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Bully Bait

Page 8

by Michael Fry


  Karl are up to something.”

  Maybe he is Emily.

  “I know you’re anxious to start Safety Patrol. But

  you’re not ready yet. You just need to be patient.”

  No, he’s not Emily.

  “Speaking of patience, did I ever tell you

  about the time I was down in Antarctica,

  training penguins to ski jump for the Olympics?”

  No. He’s 100 percent not Emily. He’s just

  seriously weird.

  “Did you know there’s no Olympic

  participation restriction based on species?”

  “Another lie that tells the truth?” I said as I

  turned back to the field.

  “Have you figured that one out yet?” asked

  Mr. Dupree.

  I didn’t get a chance to answer because

  just then I spotted a new hairdo parting the

  gathering below.

  I got to the field, pushed through the crowd,

  and popped out just in time to hear Memaw say,

  “I’m looking for a very rude Roy person who’s

  been text-threatening me.”

  Roy was confused. “Wait. You’re the one who’s

  been threatening me?”

  “Threatening you? You’re the one who wants

  to rip out my spleen!” said Memaw.

  Roy shook his head. “You can’t be Max.”

  I jumped between Memaw and Roy. “No! Stop!

  I’m Max!”

  “You?” said Roy.

  “You?” whispered Memaw.

  “You!” shouted Becky.

  Karl turned to the crowd and pointed to me.

  “Him.”

  Memaw grabbed me. “You’re the Max that’s

  been bullying this boy?”

  I nodded.

  Memaw’s whole

  body sagged. Like

  when all the air

  leaks out of one of

  those balloons you

  see at car dealers.

  A girl yelled, “What’s going on here?”

  Everyone turned to watch the Peer Mediation

  Club emerge from the crowd.

  I looked at Roy. Roy looked at me. We might

  be mortal enemies, but there was one thing we

  could agree on: there was no universe, alternate

  or otherwise, where we would take our war to

  the Peer Mediation Club.

  But before we could tell the bossy girls to take

  a hike, dozens of cell phones started buzzing at

  once.

  Everyone checked their phones.

  “It says, ‘Look up!’” yelled Karl.

  And everybody did. Even Roy.

  That’s when one of Roy’s three brain cells

  decided to randomly click on and he stopped

  looking up and started looking around.

  While everyone was still staring at the sky,

  Roy grabbed me with one hand and Karl’s rolling

  suitcase backpack with the other. Before I even

  realized what was happening, Roy had pulled

  me to the edge of the crowd and started dumping

  Karl’s stuff out of the backpack.

  He dumped and dumped and dumped and

  dumped.

  Then he stuffed me in the backpack along

  with one of Karl’s seven tuna pouches and took

  off.

  I figured Roy must really like tuna.

  I figured wrong.

  Chapter 33

  We bounced along for what seemed like

  forever, then suddenly stopped. Roy opened the

  backpack and I quickly figured out the tuna

  wasn’t for him.

  It was the Cat Dumpster! Roy was going to

  smear me with tuna and feed me to the cats!

  Seriously, I’d rather have my spleen ripped

  out.

  “Get out!” ordered Roy.

  I struggled to stand, then immediately fell

  over.

  I pointed to my legs. “Log legs.”

  Roy moved toward me. I raised my hands and

  ducked.

  Roy reached past me and grabbed the tuna

  pouch. “It was you in the tree house in that

  stupid disguise.”

  I nodded.

  “Where’s Oinkdexter?”

  “I don’t have him.”

  Roy started to rip open the tuna pouch. “If

  you don’t tell me where he is, you’re going in the

  Dumpster with this on your head.”

  “I really don’t have him. Molly does. And I

  don’t know where!”

  I looked up. The Dumpster was now buried in

  an army of cats, every one of them staring right

  at me.

  I turned back to Roy. “Please. I really don’t

  know! If I did know, I would tell you. I would!”

  Roy ripped open the tuna pouch.

  “NO!” I screamed.

  Roy grabbed me as hundreds of cats licked

  their lips in anticipation. Then just as Roy raised

  the tuna pouch over my head . . .

  It was Roy’s phone. He looked at the screen

  and gasped. He dropped the phone, fell back

  against the Dumpster, and slid slowly to the

  ground. The cats instantly attacked the open

  tuna pouch still clutched in his hand.

  I picked up the phone. It was a text to Roy,

  from Molly.

  Molly: You stop bullying us or the pig gets it!

  There was a picture attached.

  It was Karl’s science fair project, “Will It

  Twist?” He and Molly were threatening to tear

  Oinkdexter apart.

  I didn’t get it. “It’s just a stupid stuffed pig,” I

  said. “Why do you . . .”

  I looked up from the phone. Roy was still

  buried in cats fighting over the tuna. He didn’t

  flinch. He just stared into space. And looked . . .

  wounded.

  The Bully in him was gone.

  In his place . . .

  . . . was a bully I recognized.

  Chapter 34

  You really think you can get Oinkdexter back?”

  Roy asked. We were standing in the first floor

  boys’ restroom looking up at the access panel to

  the school’s ductwork.

  I nodded. “No sweat,” I said.

  Actually, I had no idea how much sweat it

  would be. Probably a lot of sweat. Probably more

  sweat than I could sweat. But I had to help him.

  I couldn’t leave him with those Dumpster cats.

  Those things can lick the shine off the sun.

  “You’re sure they won’t give Oinkdexter back

  if I just agree to their terms?” asked Roy.

  “I’m sure. If they give him up, what’s to stop

  you from just going back to being a bully?” I

  explained as I removed the access panel.

  “Why are you helping me?” asked Roy.

  “So I can look in the mirror.”

  “What?”

  “Forget it. What about you? What’s so special

  about this pig?”

  “Oinkdexter smells like my mom.”

  “Is your mom not around?”

  Roy shook his head no.

  I didn’t know what to say about

  that, so I didn’t say anything for a few

  seconds. Then I took out my phone

  and said, “Step one: Beg for help from

  someone who hates me.”

  Becky hung up on me. I texted her:

  Nick: IT’S NOT ABOUT ME! IT’S ABOUT ROY! I need

  ur help to get his pig back! Pleez call back!

  My phone rang a few s
econds later.

  “This is all your fault!” Becky shouted.

  “Yeah, but we still need your help,” I pleaded.

  “Why are you helping Roy?”

  “He asked me to.”

  “He asked you for help after everything you’ve

  done to him? And after everything he’s done to

  you, you said yes?”

  “I guess it makes us even,” I said.

  There was a long pause, and then: “What do I

  need to do?”

  I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding

  in. Becky didn’t completely hate me. Just mostly.

  “We’ve got a half hour,” I said. “When I text

  you, I need you to clear everyone out of the

  science fair in the cafetorium.”

  “How am I supposed to do that?”

  “I haven’t figured that out yet.”

  “You’ve really thought this through.”

  “C’mon, just trust me. Please?”

  There was another pause, then she finally

  said, “Fine.”

  I hung up and turned to Roy. “Becky’s in.”

  Roy said, “So, we’re going to crawl to the

  ceiling of the cafetorium, somehow clear the

  science fair, drop down, and grab Oinkdexter.”

  “See, no sweat.”

  I immediately started to sweat.

  Chapter 35

  Roy poked his head into the duct and asked

  “Are there bugs in here?”

  “No. I don’t know. Maybe. You’re not scared,

  are you?”

  Roy and I entered the duct and started

  crawling, using my phone as a flashlight.

  We passed Dr. Daniels’s office and the main

  office. Everything was going perfectly until . . .

  . . . my phone went dead. We couldn’t see a

  thing.

  I thought, Don’t panic. We still have Roy’s

  phone.

  From behind, I could see a dim light come on.

  Roy said, “Um . . . my battery’s almost dead too.”

  “We’ll be fine. Just turn it off. It’s just a left,

  then a right, then a left again. Just follow me.”

  I crawled forward, feeling my way. After a few

  feet, I could see light up ahead and hear voices

  below. We were over the cafetorium. It was just a

  few more feet to the first vent.

  “We’re here. You okay, Roy?” I asked.

  There was no answer.

  “Roy?”

  I looked back. Roy wasn’t there.

  “ROY!” I yelled.

  “What?” said Roy behind me.

  I turned and Roy was suddenly in front of me,

  on the other side of the vent.

  “I never turned my phone back on!” I said.

  “You must have seen some light from . . .”

  “Emily,” said Roy.

  “Not you too,” I said. “You know she’s not

  real!”

  “No, she’s real. She’s real like Oinkdexter is

  real.”

  “Oinkdexter is a stuffed pig.”

  “Oinkdexter helps me deal with stuff I don’t

  understand, just like Emily helps kids deal with

  stuff they don’t understand. If it works, it’s real.

  And it works.”

  I looked at Roy for a few seconds. Then I said,

  “You’ve had a lot of therapy, haven’t you, Roy?”

  “You have no idea.”

  Roy turned on his phone. “Ten minutes till

  the deadline. Have you figured out how you’re

  going to clear the room?”

  “I’m working on it,” I said as I peered

  through the grate at the science fair below.

  Kids, parents, and teachers were everywhere.

  There were dozens of exhibits. It was packed.

  I couldn’t see how we were going get everyone

  out. I was just about to give up when I looked

  directly below us and saw the answer staring

  straight up at me.

  I quickly texted Becky.

  Release the python!

  I hit send. Nothing happened. I stared at the

  phone, “No bars! We don’t have any bars!”

  I waved the phone around. It was no use. We

  had no signal.

  Roy took a deep breath. “I’ll just agree to the

  demands,” he said. “Thanks for trying.”

  “They’re never going to give you the pig! It’s

  their guarantee you’ll keep your promise. There’s

  got to be some other way.”

  I looked down. Oinkdexter was directly under a

  vent farther up the duct. If I only had some string

  or some— I instantly saw what I was looking for.

  “Wire!” I said.

  Several wires lined the duct. I pulled on one.

  It wouldn’t give.

  Roy said, “I’ll do it.”

  He yanked in both directions. The wire came

  loose. I quickly coiled it up and made a noose

  with one end.

  Roy looked at me. “Five more minutes, and

  I’m making the deal.”

  We quickly crawled to the vent overlooking

  Oinkdexter. I lowered the wire.

  Roy grabbed my shoulder. “Please be careful.”

  I nodded. “I will,” I said.

  I looked back down. I slipped the noose

  around Oinkdexter’s arm and tightened it. I

  looked back up at Roy. “Got him.”

  That’s when I felt a yank.

  Roy yelled, “She’s got Oinkdexter!”

  I turned and looked back down and saw Molly

  tugging on the wire and Becky staring up at us.

  Before I could say anything, someone

  screamed:

  A sudden tidal wave of kids and parents fled

  the python booth for the exits.

  I turned to Roy. “Becky must have gotten the

  message! But how?”

  When I turned back, Molly and Becky were

  gone, overrun by the fleeing crowd.

  Roy pointed and yelled, “There! Above the

  crowd! Oinkdexter!”

  We watched helplessly as Oinkdexter

  disappeared into the stampeding mob.

  I looked at

  Roy. He looked

  scared. He

  looked more

  scared of losing

  Oinkdexter than

  I’d ever been

  scared of him.

  Chapter 36

  Once the cafetorium cleared, we searched

  everywhere for the pig. I finally spotted him

  next to the broken mouse cage. But someone else

  spotted him too.

  “There he is!” Molly and I

  shouted at the exact same time.

  I looked around for Molly

  and found her and Becky under a table. They were

  inching toward Oinkdexter. We had to hurry.

  But before I could get Roy to lower me down,

  he pointed below us and screamed, “SNAKE!”

  The sight of Willy sliding toward Oinkdexter

  froze Molly and Becky. I knew pythons were

  dangerous to mice, not humans, but still, he was

  a BIG snake. I would have been scared too, if it

  wasn’t for what Roy said next.

  “Oinkdexter is all I have left of my mom.”

  “She’s gone?”

  “Two years ago.”

  Suddenly it all made sense. I said, “And he

  still smells like her.”

  Roy nodded.

  I turned and stuck my legs through the grate.

  “Lower me down.”

 
Roy grabbed my wrists and lowered me.

  I was still too high above the floor. “Just

  drop me!” I yelled. But Roy wasn’t listening. He

  suddenly let go of one of my wrists, pointed to

  Oinkdexter and yelled:

  We fell about a foot and stopped. I looked up.

  The duct had fallen through the ceiling. Roy was

  stuck in the grate, upside down, holding my arm

  with a death grip.

  Roy yelled, “It’s got him!”

  I yelled, “Drop me—” but my voice was cut off

  by a deafening crack as the ceiling gave way and

  the duct split open.

  We were okay. Roy’s fall was broken by a

  watermelon from the “Will It Twist?” exhibit.

  And my fall was broken by Roy.

  We quickly wiped off the watermelon guts,

  stood up, and came face to face with . . . Karl?

  Roy reached for Oinkdexter.

  Molly grabbed the pig from Karl. “Not so

  fast!” she said.

  “I promise to stop messing with you guys,”

  said Roy. “Just give me Oinkdexter.”

  “No way,” said Molly. “The pig is our only

  guarantee you’ll keep your promise.”

  I looked at Roy. “I told you they wouldn’t give

  it up. Let me take care of this.”

  I walked Molly, Karl, and Becky a few feet

  away so we could talk alone. I explained how

  Oinkdexter had a very special smell.

  Afterward, we all turned and looked at Roy.

  He looked smaller for some reason. Almost

 

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