6th Grade Alien - There's An Alien In My Backpack Part 6

Ms. Weintraub nodded. "Indeed I do," she said. But she had a funny look on her face, and suddenly I wondered if I had made a mistake by saying my mother had sent something to McNally. But I didn't have time to worry about it. I bolted out of my chair, grabbed the backpack, and scurried to the back of the room. "There's something in here for you," I said, speaking quietly.

McNally knew what was in my backpack, of course, though he couldn't say anything. But I could tell from the way he rolled his eyes that I was going to pay for this sooner or later.

I went back to my seat. I saw McNally peek into the backpack. A few minutes later he went to speak to Ms. Weintraub. Then he slipped out of the room, taking the backpack with him. He came back a few minutes later, still carrying the pack, and when I looked at him he nodded. So, that was one problemsolved.

Now all I had to worry about wasJordan .

It didn't take long for him to make his move. When the cla.s.s went outside for a break later that morning, I retrieved the pack from McNally. Pleskit and I had gone to the spot we like to hang out whenJordan came storming up and said, "All right, what's going on, Tompkins? I know you and Pleskit Purplepants were making that stuff fall off my desk,"

"We had nothing to do with it," said Pleskit sincerely.

"Come on, think about it,Jordan ," I said. "Has Pleskit ever demonstrated telekinetic powers?"

That slowed him down just a little.

"So there's no reason to think he's doing it now," I said. "No reason to think anything other than that you're having a sudden burst of clumsiness."

"You're pressing your luck, monster maker," saidJordan . He glanced at McNally, who was standing nearby. I didn't have to look myself to know that he would be pretending to ignore us while he was, in reality, watching like a hawk.Jordan 's lip curled into a truly masterful sneer. "You won't always have that big lunk behind you, you know," he said, just softly enough so that McNally couldn't hear.

He turned to walk away.

As he did, Beebo struck again.

CHAPTER 13.

[TIM].

The Witness Jordanhappened to be wearing baggy pants that day. So when all the b.u.t.tons popped off the front, it wasn't surprising that they dropped down to his knees.

He stumbled and fell.

The sight of Jordan lying flat on his face with his pants halfway down his legs and his plaid boxer shortsin full view filled me with a weird combination of amus.e.m.e.nt and terror. There was no way he could blame the event on me and Pleskit. Even so, it was a dead cinch he would be convinced it had been our fault.

Which, in a way, it was.

It didn't help that most of the rest of the sixth grade experienced only the amus.e.m.e.nt. The gales of laughter that greetedJordan 's depants-ing were only going to feed his fury.

Jordandoesnot like to be laughed at.

"Beebo!"I hissed over my shoulder. "Don't do anything like that again!"

"Just trying to help," replied his tiny voice, sounding hurt.

"You'll help me get killed!" I said.

I spent the afternoon in a state of terror, wondering how my enemy would try to get his revenge. The worst part of it was that even though Pleskit offered to give me a ride home, I still had to stay after school to work with Ms. Weintraub.

"I would come back and get you if I could," said Pleskit miserably. "But the Galactic Inspection Team is arriving today, and the Fatherly One insists that I be present."

"I understand," I said gloomily. "Just make sure you can come to my funeral."

The after-school session seemed to last forever, mostly because I had a hard time focusing on how to multiply decimals while simultaneously worrying about how soon I was going to die.

When Ms. Weintraub finally gave up and let me go, I hurried into the hall, looked around to make sure no one was nearby, then opened the backpack.

"You okay in there?" I asked.

"I gotta pee again," said Beebo miserably. "I think my eyeb.a.l.l.s are starting to float."

I sighed and took him into the boys' room. He went into one of the stalls. A few minutes later I heard a flush. The door opened, and he strolled back out-an odd sight, since he was barely as tall as the toilet.

"Feezle dee-goopus!"he said. "I feel better."

"Yeah, well, I'm afraid I'm not going to feel so good pretty soon."

"Why not?" asked Beebo, looking so genuinely concerned I almost forgot that he was the one who got me into this trouble.

"BecauseJordan 's gonna kill me for what you did to him on the playground today."

Beebo looked shocked. "They warned me that this was a savage and terrible world, but I did not think it wasthat dangerous!"

"I don't mean he's really going to kill me- though I might wish he had by the time he's done with me. I don't knowwhat he's gonna do, actually.Most of the time he just ha.s.sles me by teasing me. But he was so mad this time, I think he's probably gonna punch my lights out."

"What lights?" asked Beebo.

"It's just an expression. It means he's going to beat me up."

"Well, it may not be murder, but I still find that shockingly violent," said Beebo.

"You must not have studied our world that much," I muttered.

"I'm here to study humor, not tragedy." I sighed. "Just get in the backpack," I said.

I left the school through the back door. I was looking from side to side, checking for any sign ofJordan . My caution didn't do me any good. As I walked past the Dumpster, he stepped out from behind it and said, "All right, Tompkins. What's the deal?"

"Yeah," said Brad, who was, not surprisingly, right there beside him. "What's the deal?"

"No deal," I said. I held out my hands. "See? I don't even have a deck of cards."

"Ha very ha," saidJordan , stepping toward me.

Brad had gone a little to my left and was approaching from that side. I felt like an elk that's been cut out of the herd by a pack of wolves.

Jordan's fists were clenching. "Talk, Tompkins," he said, stepping even closer.

"Yeah," said Brad."Talk!"

I wondered if I should slip out of the backpack. Odds were good the three of us were going to be rolling on the ground soon, with me mostly on the bottom, and I didn't want to squash Beebo. On the other hand, if I did take off the pack, the very action might draw attention to it, makeJordan wonder what was inside. . .

I was dying to say, "Beebo, if you've got any tricks in mind, now's the time to use them!"Except that would have made it clear what was going on. Besides, depantsingJordan again at this point would do nothing but prove I had had something to do with it the first time. And I knew Beebo's powers weren't strong enough to lift Jordan and Brad and drop them in the Dumpster.

I swallowed hard.

Jordan and Brad moved closer, making a slow circle around me. ThenJordan stopped right in front of me. He reached up to grab me. I hadn't been this scared since we were attacked by those terrible pod creatures on Billa Kindikan.

"Time for us to have a little talk, Tim," saidJordan .

He grabbed the front of my s.h.i.+rt. His right hand balled into a fist.

Then, to my astonishment, Rafaella stepped out from the far side of the Dumpster. She was holding a camera.

"Well, well, well," she said, her voice deadly serious. "What a perfect photo op." She lifted the camera and looked through the eyepiece. "Everybody smile!"

"Get out of here, Rafaella," saidJordan . "This is none of your business."

She pressed the shutter b.u.t.ton, and the camera clicked. "You'll look better if you smile,Jordan ," she said grimly. "Of course, this probably isn't a good time to do anything you might not want people to know about. Pictures do have a way of getting around."

Then she smiled at him.

A long moment pa.s.sed while the four of us- Jordan, Brad, me, and Rafaella-stood as if frozen. FinallyJordan looked at Brad and made a get-out-of-here gesture with his head. Brad started to back away.

"This isn't over, Tompkins," saidJordan ."You either, Rafaella." Then he turned and stalked away.

Maybe it wasn't over, but the crisis was past for the moment. I felt my knees wobble, and it was all I could do to keep from falling down.

I turned to Rafaella. "Thanks," I said.

She shrugged. "How did you happen to be here?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Ididn't justhappen to be here, Tim. After what went on outside today, I knewJordan would be planning to ha.s.sle you after school."

I looked at her carefully. "So why did you decide to do something about it?"

She turned off her camera and put it in her own backpack. "My father has a saying he likes to quote. He says that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to remain silent." She gestured in the direction Jordan and Brad had disappeared. "I guess I just couldn't stay silent any longer."

"You're the first person who's ever helped me withJordan ," I said.

She shrugged. "Today was worse than usual. Besides, it's the first time I figured out something to do."

I smiled. "I owe you a favor."

"Good. You can repay it right now."

"How?"I asked, suddenly feeling nervous.

"Tell me what's in your backpack."

I was trying to decide whether I could lie to someone who had just saved my life when Beebo coughed.

It was just a tiny cough.

But it was unquestionably a cough.

Equally unquestionably, it was coming from my backpack.

Rafaella looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

I sighed. "Promise you won't tell?"

She nodded solemnly,then put a finger on her lips. "Consider me sworn to silence."

I shrugged out of the shoulder straps and pulled the backpack around in front of me. "Come here," I said.

She walked over to join me.

I undid the buckle and lifted the top of my backpack.

Rafaella peered in,then cried out in horror.

CHAPTER 14.

[PLESKIT].

The Inspection Team I could not stop fretting about Tim as McNally and I traveled back to the emba.s.sy after school that day.

However, once we reached the emba.s.sy, I had to turn my attention to my own problem-the Inspection Team from the Interplanetary Trading Federation.

"They're hee-e-e-e-re!" sang Shhh-foop, as McNally and I entered the emba.s.sy kitchen. At first I thought she was referring to the two of us. But she was sliding frantically about the floor, her tentacles twirling around her head, and after a moment I realized she meant that the Inspection Team had arrived. I could tell she was in the midst of preparing some grand meal for them.

"Don't worry about us, Shhh-foop," I said. "I can get a snack for myself."

"But I will not have time to make coffee for the weary Just McNally," she warbled fretfully.

McNally doesn't really like to have the "Mr." attached to his name. Therefore, whenever he meets someone new he says, "It's McNally.Just . . . McNally." This has had the side effect of convincing Shhh-foop that the proper way to address him is as "Just McNally." He seems to find this amusing, and it probably makes up for the fact that the Fatherly One and Ms. b.u.t.tsma.n.a.lways call himMr. McNally.

"Don't worry about the coffee, Shhh-foop," said McNally now, working hard to sound regretful. "I'll manage somehow."