by Abby Klein
“Now we’re ready,” I said.
We started to walk out of the bedroom, but Kelly pulled me back. “Wait! Wait!” she said.
“Now what? I’m pretty sure we have everything.”
Kelly ran over to the dresser and came back with the bubble gum. “We almost forgot this,” she said.
“That would have been a disaster!” I said.
“You can say that again,” said Kelly.
I took the gum from her and shoved it in my pocket. “Now we’d really better get downstairs. We don’t want to be late for Pet Day!”
We ran downstairs to the kitchen.
“Good morning, girls,” said our dad. “What’s up with the cages?”
“It’s Pet Day today, Dad,” Kelly said.
“Mr. Lopez said we could bring our pets to school as long as they are in cages or tanks,” I said.
Our dad looked down at our hands. “It looks like Kelly is all set, but your tank is empty, Kasey.”
I laughed. “Pete is right here,” I said, pointing to my head. “You know he hates being in his tank. I’m not going to put him in there until we get to school.”
“Sit down, girls, and have some breakfast,” said Mom. “You don’t want to be late for your special day.”
“These pancakes look delicious!” I said.
“Pan-cakes! Pan-cakes!” Kenny chanted, as he tried to shove a whole pancake in his mouth. His hair was sticky with syrup, and Mike and Ike were standing under his chair eating all of the crumbs that fell on the floor.
Kelly giggled. “It looks like somebody really loves your pancakes, Mom.”
“He’s so sticky. I’m probably going to have to hose him down after breakfast,” she said, laughing. “Daddy is going to take you girls to school.”
“And I’ve got to get to work, so eat up,” said our dad. “We need to leave in ten minutes.”
We gobbled our pancakes. Mine had chocolate chips in them, and Kelly’s were plain. Just how we like them. We kissed our mom and sticky brother good-bye, grabbed the cages and our backpacks, and ran out the door.
We climbed into the backseat of the car, and our dad pulled the car out of the driveway.
“Do you have the gum?” Kelly whispered to me.
I nodded.
We each unwrapped a piece and chewed it.
“Is your gum nice and gooey?” asked Kelly.
I nodded again.
“Good! Now put Pete in his tank.”
I took Pete off my head and put him in his tank. “Sorry, little guy,” I whispered. “I know you hate being in there. But it’s just for a few hours.”
Then we pulled the gum out of our mouths and stuck it over the latch to hold it closed.
“There. That should do the trick,” said Kelly.
“Yep,” I said. “There’s no chance of him escaping now.”
CHAPTER 7
The Escape
When we got to school, we ran to our classroom. There were pets everywhere! You could hear dogs barking, birds chirping, and cats meowing.
I smiled. “This is awesome!” I said.
“It sure is,” said Jasmine, coming up behind me with her dog, Tucker. “You always have the best ideas, Kasey.”
“Good morning, everybody,” Mr. Lopez yelled over all the noise. “And good morning to all of our animal friends.”
“Woof! Woof!”
“Meow!”
“Squawk!” they all answered.
“I would like to get started, so if you have an animal in a cage or a tank, then please put it in the back of the room. If you have a dog or a cat, then please hand it over to your mom or dad to hold for right now.”
Kelly and I walked to the back of the room and put Skippy’s cage and Pete’s tank down on the floor.
Even with all the noise, Skippy was still asleep, dreaming sweet hamster dreams.
Pete looked up at me. “Don’t worry, buddy, I’ll be back soon,” I said. “Then I can take you out of the tank.”
We went over to the rug to sit down.
“We can only have one person share their pet at a time,” said Mr. Lopez. “Who would like to go first?”
“Me! Me! Me, me, me!” said Madison. “Can I please go first, Mr. Lopez? Pretty please with a cherry on top? Princess is so excited to be here today. I don’t think she can wait any longer.”
“Sure,” said Mr. Lopez. “Go get your pet.”
Madison pushed her cat to the front of the room in a baby stroller.
“A stroller? Are you kidding me?” Kelly whispered.
Madison sat down in a chair and put the cat on her lap. “This is my cat, Princess,” she said.
“Really?” Jasmine whispered to me. “I never would have guessed that that was a cat.”
I giggled.
“Now, everybody has to be really quiet,” Madison continued. “Princess does not like loud noises. She gets scared. Isn’t that right, my little kittles?”
“Wow! She really is a princess,” said Jake.
“She is the smartest, most beautiful cat in the world,” said Madison.
“Of course Madison would say that,” Kelly whispered.
“She loves to play dress up with me. I put her in all different kinds of outfits. We even have matching outfits … pink dresses with pink bows for our hair.”
Jasmine leaned over to me. “I think I’m going to throw up,” she said.
“Thank you, Madison, for sharing Princess with us,” said Mr. Lopez.
“But I’m not done,” said Madison.
“I’m sure you’re not,” said Mr. Lopez, “but there are lots of other children who would like to share their pets.”
Madison frowned, but she put Princess back in the stroller and pushed her away.
“Who would like to go next?”
“I’ll go next,” said Jake. He went to the back of the room and grabbed Rocky’s leash from his dad. “Come on, boy,” he said. “It’s our turn.”
When Jake was back in front of the class, he said, “Kasey and Kelly helped me teach Rocky how to shake hands yesterday. If everybody sits in a circle, then Rocky can go around and shake everybody’s hand.”
Jake started moving around the circle with Rocky shaking people’s hands. When he got to Andy, though, Andy started to back up.
“What’s wrong, Andy?” asked Mr. Lopez.
“I’m afraid of dogs,” Andy mumbled.
“Do you want to shake Rocky’s hand?”
Andy just shook his head.
“That’s OK,” said Mr. Lopez. “You don’t have to.”
Madison was next. “I don’t think I want to shake hands, either,” she said. “Dogs are stinky, and—”
Before she could finish her sentence, Rocky leaned over and gave her a big, wet, slobbery kiss all over her face. Thup, thup, thup.
Madison jumped up. “Help! Help!” she screamed. “The dog kissed me! I’ve got cooties! I’ve got cooties!”
“I’ve got news for you,” Jake whispered to me. “She had cooties even before Rocky kissed her.”
“Calm down. Calm down,” said Mr. Lopez. “A little dog saliva never hurt anyone.”
“But it’s so dis-gus-ting!” said Madison, running around with her hands in the air.
“Why don’t you just go over to the sink and wash your face,” said Mr. Lopez. “Then you can come back and join the circle again.”
While Madison washed her face, Jake finished taking Rocky around the circle.
“Great job!” I said when they were done.
Jake smiled at me. “Thanks to you and your sister!”
“That’s what friends are for,” said Kelly.
“Let’s see,” said Mr. Lopez, “we’ve had a cat and a dog so far. How about something different next?”
“What about Kasey or Kelly?” said Jasmine. “They brought something different.”
“What do you say, girls? Who would like to go first?”
We shrugged our shoulders.
“We’
ll go ask Skippy and Pete who would like to go first,” Kelly said.
“Okay,” said Mr. Lopez, chuckling. “You go ask them.”
We both walked to the back of the room.
Kelly looked in Skippy’s cage and started laughing. “I think you’d better go first, sis,” said Kelly. “The little lazybones still hasn’t woken up.”
I looked in Pete’s tank, and my heart skipped a beat. “Uh, Kelly?”
“Yeah?”
“Come over here a second.”
“What’s up?”
“It’s Pete! He’s gone!”
CHAPTER 8
Hide-and-Go-Pete
“What do you mean … gone?” asked Kelly.
“I mean that he’s not in his tank,” I said.
“Are you kidding me?”
“No! Why would I joke about something like this? We have to find him before anyone sees he’s not here!”
“Girls,” said Mr. Lopez, “we don’t have all day. Which one of you is going first?”
“Be right there, Mr. Lopez,” I said.
“What are we going to do?” said Kelly.
“You are going to go first,” I said. “While everyone is watching Skippy roll around in his ball, I’ll look for Pete.”
“Are you sure this is going to work?”
“Just make sure you keep everyone’s eyes on you,” I said.
“Now, girls,” said Mr. Lopez.
“I’m coming, Mr. Lopez,” said Kelly. Then she turned to me and gave me a hug and whispered, “Good luck!”
“Thanks.”
Kelly walked to the front of the room. “This is our hamster, Skippy. He’s usually sleeping in the morning because hamsters are nocturnal. They sleep during the day and are active at night.”
Now where could Pete be? He was so small, he really could be anywhere.
“But I woke Skippy up,” Kelly continued, “so that you could watch him roll around in his ball. He loves to roll around in his ball.”
I got down on my hands and knees and started to crawl around on the floor. “Pete. Here, Pete,” I whispered.
Kelly put Skippy in his ball. “Just reach your arms out and keep your eyes on the ball. Skippy just might roll right to you.”
“Yeah, everybody, keep your eyes on Skippy,” I thought to myself. I crawled under all the desks and checked inside each one of them. Sometimes Pete likes to hide in small dark spaces, but not today I guess. I didn’t find him in anyone’s desk.
“Oh, Skippy is almost as cute as Princess,” said Madison. “Come on, roll over to me, you little cutie.”
“Just keep watching Skippy. Keep watching Skippy,” I mumbled. I crawled over to the cubbies. I found a jump rope in Jasmine’s cubby, two rocks in Jake’s cubby, and a pink lip balm in Madison’s cubby, but no Pete.
“How come Kelly gets a longer turn than me?” Madison whined.
“I’m giving everyone the same amount of time,” said Mr. Lopez. “Kelly’s turn is almost up. Then it will be Kasey’s turn. By the way, where is Kasey?”
I jumped up. “Right here, Mr. Lopez,” I said. “I’m just getting something out of my cubby.”
“Okay, one more minute, and then it will be your turn.”
One more minute! One more minute! I had to find Pete — and fast!
When Mr. Lopez turned back to the class, I crawled over to the bookshelves. “Pete, Pete,” I whispered, “come out, come out, wherever you are!”
Madison raised her hand. “Mr. Lopez, may I get a drink of water?”
“Sure, a quick drink,” said Mr. Lopez. “Then come right back to the rug.”
Madison got up and danced over to the sink.
“Thank you, Kelly, for showing us Skippy and his ball. He really is fast in that thing,” I heard Mr. Lopez say. “Now it’s your sister’s turn.”
I raced back to Pete’s tank.
“Did you find him yet?” asked Kelly.
I shook my head.
Just then we heard it. The loudest scream ever.
“AAAAAHHHHH!”
We looked up and saw Madison running around the room with Pete stuck to her face.
“Well, I guess we found Pete,” I said, laughing.
“Help! Help!” Madison wailed. “Get it off me! Get it off me!”
We both ran over to her. Kelly held Madison while I pulled Pete off her cheek.
“What just happened here?” asked Mr. Lopez, looking totally confused.
“Well … I … I … went to get a drink of water,” Madison sobbed, “and then … then … this … monster jumped on my face.”
“Monster,” Jasmine said, laughing.
“It’s not Godzilla,” said Jake. “It’s just a little lizard.”
“WAAAAHHHHH!” Madison wailed some more.
“But where did the lizard come from?” said Mr. Lopez.
“It’s … uh … ours,” Kelly and I said together. “That’s Pete, our gecko.”
“But I said that you had to keep your pets in their cages until it was your turn,” said Mr. Lopez.
“I know. I’m really sorry,” I said.
“It’s not Kasey’s fault,” said Kelly. “The latch on Pete’s tank was bent this morning. We tried to keep it closed with bubble gum, but the gum fell off.”
“Bubble gum?” said Mr. Lopez. “Where do you girls come up with these crazy ideas?”
We shrugged our shoulders.
“But what about me?” Madison whined.
“What about you?” asked Jasmine.
“I got licked by a dog and had a lizard stuck to my face.”
“Sounds like fun to me,” said Jake.
Just then Pete jumped off my arm and landed on Andy’s head. We all held our breaths.
Andy sat very still.
“I think he likes you,” I said.
Andy smiled. “I like him, too!” he said.
“Well, this will be a day we’ll never forget,” said Mr. Lopez.
I looked at Kelly and she looked at me.
“You can say that again.”
DOUBLE TROUBLE
FUN PAGE
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About the Author and Illustrator
ABBY KLEIN is the author of the popular Ready, Freddy! series. She has been a first-grade and kindergarten teacher for twenty years, and lives with her husband and two children in Vermont. They have four dogs.
JOHN McKINLEY has been drawing all his life. He and his family live in Northern California.
Copyright
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc.,
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Text copyright © 2011 by Abby Klein
Illustrations copyright © 2011 by John McKinley
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
First printing, September 2011
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eISBN: 978-0-545-39243-3