21 - Go Eat Worms!

  He stopped outside Regina’s bedroom door when he heard her laughing. At first, he thought she was talking to herself.

  But then he realized that Regina was on the phone.

  So early?

  He pressed his ear to the door and listened.

  “Isn’t it a riot, Beth?” Regina was saying. “I sent them to the wrong address.” Regina laughed again. Gleeful laughter.

  Todd suddenly snapped wide awake. He pressed his ear tighter against the bedroom door.

  “Todd was so desperate, I couldn’t resist,” Regina was saying. “Know where I sent them?”

  There was a short pause. Todd realized he was holding his breath. He let it out silently and took another one, listening hard.

  “I sent them to the old Fosgate mansion,” Regina told Beth. She laughed. “Yeah. Right. That old deserted mansion where those kids had that Halloween party. Yeah. You know. They left that dummy with the weird mask in the window.”

  Another pause.

  Todd gritted his teeth as he listened to his sister’s triumphant laughter. He could feel every muscle in his body tightening in anger.

  “I don’t know, Beth. I haven’t talked to him yet,” Regina was saying. “I heard Todd come in last night. He ran straight to his room and shut the door. He was probably too scared to talk!”

  More laughter.

  Balling and unballing his fists, Todd stepped away from his sister’s door. He stopped at the stairs, feeling his face grow red-hot. He was thinking hard.

  So Reggie played a little joke on Danny and me, he thought bitterly. So she gave me the wrong address and sent us to that old haunted house.

  Ha-ha. Good joke.

  Todd felt so angry, he wanted to scream.

  Now Regina will be laughing at me about this forever, he realized. She will make fun of me for the rest of my life.

  Her bedroom door opened, and Regina stepped out into the hall. She was pulling her brown hair back into a ponytail.

  She stopped when she saw Todd at the top of the stairs. “So, how did it go last night?” she asked him, grinning.

  “Fine,” he replied casually. He gave her an innocent, wide-eyed stare.

  Her grin faded. “Did you go to Patrick’s house? Did you talk to him about his worm project?” she demanded, staring back at him, studying his face.

  Todd shook his head. “No. Danny and I decided to skip it. We just hung out at Danny’s,” he lied.

  Her dark eyes seemed to dim. She bit her lower lip. Todd could see how disappointed she was.

  He turned and made his way down the stairs, feeling a little better.

  You want to play jokes, Reggie? he thought.

  Okay. Fine.

  But now it’s my turn. My turn to play a mean joke.

  Todd smiled. He had already thought of a really good one.

  10

  Todd hoisted the cardboard carton in both hands. His worm house was packed carefully inside. It was heavier than he thought.

  “Where shall I put it?” he asked Mrs. Sanger, struggling to keep the heavy carton from slipping out of his hands.

  “What? I can’t hear you!” The science teacher held a clipboard in one hand. She cupped her other hand around her mouth as a megaphone.

  It was deafening in the gym as the kids all hurried to set up their science projects in time for the expo. Excited voices competed with scraping chairs and tables, the rattle of cartons being unpacked, and projects of all shapes and sizes being assembled and set up.

  “What a crowd!” Todd exclaimed.

  “I can’t hear you!” Mrs. Sanger shouted. She pointed to a long table against the wall. “I think your project goes there, Todd.”

  Todd started to say something. But he was interrupted by the crash of shattering glass and a girl’s loud scream.

  “Was that the acid?” Mrs. Sanger shouted, her eyes going wide with horror. “Was that the acid?” She pushed past Todd and went tearing across the gym, holding her clipboard in front of her like a shield.

  Todd watched a lot of kids gathering around the spot of the accident. Mrs. Sanger burst into the circle, and everyone began talking at once.

  Around the vast gym, others ignored the excitement and continued feverishly setting up their projects.

  The bleachers had been pulled down. Some parents and other kids from the school were already seated, waiting to watch the expo and the judging of projects.

  Groaning, Todd started to make his way through the crowded gym carrying the carton. He had to stop and chuckle when he caught a glimpse of Regina and Beth.

  They had their enormous robin set up close to the bleachers. The head was the right size now. They had managed to shave it down smoothly.

  But some of the tail feathers had gotten mashed. And they were working frantically to smooth them out.

  What losers, Todd thought, grinning.

  There’s no way they’re going to win the computer.

  Turning away, he glimpsed Danny’s balloon solar system hanging on the back wall. One of the balloons—the one closest to the sun—had already deflated.

  Pitiful, Todd thought, shaking his head. That’s just pitiful.

  He sighed. Poor Danny. I guess I should have let him share in my project.

  Todd lowered the carton onto the table reserved for him.

  “Ten minutes, everyone! Ten minutes!” Mrs. Sanger was shouting.

  No problem, Todd thought.

  He opened the carton and carefully lifted out the worm house. What a beauty! he thought proudly.

  It looked like a perfect little house. Todd had polished the wood frame until it glowed. And he had cleaned the glass until it was spotless.

  He set the worm house down carefully on the table and turned it so that the glass side faced the audience in the bleachers. He gazed into it. He could see the long, brown and purple worms crawling from room to room.

  He had packed the dirt in carefully. Then he had dropped in more than twenty worms before sealing it all up.

  It’s a real big family! he thought, grinning.

  Once the worm house was in place, Todd pulled out the sign he had made for it and placed the sign beside it on the table.

  He stepped back to admire his work. But someone pushed him gently aside.

  “Make room. Make room, Todd.” It was Mrs. Sanger. And to Todd’s surprise, she was helping Patrick MacKay carry a long cardboard carton to the table.

  “Move your project to the side, Todd,” the teacher instructed. “You have to share the table.”

  “Huh? Share?” Todd hesitated.

  “Hurry—please!” Mrs. Sanger pleaded. “Patrick’s box is heavy.”

  “I’m sharing the table with Patrick?” Todd couldn’t hide his unhappiness.

  Obediently, he slid his worm house to one side of the table. Then he stood behind the table, watching as Patrick and the teacher unloaded the long carton. The box was nearly six feet long.

  “Is that all one worm?” Todd joked.

  “Very funny,” Patrick muttered. He was straining hard to lift his project onto the table.

  “This will be our worm table,” Mrs. Sanger said, grabbing the end of the carton and tugging. Patrick pulled, too.

  Todd gasped as Patrick hoisted his project onto the tabletop.

  “Very impressive, Patrick,” Mrs. Sanger commented, straightening her skirt. She hurried off to help someone else.

  Todd gaped at the project. It towered over his. It was nearly six feet tall, taller than Patrick!

  “Oh, nooooo,” Todd moaned to himself. He turned to Patrick. “It—it isn’t… it can’t be—!” He choked on the words.

  Patrick was busily setting up his sign. He stepped back, checking it out, making sure it was straight.

  “Yes, it is!” he said, beaming at Todd. “It’s a worm skyscraper!”

  “Wow.” Todd didn’t want to show how upset he was. But he couldn’t help it. His legs were trembling. His mouth dropped open. And he started to stutter, “But?
??but—but—”

  I don’t believe this! Todd thought miserably.

  I built a crummy little worm house. And Patrick made a skyscraper!

  It’s not fair! Not fair!

  Patrick doesn’t even like worms!

  He stared at the giant wood-and-glass structure. He could see dozens and dozens of worms inside. They were crawling from floor to floor. There was even a wooden elevator with several worms tucked inside.

  “Todd—are you okay?” Patrick asked.

  “Yeah. Uh… fine,” Todd replied, trying to force his legs to stop quivering.

  “You look a little weird,” Patrick said, staring at Todd with his bright blue eyes.

  “Uh… that’s a nice project, Patrick,” Todd admitted through clenched teeth. “You could win the big prize.”

  “You think so?” Patrick replied, as if the thought had never occurred to him. “Thanks, Todd. I got the idea from you. About worms, I mean.”

  You stole the idea, you thief! Todd thought angrily.

  I have only one wish for you, Patrick. Go eat worms!

  “Wow! What’s that?” Danny’s voice broke into Todd’s ugly thoughts. He was staring in amazement at Patrick’s project.

  “It’s a worm skyscraper,” Patrick told him, beaming with pride.

  Danny admired it for a while. Then he turned to Todd. “Why didn’t you think of that?” he whispered.

  Todd gave Danny a hard shove. “Go blow up a balloon,” he muttered.

  Danny spun around angrily. “Don’t shove me—”

  Mrs. Sanger’s voice over the loudspeaker rose over the noise of the gym. “Places by your projects, everyone. The expo is starting. The judges will begin their rounds.”

  Danny hurried back to his balloon solar system against the wall. Todd watched him make his way past a display of rocks. Danny was swinging his arms as he walked, and he nearly knocked over all the rocks.

  Then Todd stepped behind the table. He brushed a speck of dust off the roof of his worm house.

  I should just toss it in the trash, he thought miserably. He glanced at Patrick, who stood beside him, grinning from ear to ear, his hands resting on the sides of his magnificent skyscraper.

  The copycat is going to win, Todd thought sadly.

  He sighed. Only one thing would cheer him up a little. One thing. And gazing across the gym, Todd saw that it was time for it to happen.

  The three judges—all teachers from another school—were stepping up to check out Christopher Robin. As they bent low to examine the papier-mâché bird feet, Todd made his way quickly over to his sister’s project.

  He wanted a good view.

  One judge, a plump young woman in a bright yellow vest, examined the tail feathers. Another judge, a man with a shiny bald head, was questioning Regina and Beth. The third judge had her back to Todd. She was running her hand over the bird’s swelling orange breast.

  Reggie and Beth look really nervous, Todd thought, edging past a display on how trash gets recycled.

  Well, they should be nervous. What a dumb project.

  Todd stopped a few feet in front of the bleachers. There was a really big audience for the expo, he noticed. The bleachers were at least two-thirds filled. Mostly parents and younger brothers and sisters of the contestants.

  The bald judge kept making notes on a small pad as he questioned Regina and Beth. The other two judges were staring up at the giant robin’s beak.

  Todd edged closer.

  “What’s this string?” the judge in the yellow vest asked Beth.

  “Huh? String?” Beth reacted with surprise. She and Regina raised their eyes to the yellow beak.

  “What string?” Regina demanded.

  Too late.

  The judge in the yellow vest pulled the string.

  The beak lowered, revealing a surprise inside.

  “Ohhhh.”

  “Yuck!”

  Disgusted groans rose up from the audience.

  And Regina and Beth started to scream.

  11

  Fat worms wriggled out from inside the bird’s beak.

  Some of them wriggled out and rained down on the judges.

  A huge purple worm plopped onto the bald judge’s head. The angry judge’s red face darkened until it nearly matched the purple worm.

  Early that morning, Todd had packed about thirty worms in there. He was glad to see that most of them had stayed in the beak.

  People in the bleachers were groaning and moaning. “That’s sick!” someone yelled.

  “Gross! That’s so gross!” a little boy kept repeating.

  The judges were demanding to know if Regina and Beth had stuffed the worms up there as a joke.

  Mrs. Sanger was glaring angrily at them. The two girls were sputtering their apologies.

  It was a thrilling moment, Todd thought. A thrilling moment.

  About ten or fifteen worms were wriggling across the gym floor. Todd started to edge back to his table.

  “There he is! My brother!” he heard Regina shout. He glanced up to see her pointing furiously at him. “Todd did it! It had to be Todd!”

  He gave her an innocent shrug. “I thought Christopher Robin looked hungry—so I fed him!” he called. Then he hurried back to his worm house.

  A big grin on his handsome face, Patrick slapped Todd a high five. “Cool move, ace!”

  Todd grudgingly accepted the congratulations. He didn’t want to be friends with Patrick. He wanted Patrick to go eat worms.

  He glanced back at Danny. Danny was frantically blowing up a balloon. The rings had fallen off Saturn. And someone had accidentally popped Pluto.

  Todd smiled. He felt pretty good. His little joke had worked perfectly. Revenge was sweet. He had paid Regina back for sending him to that creepy old house.

  But his smile faded as he glanced at Patrick’s skyscraper and remembered that he was going to miss out on the grand prize.

  It took the school janitor a few minutes to round up all the worms. The crowd in the bleachers cheered him on as he scooped up the wiggling worms one by one and dropped them into an empty coffee can.

  After that, the expo continued calmly and quietly. The judges moved from project to project, asking questions, making notes.

  Todd took a deep breath when they approached his table. Don’t get excited, he warned himself. The worm house looks really puny next to the worm skyscraper.

  He had a sudden urge to bump the table, to shake it really hard. Maybe the skyscraper would topple over, and the house would be left standing.

  I could pretend it was just an accident, Todd thought.

  Evil thoughts.

  But he didn’t do it.

  The three judges spent about ten seconds looking at Todd’s project. They didn’t ask Todd a single question.

  Then they gazed at Patrick’s skyscraper for at least five minutes. “How did you get all those worms in there?” the bald judge asked.

  “I love the elevator!”

  “How many worms are there in total?”

  “Can worms survive in a real skyscraper?”

  “And what does this project prove about gravity?”

  Yak yak yak, Todd thought bitterly.

  He watched the judges coo and carry on over Patrick’s project. He wanted to grab all three of them and say, “He’s a copycat! I’m the real worm guy! I’m the one who likes worms!”

  But he just stood there grinding his teeth, tapping his fingers tensely on the tabletop.

  Still scribbling notes about Patrick’s project, the judges moved on to the next project—Liquids and Gases.

  Patrick turned to Todd and forced him into slapping another high five. “You can come over and see my new computer anytime,” Patrick whispered confidently.

  Todd forced a weak laugh. He turned away from Patrick—and found his sister glaring at him furiously from the other side of the table.

  “How could you, Todd!” she demanded, spitting out the words, her hands pressed tightly at her wai
st. “How could you do that to Beth and me?”

  “Easy,” he replied, unable to keep a grin off his face.

  “You ruined our project!” Regina cried.

  “I know,” Todd said, still grinning. “You deserved it.”

  Regina started to sputter.

  The loudspeaker above their heads crackled on. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!” Mrs. Sanger declared.

  The huge gym grew silent. No one moved.

  “The judges have a winner!” Mrs. Sanger repeated, her voice booming off the tile walls. “The grand-prize winner of this year’s Science Expo is…”

  12

  “The winner is…” Mrs. Sanger announced, “Danny Fletcher and his Balloon Solar System!”

  The audience in the bleachers was quiet for a moment, but then erupted in cheers and applause. Todd’s classmates on the floor applauded, too.

  Todd turned and caught the startled expression on Danny’s face. Several kids rushed forward to congratulate Danny. The balloons bobbed behind Danny as he grinned and took a funny bow.

  The gym erupted as everyone began to talk at once. Then the spectators made their way down from the bleachers and began wandering through the displays.

  I don’t believe this! Todd thought. Glancing at Patrick, he saw that Patrick felt the same way.

  Danny flashed Todd a thumbs-up sign. Todd returned it, shaking his head.

  He felt a hard shove on his shoulders.

  “Hey—” he cried out angrily and spun around. “Are you still here?”

  Regina glared at him angrily. “That’s for ruining our project!” she shouted.

  She shoved him again. “You apologize!” she demanded furiously.

  He laughed. “No way!”

  She growled at him and raised her fists. “Go eat worms!” she screamed.

  Still laughing, he pulled off the wooden back of his worm house and lifted up a long, brown worm. He dangled it in front of his sister’s face. “Here. Have some dessert.”

  With a furious cry, Regina completely lost all control.

  She leaped at Todd, shoving him over backwards.