The elevator had broken into a hundred pieces. I saw the paper airplane wings fly off in different directions. Plastic bubbles floated down. The bubble maker came crashing down next to me with a deafening CRUNCH!
Kids ducked and covered their heads.
Whoa. My brain began to spin. The other three inventions had been blown to bits.
I glanced at my fist and saw that my dust clump hadn’t been harmed.
Yes! YES!! Brilliant move, Bernie! Good news!
You can’t blow up DUST!!
Corky Pigge stood at the back of the crowd, laughing his Pigge head off. He gave me the thumbs-up sign. That dude really does like to blow up things. Weird.
Mr. Snute was talking with the judges, waving his arms, shaking his head. After a few minutes he stepped back to the microphone.
“Settle down, people,” he shouted. “I don’t want anyone to worry. My fish plaque is perfectly okay. Not a scratch.”
He held up the goldfish plaque so we could all see that it was not harmed. Then he continued: “I’m sorry to say, after that unexpected explosion, we have only one invention left. The Instant Dust from Rotten School. It’s a horrible, stupid invention. But we have no choice. Rotten School wins the prize!”
My buddies and I were the only ones who cheered. What a bunch of sore losers!
But we didn’t care. We hooted and hollered, slapped knuckles, and did the secret Rotten House handshake. Then we went outside and took a few victory laps around the track.
Victory is sweet. SWEET!
Chapter 22
A BIG FINISH
The four of us returned to Rotten School as winners. WINNERS! What a beautiful word! Almost as beautiful as one other word—BERNIE.
Headmaster Upchuck met us at the front gate as our bus pulled up. He gave us a warm greeting: “I’m really sorry to see you boys back,” he said.
I waved the winning check in front of me. “We won, sir!” I cried. “We won five thousand dollars.”
He snatched the check out of my hand. “Thank you, Bernie. I’m going to put this to good use.”
“Huh?” I gasped. “Y-you mean…we don’t get to keep it?”
“Of course not,” Upchuck said. “The money goes to improve the school.” He tucked the check into his jacket pocket. “I think I know a good improvement for the school. A flat-screen TV for my den.”
“But—but—but—” I sputtered.
Headmaster Upchuck studied us. “I hope your stay at Preppy Prep Prep improved you boys,” he said.
“Oh, yes, sir,” I replied. “It taught us a lot. We’re going to be very different now. In fact, I’m starting a croquet team. I hope you’ll come watch us play.”
Upchuck smiled. “Yes. Croquet. That’s more like it, Bernie.”
I pulled a bright blue croquet ball from my backpack. “Check it out, sir. A special ball we brought back.”
“Hand me that mallet,” the Headmaster said. “Let me try it out. Croquet was my sport in college.”
“No, wait, sir—” I said. “Please—no—”
Too late.
Upchuck set the ball down. He swung the mallet. He slammed the ball. And guess what? It DIDN’T explode!
For nearly two seconds.
Then…
I like a story with a surprise ending—don’t you?
About the Author
R.L. Stine graduated from Rotten School with a solid D+ average, which put him at the top of his class. He says that his favorite activities at school were Scratching Body Parts and Making Armpit Noises.
In sixth grade, R.L. won the school Athletic Award for his performance in the Wedgie Championships. Unfortunately, after the tournament, his underpants had to be surgically removed.
After graduation, R.L. became well known for writing scary book series such as The Nightmare Room, Fear Street, Goosebumps, and Mostly Ghostly, and a short story collection called Beware!
Today, R.L. lives in New York City, where he is busy writing stories about his school days.
For more information about R.L. Stine,
go to www.rottenschool.com
and www.rlstine.com
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Look for these ROTTEN SCHOOL books, too!
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#2. The Great Smelling Bee
#3. The Good, the Bad and the Very Slimy
#4. Lose, Team, Lose!
#5. Shake, Rattle, & Hurl!
#6. The Heinie Prize
#7. Dudes, The School Is Haunted!
#8. The Teacher from Heck
#9. Party Poopers
#10. The Rottenest Angel
Copyright
ROTTEN SCHOOL #11: PUNK’D AND SKUNKED. Copyright © 2007 by Parachute Publishing, L.L.C. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Digital Edition March 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-190649-7
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R.L. Stine, Punk'd and Skunked
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