by Disney Books
“I know, it’s just Principal Swift told me what a great job you did babysitting for him,” she said. “And I’m sorry I’ve been so hard on you lately. I know this whole moving thing hasn’t been easy.”
“Yeah, well, I suppose I probably could have handled things a little bit better,” Gabby admitted.
“It’s true,” said Olivia, who’d been standing in the doorway, listening. “But that’s how we learn. I’m proud of your growth, Sis.”
“Thanks, Liv.” Gabby had to admit she was proud of her growth, too. She’d been trusted to guard the biggest secret in the universe, and she knew she could
do it.
Dina suddenly remembered something. “Oh! And I also got you this,” she said, handing Gabby a blue-and-yellow gift bag crammed with hot-pink tissue paper.
Gabby always enjoyed a good gift. She reached inside, excited to see what kind of unique present her mom had picked out for her. Gabby pulled out a Local 6 mug with Dina’s picture on it.
“What? People love mugs,” Dina said, laughing. Gabby laughed, too. She actually did kinda love that mug, because she loved her mom.
Just then, Gabby’s cell phone chirped. Swift needed
her.
Swift and Gabby walked together up the front steps of his house.
“Thank you for coming on such short notice,” said Swift.
Gabby was happy to be back on the job. “That’s what babysitting geniuses are for,” she said, brushing off her shoulder with feigned modesty. “So what’s up?”
Swift opened his front door to reveal a living room packed with alien families of all shapes and sizes, including a fish boy, a bald family with weird glowing lights on their heads, and what appeared to be a hamster-sized alien sitting inside a normal-sized android.
Gabby stopped in her tracks. “What the—”
A gray alien with oversized dark eyes waved at her, as if this was all perfectly normal.
Principal Swift explained, “Jeremy and I aren’t the only aliens in need of babysitting help.”
Gabby stared at the array of aliens. No way! It made sense that Swift and Jeremy weren’t the only extraterrestrials living on Earth, but seeing them with her own two eyes was a whole different thing. She couldn’t believe she had a super-awesome life-fulfilling babysitting gig. She couldn’t believe the odor, either. “Wow,” she said. “One of you smells real bad.”
Gabby and Wes stood together in the hallway waiting for the first-period bell to ring, just as they had every morning for the past few weeks. Gabby dug their daily routine. Nowadays, she was all about eyes to the future. Not only did she have a new best friend in Wes, but she had the most incredible new job in the world. Scratch that . . . in the galaxy.
Just the past week, she’d babysat for a multi-tentacled Zagellian baby who spit up blue goo and for fish boy Stewart, who hailed from the planet Vitreous Prime and had to wear a breathing device at all times. And, oh yeah, Wesley had uncovered her intergalactic secret. And for a paranormal conspiracy theorist like Wes, it didn’t get more exciting than concrete proof of alien life. Gabby was glad to have someone to share her secret with. Being able to talk about everything with Wesley made life in Havensburg so much more fun.
At the moment, Wesley was standing in front of a row of red lockers, showing her a love-worn photo of a chocolate Labrador.
“Cool. A dog,” said Gabby, whose outfit du jour was a cropped black-and-white checkerboard sweatshirt
over a turquoise tee. She’d thrown on a green belt for accent.
“Not just a dog,” Wesley corrected her, his voice cracking with emotion. “My dog, from when I was eight. His name was Brisket, and he loved belly rubs and broccoli. He was an original.”
“I sense this story isn’t going to end well,” guessed Gabby, cocking her head to the side.
Wes shook his auburn head. “My parents took me out to ice cream one night and told me Brisket had died.”
Gabby blanched. Losing someone you loved was never easy. “Oh, I’m sorry, bud.”
Wesley cut her off. A new enthusiasm filled his voice. “But I knew they were lying! He couldn’t be dead. He was only fifteen years old! So I told myself he must’ve been abducted by aliens.”
Gabby hesitated. She wasn’t sure she liked where this conversation was going. “And now that you’ve met some aliens, you realize they don’t need your dog and your parents were right?”
“No! I realize that it’s totally possible he was abducted! And I’m gonna find him!” A look of determination came over his face as he slammed his locker shut and fastened the lock. “I’m coming for you, Brisket!” he shouted at full volume.
The students standing near Wes and Gabby all stopped and turned to look, curious about the cause of Wesley’s outburst. Gabby threw her arm around Wes, taking him into her confidence. She had to put a stop to his alien talk—real fast.
As they walked down the hall, she gave him the lowdown. “Listen, Wes, you gotta pump the brakes a bit,” she said. “You’re not supposed to know about any of this. I mean, look at me: I’ve known about the most incredible secret on Earth for weeks, and am I going around talking about alien dog abductions? No! All these kids know about me is that I’m the cool, tough new girl with the style that makes the kiddies go wild.” Gabby broke into a self-congratulatory smile.
“Yeah, about that . . .” Wesley gestured toward a clique of kids who stood around their lockers, pointing and laughing. They sure seemed to be reacting to something hilarious.
“Who are they laughing at? You?” asked Gabby.
Wes shook his head. “Um . . . hurtful assumption, but fair.” He really didn’t want to deliver the soul-crushing news that she was the one being mocked. He shook his head and tried to lay it out gently. “Gabby, no. There’s . . . kind of a rumor going around about you.”
Gabby’s brown eyes widened. A rumor? About her? What were they saying?
“So what’s this rumor? It’s probably something awesome, right? That I can do a standing backflip?” guessed Gabby.
“Kind of . . .” offered Wes. They stopped at Gabby’s locker so she could stash her backpack before class. “They’re saying you missed your old school so much you spent your first week here crying your eyes out in the girls’ bathroom.”
Gabby looked at him questioningly.
“Like snot-dripping-from-your-nose-into-your-mouth crying,” he clarified, then wiggled his fingers to imitate a significant amount of snot flow.
“What?” Gabby said, shocked out of her socks. She stopped spinning her locker combo. “They said I was crying?”
“Yeah, everyone’s calling you Crybaby Duran. Even the janitors.”
Dobek the janitor suddenly leaned over Gabby’s shoulder. How was he always popping up like that? Wesley was right: there was something suspicious about him. Dobek offered his two cents: “No shame in being weak.”
Gabby glared at him. This couldn’t be happening. Being called a crybaby was basically her worst nightmare. Next to the one when she woke up to find someone had stolen all her high-tops and she had to wear penny loafers to school. “Well, the joke’s on them, ’cuz I don’t cry. Like, ever. I didn’t even cry when I was born. I came out like . . .” Gabby flexed her arms and struck a power stance.
Wes shook his head. “Come on, Gabby. Everybody cries. What’s the big deal? I listened to an Adele album yesterday and bawled. She’s been through so much,” he said, getting teary-eyed just thinking about it.
Gabby put a consoling hand on Wes’s shoulder. “Yeah, and that’s fine.” Then she switched tones completely. “But that’s not me. I’m the tough girl. People say that: Gabby the tough girl.”
“Do they?” Wes cocked his head.
“They’re just a bunch of kids spreading a stupid rumor that’s not even true!” Gabby said, raising her voice and whipping her hair around.
Gabby finished dialing her combination and opened her locker, which was in the top row. As she did, a tidal wave of tissues poured
out.
Every student in the hallway cracked up at the cruel prank. Gabby did her best to act like it was no biggie. “Okay, good tissue burn, but I still don’t care!” she shouted. Except, she did care. A lot.
Gabby stared out the window of Principal Swift’s office, her brain elsewhere. She’d thought meeting with Swift to discuss her next babysitting assignment would take her mind off her crybaby crisis, but the nickname was still top of mind.
“So her parents will be expecting you after school,” concluded Swift with a smile.
There was no response from the normally energetic babysitter. Swift tapped on his desk. “Gabby, are you listening?”
Gabby snapped out of it. “Oh, yeah. Definitely.”
Principal Swift remained unconvinced. The girl was clearly distracted, which was something he could not tolerate from someone with whom he’d entrusted such a big responsibility. “I was saying your babysitting assignment this afternoon is a telepathic alien named Sky.”
That grabbed Gabby’s attention. “Hmmmm, an alien who can read minds? That’s dope,” she said. She hadn’t yet babysat an alien who possessed supernatural powers.
“Well, if ‘dope’ means her neural pathways align with anyone she touches, allowing her to download their thoughts and feelings into her brain, then yes. She’s ‘dope,’” agreed Swift, using air quotes.
Gabby cringed. If Swift wanted to seamlessly blend in with Earth culture, he’d have to stop with the air quotes. No normal human still used them.
Gabby’s dinging cell phone interrupted her thought. She glanced at her phone, which she kept in a case that looked like an old cassette tape. “Uh, why is Jeremy texting me that you’ve locked him in the basement?” she asked.
Principal Swift seemed insulted by the very suggestion. “I haven’t locked him anywhere. Jeremy is homeschooled while I’m at work. Can you imagine what would happen if Jeremy came to school?”
Gabby tried to picture it. She imagined Jeremy walking down the school hallway in human form, blending in no problem. He waved to kids at their lockers and high-fived friends. Then Jeremy felt a sneeze coming on. And everyone knew Gor-Mons couldn’t hold their human shape and sneeze simultaneously. Just a weird blip in their biology. Jeremy instantly morphed into a giant blob in the middle of the hallway in front of everyone. A sudden sadness fell over Jeremy’s face. “What’s a blob gotta do to get a ‘bless you’ around here?” he asked, watching the students scream and scatter in a panic. His secret, and thus alien existence in Havensburg as a whole, was exposed. So, okay, yeah, having Jeremy at school would be a major problem.
“Got it,” agreed Gabby emphatically. “No aliens at school.”
“Anyway, don’t worry about Jeremy,” said Swift. “I’m sure he’s completely engaged in his learning.” Swift had made arrangements for the Orb to instill Jeremy with all the knowledge he’d need to someday rule their home planet.
In fact, at that precise moment, Jeremy was sitting behind the command desk in Swift’s basement communications room, spinning aimlessly in his chair. He was most definitely not listening to the Orb, which floated in front of him, presenting a lecture on the geologic structure of Gor-Monia.
“The planet Gor-Monia is classified as a gassy giant. When the gas within Gor-Monia’s substrata heats, the pressure builds until the planet is in danger of exploding. As a result, Gor-Mons created a pressure-release matrix to ensure planetary stability,” recited the Orb. Graphs and charts flashed on the three monitor screens that sat behind Jeremy’s head.
Jeremy could not have looked less interested in the lesson.
“Pop quiz,” challenged the Orb, its light blinking with a bit too much enthusiasm. It liked taunting Jeremy, whom the Orb felt had no business in the head honcho role. Still, the android did its best to fill the boy with knowledge. “What did the Gor-Mons create to ensure planetary stability?”
Jeremy stopped spinning in his chair long enough to answer the question. “Uh, my butt!” he said, laughing at his own joke.
“Heavy sigh,” responded the Orb. Its panels flashed, and it buzzed with annoyance. Would this child ever be mature enough to rule?
As if in response, Jeremy launched a spitball through a straw and hit the Orb on its optical lens. Jeremy cracked himself up.
Gabby’s newest client, Sky, lived with her parents in a stark modern house on the edge of town. The chatty thirteen-year-old girl, who wore a high-necked maroon robe with oversized shoulder pads, had a bald head lined with thin glowing strands that lit up as she spoke to Gabby.
“So yeah, I’m really into teen stuff,” Sky explained. Even though she’d never met an Earthling teen before, she was obsessed. She’d binge-watched all movies, series, and online clips she could find about the dramatic ups and downs of teenage life. She’d made dream boards for her walls, all featuring photo collages of hunky teenage heartthrobs with smoldering expressions and teen girl squads in semiformal dresses. A clear plastic chair with a sequined crown-shaped pillow sat in the corner. Sky had read that teens loved anything with a little bling.
“Wow. I see that,” said Gabby, eyeing Sky’s posters that weirdly celebrated the generic topics of music, teens, and prom.
“Meeting a teen is so exciting!” exclaimed Sky. She pulled up a hot-pink vinyl chair so she could sit as close as possible to Gabby. Having been cooped up in her parents’ house since their arrival on Earth, Sky craved social interaction with others her age.
“What’s up with the old guy?” asked Gabby, pointing to a cardboard cutout of a middle-aged man wearing a large Elizabethan collar and red cape. The dude was definitely out of place among Sky’s cool teen decor.
“It’s Drake,” Sky said, swooning.
Gabby looked at her, totally perplexed. She was going to need a bit more information.
“Sir Francis Drake? Famed English privateer? Teens love Drake, right?” bubbled Sky.
“Um, not that Drake.” Gabby explained. Sky still had a lot to learn, but hey, that’s why her parents hired a sitter, Gabby figured.
“So, question,” said Gabby, putting her hands in her lap. “If you’re thirteen and I’m thirteen, why am I babysitting you? I haven’t had a babysitter since I was nine.”
Sky, too, thought the arrangement was odd. “I don’t think my parents get what babysitters are,” she said. “Probably because the word babysitter sounds a lot like our word babasata, which means ‘one who teaches math.’”
“Hmmm, that would explain why he gave me this.” Gabby held up a calculator. She’d assumed Sky’s dad presented it as part of some strange customary alien greeting.
Just then, Sky’s dad entered the bedroom. He was a tall man whose bald head was marked with the same lit-up lines as his daughter’s. Gabby found his ultra-zen aura unnerving. “Salutations, Gabby. Sky’s mother and I leave now. You have good babysitting.”
Gabby punched some keys on the calculator and smiled. Why bother explaining? She’d sat for enough aliens to know sometimes it wasn’t worth trying to explain things to them.
Mr. Sky’s Dad crossed to his daughter and, closing his eyes, touched his forehead to hers. The lights on their heads blinked in sync. After a moment, he opened his eyes, gave his daughter a smile of understanding, and went on his way.
“So . . . you guys don’t speak?” Gabby asked Sky once her dad had shut the door.
“Not really. When you’re a telepath, it’s just quicker that way,” she explained. “I need you to tell me everything about what it’s like to be a teen girl,” she told Gabby.
Gabby wasn’t sure where to start. There was so much to teen life on Earth: juggling the pressures of friendships, family, homework, and fashion. It wasn’t always easy. Gabby’s mind wandered to her new nickname. She grimaced at the thought. “I hate to break it to you,” said Gabby, looking down at her purple-painted nails, “but being a teenager here isn’t all that great.”
“It’s not? Why?” Sky’s face filled with disappointment. The only thing she’
d ever dreamed about was becoming an Earthling teen.
“Doesn’t matter,” Gabby said, then quickly changed the subject. “I wanna see this mind reading in action.” She held out her arm for Sky. As a touch telepath, Sky could only read the thoughts of a person with whom she shared physical contact. Sky wrapped both her hands around Gabby’s forearm, then closed her eyes to deepen the connection.
A moment passed.
“So what was I thinking?” inquired Gabby, eager to see the superpower work firsthand.
“You were wondering if eating toothpaste and just swishing it around in your mouth is the same as brushing your teeth,” said Sky, releasing Gabby’s arm.
“I think it might be!” said Gabby, impressed. That had been a very private oral hygiene theory.
A look of concern fell across Sky’s pale blue eyes. She’d sensed more in Gabby’s mind. “But you were also thinking about something else. Something that’s bothering you.”
“What are you talking about? Nothing bothers me,” said Gabby, brushing it off.
Sky considered Gabby for a beat. While Gabby spoke of being tough, her thoughts had signaled otherwise. Perhaps Sky should take a second look. “Hey! Look over there!” shouted Sky, pointing at nothing in particular across the room. When Gabby turned to look, Sky reached out and touched her arm again. The lights on Sky’s head flickered as she received the telepathic transmission.
“Hey!” said Gabby, jumping up in surprise. “That is a terrible invasion of privacy!”
But the process was already in motion. Sky appraised Gabby’s thoughts with a mix of confusion and empathy. “Kids at school call you Crybaby Duran. And you hate it.”
“Of course I hate it!” said Gabby. Her tone was slightly defensive. “If people see me as the kid who cries in the bathroom, they won’t realize I’m actually the cool, hip girl they can’t help but love!” That was how Gabby hoped that everyone in Havensburg would come to see her.
Gabby’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out to find Wes video-calling from Luchachos, their favorite taqueria in town.