa for us and I waited with Maisie so she could take one last look around one of her “FAVOURITE PLACES IN THE WORLD”
As the bus was pulling away, Maisie opened the little Bus Curtains and looked out. And then she said, “Goodbye campsite! Goodbye barbecue bit! Goodbye wooden benches! Goodbye den-in-the-woods! Goodbye woods! Goodbye … GARY?!!”
I thought Maisie meant the RIVER GARRY but then Maisie screamed, “STOP! STOP!!” and we all looked out the back window and saw that GARY PETRIE was RUNNING AFTER THE BUS!
Miss Moon shouted, “STOP THIS BUS!” to the bus driver and he slammed the brakes on.
Miss Moon and Miss Jones RAN down the aisle and off the bus to get Gary and even though we couldn’t hear what they were saying to Gary it looked like he was getting told off for not being on the bus.
Then Miss Moon gave Miss Jones a hug and I knew that it was because they were both REALLY HAPPY that they hadn’t accidentally left without one of their pupils because they probably would have got sacked or sent to jail for that so they were obviously MEGA RELIEVED.
There's a Werewolf In My Tent! Page 6
