مدرسه روح زده فصل 10

The haunted School - Chapter 10

“Yo! Look out!”

“Move that amp! Hey, Greta—move that amp!”

“Move it yourself!”

“Where’s my wa-wa? Did anyone see my wa-wa pedal?”

“I ate it for breakfast!”

“You’re not funny. Move that amp!”

The band members arrived while I was snapping Polaroids. And they instantly took over, making a big racket as they set up by the bleachers.

The guitarists were all guys. Greta was the drummer. Seeing her lug her drums across the gym reminded me of the lipstick battle in class on Thursday.

After school, I’d asked Thalia what the big deal was. “Why did you go nuts?” I asked.

“I didn’t go nuts!” Thalia insisted. “Greta did. She thinks because she’s so big and strong she can just grab whatever she wants.” “She’s really weird,” I agreed. “But you were so upset—”

“I like that lipstick. That’s all,” Thalia replied. “It’s my best lipstick. Why should I let her grab it from me?” Now Greta, dressed in black as always, was setting up with the rest of the band. They were all laughing and shoving each other around, tossing cables back and forth, tripping over their guitar cases. Acting like big shots because they had a band.

A few other kids started to arrive. I recognized the two girls who were the ticket takers. And a couple of kids from the refreshment committee, who started complaining that somebody ordered only Mountain Dew and no Coke.

I scrambled around, snapping photos of the banners and the balloons. I was setting up to shoot our bison poster—when a loud shout made me spin around.

I saw Greta and one of the guitar players pretending to have a duel with guitars. The other band members were laughing and cheering them on.

Greta had picked up one of the guitars. She and the other guy raised their guitars high over their heads and came charging at each other.

“No—stop!” I screamed.

Too late.

Greta’s guitar ripped right through the BELL VALLEY ROCKS! banner. Tore it in two!

I let out a loud groan as the two halves of the banner drooped to the floor. I turned and saw the unhappy faces of Thalia and Ben.

“Hey—sorry about that!” Greta called. Then she burst out laughing.

I hurried over to the wrecked banner and picked up one end. Thalia and Ben were right behind me.

“What are we going to do?” I cried. “It’s ruined.”

“We can’t just leave it here hanging over the floor,” Thalia said, shaking her head.

“We need it!” I declared.

“Yeah. It’s our best banner,” Thalia agreed.

“Maybe we can tape it back together,” I suggested.

“No problem. We’ll tape it together,” Ben said. “Come on, Tommy.” He grabbed my arm and started to pull me.

I almost dropped Mrs. Borden’s Polaroid. “Where are we going?” I demanded.

“Up to the art room, of course,” Ben replied. He started jogging to the double gym doors, and I followed.

It won’t take long to tape it together, I thought. Then I’ll get a ladder from the janitor’s closet, and we’ll hang it back up.

We stepped out into the hall—and I stopped. Kids were arriving for the dance, hurrying to the gym.

“We don’t have time to fix the banner!” I told Ben.

“We’ll hurry,” he said. “No problem.”

“But—but the art room is way up on the third floor!” I sputtered. “By the time we get all the way back down to the gym…” “Relax,” Ben said. “It won’t take that long—if you’d stop complaining. Come on. Let’s go!” Ben was right. I started running down the hall. Kids were pouring into the gym. I knew we had to hurry.

“Hey—not that way!” I heard him calling. “You’re going the wrong way, Tommy!” “I know where I’m going!” I called back. “I went this way last time!”

I ran to the end of the hall and turned a corner.

“Tommy—stop!” Ben called.

“It’s up this way!” I called back to him. “This way is faster. I know it.” But I was wrong. I should have listened to Ben. A few seconds later, the hall ended at a boarded-up wall.

“See?” Ben cried breathlessly. “What is your problem? The stairs are back there.” “Okay. I made a mistake,” I told him. “I wanted to hurry, that’s all.” “But you don’t know where you’re going!” he said angrily. “Remember, Tommy? You need a road map to find your toes!” “Very funny,” I muttered. I gazed around. “Where are we?”

“I don’t know! I can’t believe I followed you!” Ben was annoyed. He banged both fists against the boarded-up wall.

“Hey—!”

We both cried out as the rotted, old boards broke away. Startled, Ben stumbled forward—and crashed right through the boards.

They splintered and fell to the floor. And he fell on top of them.

“Oh, wow.” I bent to help him up. “Check this out!” I said, peering down a dark hall. “This must be the old school building. The building they closed off.” “Thrills and chills,” Ben muttered. He groaned and rubbed his knee. “I scraped my knee on those boards. I think it’s bleeding.” I took a few steps into the dark hall. “This school has been closed off for fifty years,” I told him. “We’re probably the first kids in here since then!” “Remind me to write that in my diary,” Ben growled, still rubbing his knee. “Are we going to the art room or what?” I didn’t answer him. Something on the wall across from us caught my eye. I walked over to it.

“Hey, Ben. Look. An elevator.”

“Huh?” He hobbled across the hall to me.

“Do you believe it?” I asked. “They had an elevator in the old school.”

“Those kids were lucky,” Ben replied.

I pressed the button on the wall. To my surprise, the doors slid open. “Whoa—!” I peered inside. A dusty ceiling lamp clicked on, sending pale white light down through the metal car.

“It’s on!” Ben cried. “It’s working!”

“Let’s take it to the third floor,” I urged. “Come on. Why should we walk up all those stairs?” “But—but—” Ben held back. But I grabbed his shoulders and pushed him inside the elevator. And followed him in.

“This is great!” I exclaimed. “I told you I knew how to get there.”

Ben’s eyes darted nervously around the narrow gray elevator car. “We shouldn’t be doing this,” he murmured.

“What could happen?” I replied.

The doors closed silently.