The Bunny-Hop Hoax

  Contents

  Chapter 1: Where’s Nibbles?

  Chapter 2: Bunny Flop

  Chapter 3: Gummy Trap

  Chapter 4: Hare-Raising Trouble!

  Chapter 5: Chew Clue

  Chapter 6: Bye-Bye, Bunny

  Chapter 7: Hide and Creak

  Chapter 8: Spring Surprise

  1

  Where’s Nibbles?

  We can’t keep veggies forever, Bess!” eight-year-old Nancy Drew told her best friend. “They’ll start to stink!”

  “I don’t care,” Bess Marvin said. She had tears in her blue eyes. “That’s all we have to remember our class pet!”

  George Fayne was Bess’s cousin and Nancy’s other best friend. Her dark curls bounced as she shook her head.

  “No it’s not,” George said. “We’ll always remember the little hole Nibbles chewed in our dictionary!”

  It was Monday morning. Nancy, Bess, and George stood in the back of the classroom with the other kids in Mrs. Reynolds’s third grade class. They all stared at the bookcase where Nibbles the hamster’s cage had once stood.

  “I don’t get it!” Andrew Leoni said. “Why would Nibbles run away?”

  “Duh!” Peter DeSands said. “Because you left the cage open after you cleaned it, Andrew!”

  “Oh . . . yeah.” Andrew said, sighing.

  Mari Chang turned to Nancy. “Why don’t you find Nibbles, Nancy?” she asked. “Detectives always find missing things!”

  Nancy loved being a detective and solving mysteries. She even had a blue detective notebook where she wrote down all her suspects and clues. But Nibbles’s running away wasn’t a mystery. It was an accident.

  “We looked all over for Nibbles, for days,” Nancy said. “Besides, it’s an open and shut case.”

  “Yeah,” Rebecca Ramirez said. “The cage was left open when it should have been shut!”

  Nancy spotted the silver hamster wheel that Nibbles used to run in. She picked it up and said, “Let’s keep this to remember Nibbles. He used to love it!”

  She gave the wheel a spin. It made a creaky, squeaky noise.

  “Maybe Nibbles liked that wheel,” Brenda Carlton said, snorting. “But that creaking drove me crazy!”

  Nancy rolled her eyes. Brenda was very good at writing her own newspaper, the Carlton News. But she wasn’t very good at being nice!

  “It won’t creak anymore,” Nancy said, “now that Nibbles is gone.”

  Nancy tapped the wheel over the garbage can, and a few cedar chips fell out. Then she placed it on a shelf.

  “There!” Nancy declared. “Nibbles would have wanted us to have it.”

  Mrs. Reynolds finished writing the date on the blackboard with colored chalk. It was April 4. She told everyone to take their seats so they could start the day.

  Nancy hurried to her desk. It was between the window and Bess’s seat. George sat in the front near the blackboard.

  “Look at the daffodils on Mrs. Reynolds’s desk, Nancy,” Bess whispered.

  “Pretty!” Nancy said when she saw the vase filled with yellow flowers. Daffodils meant spring—and Nancy loved spring!

  “I know everyone is sad about Nibbles,” Mrs. Reynolds said. “But I have some very good news to cheer you all up.”

  Good news? Everyone whispered at once: “An extra hour of recess?” “A class trip?” “A class trip to the moon?”

  “This Friday will be the Carl Sandburg Elementary School Spring Festival,” Mrs. Reynolds said. “Our principal, Mrs. Oshida, wants each class to sing a song about spring, recite a poem, or dance.”

  Nancy’s classmates grinned at one another.

  “There will be a prize for the best performance,” Mrs. Reynolds said. “It’s a class computer program with seventy-five learning games on it.”

  “Seventy-five!” George said. She let out a whistle. “That’s almost a hundred!”

  Nancy raised her hand and asked, “What will we be doing, Mrs. Reynolds?”

  “Our class will be dancing the Bunny Hop,” Mrs. Reynolds explained, “and it goes something like this. . . .”

  The class giggled as Mrs. Reynolds began hopping forward and backward!

  “And,” Mrs. Reynolds continued, with a twinkle in her eye, “the dance will be led by one student, who will wear this. . . .”

  Mrs. Reynolds opened the door and called, “Come on in, Orson!”

  Nancy’s eyes popped open as Orson Wong walked into the classroom. He was dressed in a fuzzy, white bunny costume!

  “The lead bunny should be someone who has been helpful to the class,” Mrs. Reynolds said. “Any suggestions?”

  Brenda’s hand shot up. “I wrote about the class picnic in my newspaper, the Carlton News,” she said. “That was helpful.”

  “Give me a break!” Mike Minelli said. “Brenda wrote that the picnic was invaded by giant alien ants from outer space!”

  Brenda stuck her chin out and said, “You all read it, didn’t you?”

  “I volunteered to be the closet monitor for two weeks,” David Berger said.

  “So you could go through everyone’s pockets for candy!” Riley McArthur said.

  Mrs. Reynolds frowned. “That’s it!” she said with a stern voice. “If you keep arguing, no one will be the lead bunny.”

  The class became very quiet. After a few seconds, Bess raised her hand.

  “I elect Nancy Drew!” Bess said. “She’s the best detective in our school!”

  “Me?” Nancy asked. She pictured herself wearing the white bunny suit and leading the Bunny Hop. But Nancy’s daydream was interrupted when the door swung open. Katie Zaleski hurried in. She was carrying a big red plastic milk crate.

  “Sorry I’m late,” Katie said. She put the crate down and handed Mrs. Reynolds a note. “I had to get the bunny ready.”

  “What bunny?” Mrs. Reynolds asked.

  “This bunny!” Katie said. She lifted a little white bunny from the crate.

  “Wow!” Nancy said. She brushed aside her reddish-blond bangs to get a better look. The bunny was so cute!

  “My grandparents gave him to me,” Katie explained, “but he doesn’t get along with my parrot, Lester. So I thought he could be our new class pet.”

  Mrs. Reynolds shook her head. “Rabbits can be a lot of work,” she said. “What if he hops out of his crate?”

  “He’s never hopped out before,” Katie insisted. “And all he eats is rabbit food. Like carrots, lettuce, and cabbage.”

  Nancy held her breath as Mrs. Reynolds thought about it. She wanted a new class pet. Especially a bunny!

  “We can keep the bunny,” Mrs. Reynolds said. “But only if he doesn’t get into trouble.”

  Katie smiled as everyone cheered.

  “Now we have two rabbits!” Jason Hutchings joked. “The bunny—and Orson!”

  Orson’s face turned red under his floppy bunny ears. “Very funny!” he said.

  Mrs. Reynolds carried the crate to the back of the room. She put it on top of the bookcase where Nibbles used to be. The crate already had lots of hay and carrots and a water bottle in it.

  The kids gathered around their new class pet. Bess gave the bunny some of Nibbles’s celery.

  “What should we name him?” Katie asked.

  “Fluffy!” Bess called.

  “How about Bucky?” George asked.

  “I know! Carrot-breath!” Orson yelled.

  “No—I have a great idea,” said Riley. “I did my book report on Ben Franklin. We could name the rabbit Bun Franklin.”

  “Great idea!” Katie exclaimed.

  “Okay, class, we have a pet bunny,” Mrs. Reynolds said. “But we still need a bunny to lead the Bunny Hop.”

  “I elect Katie!” Nancy declared.
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  “Why Katie?” Brenda asked. “All she did was bring in a rabbit.”

  “Katie brought us our new class pet!” Nancy said. She, Bess, and George raised their hands to vote for Katie. So did most of the other kids.

  “Congratulations, Katie,” Mrs. Reynolds said. “You’re Number One Bun!”

  “No fair,” Brenda mumbled.

  Katie smiled as she lifted Bun Franklin out of his crate. “You hear that, Bun?” she said. “Now I’m a bunny too!”

  Just then Nancy heard voices coming from the hall.

  “We want to pet the bunny! We want to pet the bunny!” they shouted.

  Nancy spun around. Lonny and Lenny Wong were racing into the room. They were Orson’s six-year-old twin brothers. They were also double trouble!

  The boys ran straight toward Katie and the bunny. Bun Franklin wiggled and wiggled until he hopped out of Katie’s arms.

  “Bun! Come back!” Katie cried.

  Nancy and her classmates tried to catch Bun Franklin, but he was too quick. He hopped from desk to desk and from chair to chair. Then he landed on Mrs. Reynolds’s desk.

  Nancy gasped. The vase with the pretty daffodils fell to the floor with a big crash!

  2

  Bunny Flop

  Looks like that bunny is trouble already,” Brenda said.

  “No he’s not!” Katie said, picking up Bun Franklin. “Those twins scared him!”

  “What are you doing here anyway?” Orson asked his little brothers. “Why aren’t you in your kindergarten class?”

  “We were getting a drink of water,” Lonny said. “And your door was open.”

  “We came in because we saw the bunny!” Lenny said. “We want to pet the bunny! We want to pet the bunny!”

  The twins reached toward Bun Franklin. Nancy could see that their hands were covered with paint.

  “Hey!” Nancy said. “You can’t touch our class pet with dirty hands!”

  The twins stared at their hands.

  “It’s not dirt,” said Lonny.

  “It’s finger paint!” Lenny added.

  Orson marched over to his brothers and said, “Go back to your class, or I’ll tell Mom!”

  The twins started to giggle.

  “And we’ll tell Mom you were pretending to be a rabbit!” Lenny said.

  Orson turned red again as the boys raced out of the room. “Can I take this dumb suit—I mean, rabbit suit—off now, Mrs. Reynolds?” he asked.

  “Yes, Orson,” Mrs. Reynolds said.

  “And I’ll put Bun Franklin back in his crate, Mrs. Reynolds,” Katie said. “He’ll be good from now on. I promise.”

  “I hope so,” Bess whispered.

  “So do I,” Nancy replied. “I like having a bunny in the class.”

  When everyone was back in their seats, Mrs. Reynolds gave a vocabulary quiz. Then they went over their math homework. Then the clock over the blackboard read eleven thirty, and Mrs. Reynolds exclaimed, “It’s time to go outside and learn the Bunny Hop!”

  “I think I’ll dance in my bunny costume,” Katie said. “It’ll be good practice.”

  While Katie slipped on the rabbit suit, the others pulled on their spring jackets and coats. Nancy wore her red spring jacket. Bess had on a yellow coat with white buttons. George pulled on her gray hoodie. She didn’t like clothes as much as her cousin did!

  Mrs. Reynolds led the class into the school yard. Mrs. Apple’s class was practicing too. They were dancing with umbrellas to a song called “Singing in the Rain.”

  “Should we tell them it’s not raining?” Andrew whispered.

  “Everyone form a line in back of Katie,” Mrs. Reynolds said. Then she popped a CD into a boom box. She pressed the PLAY button, and the song began: “Do the Bunny Hop! Hop, hop, hop!”

  Nancy stood behind Bess and in front of George. They put their hands on one another’s shoulders.

  “Kick with your right foot,” Mrs. Reynolds directed. “Then with your left.”

  But when it was time to hop forward and backward . . .

  “Watch it!” Mari cried.

  “You stepped on my toe!” Riley complained.

  “You hopped too fast!” David said.

  “Uh-oh,” Nancy whispered. “This Bunny Hop isn’t as easy as I thought!”

  Mrs. Reynolds played the music from the beginning again. By the third try, everyone had the steps figured out. Everyone except Katie!

  “I don’t get it, Mrs. Reynolds,” said Katie, her bunny ears flopping. “Is it one hop or two? Do I stick out my right foot first? Or is it my left?”

  “Some lead bunny!” Brenda said, scoffing.

  She turned to Mrs. Reynolds and asked, “May I please get some water, Mrs. Reynolds?”

  “Yes, you may, Brenda,” Mrs. Reynolds said. “But when you come back, please be nicer to Katie.”

  Brenda nodded. She tossed her long dark hair and walked toward the school.

  “Don’t listen to Brenda, Katie,” Nancy said. “She just wanted to wear that bunny suit.”

  “Over her snooty pants!” George said.

  But Katie sighed and said, “Maybe Brenda’s right. Maybe I shouldn’t be the lead bunny. I keep messing up.”

  Nancy shook her head. “All you have to do is practice, Katie!” she said. “Practice makes perfect.”

  The class danced the Bunny Hop one more time. By the time Brenda came back, practice was over.

  “Let’s return to our classroom,” Mrs. Reynolds said. “We’ll practice again tomorrow.”

  Nancy’s class had just about filed into the classroom when Mrs. Reynolds gasped.

  “Oh, my!” she cried.

  The eggshell sculptures they had made the week before were on the floor. A box filled with colored markers had been knocked off the art shelf.

  “Oh, no!” Nancy cried. “What happened to our classroom?”

  3

  Gummy Trap

  Who on earth did this?” Mrs. Reynolds asked.

  Brenda pointed to a stalk of celery on the floor. “Someone left a trail of food, Mrs. Reynolds,” she said. “Rabbit food!”

  All eyes turned to Bun Franklin. His pink nose wiggled as he sat in the crate.

  “It couldn’t have been Bun,” Katie argued. “He’s inside his crate!”

  “I’ll bet he hopped out,” David said.

  Nancy didn’t think Bun Franklin had hopped out of his crate. It was too far off the ground!

  “Maybe a class rabbit isn’t a good idea,” Mrs. Reynolds said. “Maybe we should think of another animal.”

  George glanced at Brenda and muttered, “We already have a weasel.”

  “I heard that, George Fayne!” Brenda snapped.

  Nancy wanted to help. So she studied the crate and came up with an idea.

  “Why don’t we flip the crate upside down?” Nancy asked. “Then there’ll be no way Bun Franklin can hop out.”

  “There are tons of holes in the crate,” George added. “So Bun Franklin can breathe and look out.”

  “Please, Mrs. Reynolds?” Katie asked. “Can we try it? I promise to take better care of him. I’ll refill his water and celery bowl every day.”

  “Well,” Mrs. Reynolds said. “I’ll give Bun Franklin one more chance.”

  “Yes!” Katie cheered.

  Katie hung her bunny suit in the closet, and the others put away their jackets. Suddenly Molly let out a little shriek.

  “Someone just tickled my ankle!” She complained.

  That’s strange, thought Nancy. No one is standing near Molly.

  “Maybe Bun Franklin did that too!” Mike said with a laugh.

  Nancy quickly forgot about Molly as the class got busy flipping the crate upside down. When they were done, Katie gently slipped Bun in from the bottom.

  “Let’s see him try to hop out now!” Jason said as he high-fived his friends.

  Nancy looked at Bun nibbling a carrot. She hadn’t thought he had hopped out in the first place.

  B
ut if Bun Franklin didn’t mess up the classroom, Nancy wondered, who did?

  Nancy tried to pay attention during social studies and language arts. She made an effort to jump rope during recess. But she couldn’t stop thinking about Bun Franklin.

  “Even if Bun did hop out,” Nancy said after school, “why would he hop back in?”

  Nancy, Bess, George, and Katie were walking home together. They swung their backpacks at their sides.

  “What about the chewed-up celery on the floor?” George said. “How do you explain that?”

  “Maybe someone took Bun Franklin out of his crate,” Nancy said, “and put him back in after he messed up the room!”

  “That’s it!” Katie exclaimed. “And you’re going to find out who did it, right, Nancy?”

  “I am?” Nancy asked.

  “Please, Nancy,” Bess said. “If you don’t, we might lose another class pet!”

  “And who knows what our next class pet will be,” George said. “A snake . . . an iguana . . . a rat . . .

  Nancy shuddered. The last thing she wanted was a creepy class pet! She pulled her detective notebook out of her backpack and said, “Let’s get to work!”

  The girls dropped their backpacks on the sidewalk. Nancy opened her notebook to a clean page. At the top she wrote, WHO BLAMED THE BUNNY?

  “We know that our classroom was messed up while we were dancing the Bunny Hop,” Nancy said. “That means it was sometime after eleven thirty.”

  Nancy drew a clock in her notebook. She drew the little hand pointing to the eleven and the big hand pointing to the six.

  “But who let Bun Franklin out of his crate?” Bess asked.

  “Brenda was mad that she wasn’t picked to lead the Bunny Hop,” Nancy said. “Maybe she got Bun Franklin in trouble to make Katie look bad.”

  “And Brenda left Bunny-Hop practice early to get water,” Bess said. “Maybe that’s when she sneaked into the classroom!”

  “Case closed!” Katie declared. “Brenda did it. Let’s tell Mrs. Reynolds!”

  Nancy shook her head. “Brenda is just a suspect so far, Katie,” she said. “We have no proof that she did anything yet.”

  “What proof do we need?” Katie asked. “Who else could have done it?”