From that point forward, Meredith was very happy at Scream Academy. When she’d go back home for the summer, she’d tell all the kids on her block about her scary school, and they were all jealous that she got to go to a school that was never, ever boring.
By far, Principal Headcrusher’s favorite thing about Scream Academy was the Ghoul Games—the annual competition in various games between all the Scary schools on Earth. Young Meredith won the trophy for arm wrestling every single year. There was always a big crowd to watch her arm wrestle, and Scary students from competing schools would hoot and holler as she took down beasts and monsters five times her size with ease.
Meredith Headcrusher went on to teach human history at Scream Academy for many years before moving back to the United States to found Scary School—the first and only school to mix regular kids with Scary kids and Scary teachers. At last, her students were going to have the same opportunity she’d had as a young student to meet monsters from all over the world and possibly even attain glory and acclaim through victory.
But most importantly, an invitation to the Ghoul Games meant that Scary School was finally being recognized as a success. Nobody ever thought in a million years that there could be a functioning school mixing monsters and humans, but not only was it functioning, it was succeeding beyond her wildest dreams.
If the Ghoul Games went well, it could spell an end to the thousands of years of human-monster separation, which had been Principal Headcrusher’s highest aspiration from the moment she decided to open Scary School.
Principal Headcrusher reentered her office at 8:30 a.m. practically dancing on air, only to trip and fall at the feet of a thin man in a drab gray suit. His face was sunken in, almost skeletal. He wore thin-framed glasses and his stringy gray hair was slicked back on his spotty head.
“Mr. Wolfbark!” exclaimed Principal Headcrusher, picking herself up from the floor. “I wasn’t expecting you so soon.”
Mr. Wolfbark replied in a distant, sinister tone, “Well, if you were expecting me, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise visit, would it?”
“No, I guess not.”
Principal Headcrusher knew Franz Dietrich Wolfbark all too well. He had been her fifth-grade teacher at Scream Academy thirty years ago, and she had no fond memories of his class. He definitely didn’t think humans and monsters should be mixing. She remembered he used to call on her for only the hardest questions to make her look stupid in front of her classmates. Now he was head of the Ghoul Games.
“There are some details to discuss and forms to sign,” Wolfbark said, “which will make everything official.”
He handed her a form that said in big, black letters, HOST SCHOOL ACCEPTANCE FORM. Beneath that title, there was a bunch of microscopic writing, which she didn’t bother to read before she signed the form.
“Excellent,” he said with a cagey smile. “Now to update you on the new rules and procedures.”
“New rules and procedures? I wasn’t told of any changes.”
“Of course you didn’t think it would remain exactly the same with humans in the mix? Before this, you were the only human to ever compete in the Ghoul Games, and let’s just say, you had a ‘handy’ advantage that these human children won’t have, so some changes had to be made.”
“Okay, what are the changes?”
“For the most part things will remain the same. Since you are the host school, your students will get to decide the games that will be played, and the other schools will send over their participants for each game. However, rather than awarding medals, the prizes will be quite different. You see, this year, the winners get to . . . eat . . . the losers.”
Franz Wolfbark savored saying those last words and practically licked his chops at the thought of it.
“What?” Principal Headcrusher exclaimed. “But that means if the monsters win all the games, I won’t have any more students. That would be the end of Scary School!”
“Yes, indeed. It will be the end of something that never should have existed in the first place. On the bright side, I’m sure the Scary kids who attend your school will be able to defend themselves and won’t be eaten. I suppose it’s only the human students who will be devoured, so in the end, you’ll have a normal Scary-community school just like all the others. And won’t that be nice?”
Principal Headcrusher finally understood what was going on. Scary School wasn’t chosen for the Ghoul Games to put it on the map, it was chosen to wipe it off the map.
“Mr. Wolfbark, please. It’s one thing to lose a few students here and there to keep everyone on their toes, but I can’t lose my entire paying student body. Besides, my kids won’t even want to eat the monsters if they win.”
“Don’t worry. If the human students don’t want to eat the monsters, they will be given lollipops instead. It’s all on the acceptance form you just signed and agreed to. Feel free to take a closer look at your copy.”
It took all of Principal Headcrusher’s willpower not to crush Franz Wolfbark’s head right there.
“Farewell, Principal Headcrusher. If I don’t see you the next full moon, then certainly this spring.” There was a burst of smoke around Wolfbark. When the smoke cleared, Wolfbark was still standing there. He started whistling and walked out the office door rather unremarkably. Principal Headcrusher scratched her head in confusion. Suddenly, the smoke alarm went off, ceiling sprinklers popped out, and her entire office was drenched in streams of water.
Dripping wet, Principal Headcrusher seethed as Wolfbark laughed like a hyena from the hallway.
Chapter Five
Fred, the Boy Without Fear
Everyone loves Fred because he is the school hero.
The morning after the special assembly, Principal Headcrusher announced on the PA system that there were new rules to the Ghoul Games and that Scary School students would be eaten alive by the monsters if they lost. Every student in the classroom yelped at the same time, except for Fred.
Growing up, Fred had terrifying nightmares about monsters and ghouls every night and would wake up screaming at the top of his lungs. His parents would rush in and tell him over and over that there was no such thing as monsters—that it was all just a dream.
His parents were very convincing, and Fred was certain that the monsters that plagued his dreams didn’t really exist.
Therefore, when Fred started at Scary School and began seeing the creatures from his nightmares everywhere he looked, he naturally assumed he must be dreaming. Because Fred always thought he was dreaming whenever he was at school, he didn’t think anything he saw was real, so he was never afraid. He was the boy without fear.
When Dr. Dragonbreath walked down the hallway, all the kids scattered against the walls and dared not even look at him, but Fred would walk right past him and say, “Good morning!” with a smile. One time he even said, “Good morning, you big ugly dragon.” Dr. Dragonbreath was furious, but he couldn’t eat any kid who wasn’t in his class and just stormed away fuming fire.
The kids thought Fred was either very brave or had a death wish, but Fred just thought nothing bad could possibly happen to him because it was all just a dream.
Another time, Fred witnessed a werewolf Scary kid named Peter push Jason to the ground after hockey practice. It looked like Peter the Wolf was about to rip Jason apart, so Fred fearlessly jumped into the fray. Fred got scratched up pretty badly, but he fought Peter off and Peter scampered away with his werewolf tail between his legs.
“Thank you, Fred,” said Jason.
“Anytime,” said Fred. “Boy, these cuts sure do feel real.”
Jason looked at him strangely. But they were best friends after that.
Fred also started growing his fingernails long after his fight with Peter so that he wouldn’t be at such a disadvantage if he ever had to fight Peter again.
However, the reason why Fred is the school hero is because of what happened in Mr. Acidbath’s class last year. At the time, Fred was sitting with the rest of the
fourth-grade class taking a spelling test. Their teacher, Mr. Rockface, was saying the words out loud and the class was writing them down.
“The final word is . . . explosion. Ex-plo-sion.”
At that very moment, there was a loud explosion down the hall. Kaboom!
Everyone dropped their pencils and ran out of the room to see what had happened.
Across the hall, Mr. Acidbath’s science classroom was a fiery inferno. Orange and blue flames were leaping out of the doorway. Mr. Acidbath and all his students were trapped inside screaming for help. I know because I, Derek the Ghost (before I was a ghost), was one of those students. I never thought I’d find out what it’s like to be cooked inside an oven, but I was finding out at that moment.
Nurse Hairymoles and several teachers tried to bring in the Scary School fire hose to put out the fire, but it wasn’t long enough to reach the classroom. No one had the courage to run in and try to save the students, and with good reason. The fire was so out of control that anyone who dared enter couldn’t possibly make it out alive.
The only one who wasn’t scared was Fred. As he watched the fire blazing before him, he was thinking, wow, this is such a vivid, realistic dream. I can really feel the heat from the flames.
Before anyone could hold him back, Fred dashed inside the classroom to rescue his schoolmates.
When he got inside, he saw dozens of kids rolling on the floor trying to put out the flames on their clothes. Fred seemed completely unaffected by the fire—it wasn’t hurting him one bit. I know this is a dream, Fred thought to himself. If this were real, I would have been burned alive by now.
What Fred didn’t know was that the fire had started when Mr. Acidbath’s experiment with Fear Gas went terribly wrong and exploded. Because it was a Fear Gas fire, the flames were enchanted and would not hurt anyone who wasn’t afraid. All the students, and even Mr. Acidbath, were terrified. The fire, feeding off their fear, was consuming them. But Fred, the boy without fear, repelled the flames like opposing magnets.
When Fred approached each of his schoolmates, the flames leaped off of them like frightened mice running away from a cat. One by one, he pulled each kid out of the fire, wrapped in a cocoon of fearless safety.
When he was finished, he had saved the lives of twenty-two kids and Mr. Acidbath, who bore the brunt of the explosion and would have to take a leave of absence. Some kids were burned pretty badly, but it was nothing Nurse Hairymoles couldn’t fix in a jiffy.
The only kid who didn’t make it out alive was me. I thought I was being smart and jumped into the chemical cabinet, but I got locked inside and was cooked alive. Oops. I certainly learned a very important life lesson about what not to do in a fire.
Out in the hallway, everyone was cheering for Fred. The boys gave him high fives, the girls hugged him, and the teachers applauded.
“This is the best dream ever!” Fred shouted.
No one dared tell him it wasn’t a dream, for fear of losing their school hero.
So, when Principal Headcrusher announced that the students would be eaten alive if they lost during the Ghoul Games, now you know why Fred was the only kid who wasn’t afraid.
Jason whispered to him, “I’m definitely playing hockey now. What are you going to play, Fred?”
“Hmm. How about a deep-sleeping contest? Because I cannot seem to wake up no matter how hard I pinch myself.”
Chapter Six
Dr. Dragonbreath’s Rules
In case you’ve been thinking that nothing all that scary has happened yet, I am now going to take you back to the first day of school. I didn’t want to tell you about Dr. Dragonbreath at the beginning of the book because it may well have scared you off far too soon. But now that you understand how Scary School works and because you’ve proven yourself to be very brave by reading this far, I think you’re ready to hear about what happened on the first day of school in Dr. Dragonbreath’s class.
At 8:00 a.m. on the first day, there were thirty kids in Dr. Dragonbreath’s class.
At 8:12 a.m. on the first day, there were only two kids in Dr. Dragonbreath’s class.
Principal Headcrusher was familiar with Dr. Dragonbreath’s unusual teaching method, which tended not to support the more common notion that students should stay alive during class. Thus, Principal Headcrusher did not place any of the prized Scary kids in his class.
All thirty kids were in the classroom five minutes before class started. Some were nervous. Some were very nervous. Some were acting cool and relaxed, as if they didn’t believe the horrible stories they had heard about Dr. Dragonbreath. A few were even misbehaving already, throwing spitballs and chasing one another around the room. Those ones definitely didn’t believe the stories.
At precisely 8:00 a.m., Dr. Dragonbreath entered the classroom.
All loud noises and whispers turned to dead quiet.
Dr. Dragonbreath’s name did not just describe his foul breath. He was, in fact, a nine-foot-tall dragon and he was all business. He walked upright on two thick legs and had strong arms with six-inch razor-sharp claws on each hand. He wore a perfectly ironed suit and tie over his green dragon scales, and wore thick black glasses on top of his long dragon snout. He never smiled, but when he spoke, it was clear that his teeth were designed for only one thing—eating fresh meat.
“Be seated,” Dr. Dragonbreath said matter-of-factly, with the voice of an educated young scholar instead of a fearsome dragon.
The two kids who had frozen in place while running around the room quickly returned to their seats. Dr. Dragonbreath set down a black briefcase on his desk and addressed the class.
“Hello, I am Dr. Dragonbreath. I have a PhD in dragon history and lore, not medicine, so don’t ask me to cure your sniffles unless you have no interest in keeping your various appendages.”
The students’ mouths hung open in silence.
“As you may have heard, many students have not survived my class in the past, but I sincerely hope that things will be different with you. All you have to do to survive is follow a very simple list of rules called ‘Dr. Dragonbreath’s Rules.’ If you disobey any of the rules, the consequences will be immediate and fatal.”
The kids looked at one another and gulped.
“Ah, see!” growled Dr. Dragonbreath. “Most of you just broke one of the rules by taking your attention off of me and looking at each other. But, since you didn’t know that rule yet, you will be forgiven this one time. You see, I’m tough, but fair. These, my young pupils, are Dr. Dragonbreath’s Rules.”
Dr. Dragonbreath pulled a large scroll of paper down from the ceiling. On it was written a list of five rules in dark red ink that may very well have been blood.
“These are the five rules of my class, numbered one through five. The order of the rules does not indicate the importance of one rule over another, as failure to follow any of the rules will be equally catastrophic for you.”
The kids gulped again, but kept staring straight ahead.
Dr. Dragonbreath continued, “As I point to each rule, please read that rule quietly to yourself.” Dr. Dragonbreath extended one of his razor-sharp claws and pointed to . . .
RULE NUMBER ONE. ALWAYS RAISE YOUR HAND BEFORE SPEAKING.
“Simple enough, right? I’m sure that’s been a rule in all of your classes.”
Cindy Chan, one of the nervous kids, raised her hand.
“Look, everyone! Someone is already using Rule Number One. Excellent work,” said Dr. Dragonbreath. “You may speak.”
Cindy was so nervous that she stammered as she spoke, which worsened her already significant speech impediment. “Dr. . . . Dr. . . . Dr. . . . Dwag . . . Dr. Dwagonbweff, I for . . . forgot my gwasses at home and I . . . I . . . I can’t wead the w-w-wules.”
Dr. Dragonbreath replied, “That’s understandable, young human. I know these things happen due to your species’s brain not working well at times. Rule Number One is, ‘Always raise your hand before speaking.’ You followed that rule instinctiv
ely. Very impressive. Please just listen as I read the rules aloud to you from this point forward.”
“‘Rule Number Two. No gum chewing in class.’ Again, a very common rule, yes?”
Randall, one of the kids who was running around before class, froze in place as he realized he was chewing gum at that moment. He very sneakily placed his hand over his mouth and took the gum out to put in his pocket. But just then, Dr. Dragonbreath stopped what he was doing and started sniffing the air. He looked directly at Randall, and his forked tongue shot out of his mouth twenty feet across the room.
His tongue snatched the gum right out of Randall’s hand! Dr. Dragonbreath chomped on the gum for a few seconds before blowing an enormous bubble filled with dragon breath. Dragon breath is a combination of air and fire, so when he spit out the bubble, it floated around the room like a glowing hot-air balloon.
The kids gaped in awe. When the bubble floated back to him, Dr. Dragonbreath popped it with his claw, and it exploded in a marvelous ball of fire before vanishing. The kids cried, “Hurrah!” and cheered their hearts out.
“Thank you,” said Dr. Dragonbreath, taking a bow. “See, just because there are strict rules, that doesn’t mean class can’t be fun. And fear not, Randall. You did not know that rule before you were chewing, so you are excused this one time. I’m tough, but fair.
“‘Rule Number Three. Your full attention must be given to Dr. Dragonbreath or to the work at hand at all times.’ Again, no different from your other classes, only here, the consequences are far more severe. Earlier, when you turned your heads away from me and looked at one another, you were not giving me your full attention, and thus were breaking Rule Number Three.”
All the kids kept their necks perfectly straight and did not move an inch.
“‘Rule Number Four. Cartwheels, backflips, front flips, or incredible gymnastic routines of any kind are not allowed during class.’”
The class stared at Dr. Dragonbreath in silence, a bit confused. Was this a problem in his previous classes? they were all thinking.
Scary School Page 3
