Cody and his friends stood around, not sure what to do. The Prim girls did the same.
They headed toward the school along with all the other kids. Cody’d already looked around to see if they could escape by foot, but the regular Splurch faculty were prowling the perimeter of the property for just that very reason.
“Come to our room later on today and we’ll give you a bottle of nail polish remover,” Virginia said. She studied her own fingernails as if she were bored.
“Okay.” Cody kicked at a pile of fallen leaves. “Good thing you don’t have to search for that lost treasure anymore.”
“Look,” Virginia said. “Let’s get one thing straight. We still hate you guys, okay? All of you. Hate your guts right through and through to the rotten core.”
Cody scowled. “Yeah, well, we hate you first and hate you worse!”
“Don’t think just because we’ve had”—Virginia made quotation marks with her fingers in the air—“a moment with you turkeys, that now we’re friends. Because we’re not.”
“I never said we were!” Cody said.
“Every chance we get, we’re gonna whup your sorry hides,” Virginia said. “In sports. In spelling bees. In science fairs. In every kind of competition you can think of. And a bunch I’ll bet you can’t think of, you big bunch of pea brains.”
Cody folded his arm across his chest. “Who’re you calling pea brains, you Priscilla Prim girls? P. P. girls? Hey, get it, guys? Pee-pee girls!”
“That’s right,” Ratface squeaked. He started an obnoxious chant. “Sew-er! Sew-er! Sew-er!”
“Okay, pee-pee girls,” Cody said. “You think you’re such hot stuff? Game on.”
A cold wind blew in from the west that afternoon, covering the sky in thick, brooding clouds. The boys could hear Farley throwing a tantrum in his laboratory, smashing beakers all afternoon, while Ivanov hobbled around the playing field, picking up debris one piece at a time.
Ratface and Carlos came into the stables laughing.
“All the girls’ showers will be freezing cold now,” Ratface giggled.
“And sudsy,” Carlos said. “We cut off the heat for their hot water heater and poured a whole bottle of dish soap into the tank.”
“High-five, man,” Victor said, holding up his hand for Carlos.
Cody’s heart wasn’t in the fun. “What difference does it make, guys?” he said. “Our escape plane needs major repair. We couldn’t get rid of the girls. We couldn’t even get rid of Farley. That would have been a pretty cool consolation prize. We’ve been humiliated in sports, and now we’re stuck sleeping in manure-filled stables forever.”
“Look on the bright side, Cody,” Sully said. “Rover’s dead again. Getting chewed up by an angry dino-dog would have been a lousy way to die.”
“Yeah,” Mugsy said. “And if we’re stuck having girls around, at least Farley’s stuck having Priscilla around. She drives him bonkers. That’ll be kind of fun to watch.”
Sully tugged on Cody’s sleeve. “Look outside,” he said.
Cody looked out the window and saw Uncle Rastus arm in arm with a skeleton wearing a faded hat and a feather boa. They disappeared into the trees.
“Aunt Rhoda!” Cody said. “Whaddya know.”
“At least someone’s happier now,” Sully observed.
Cody thought about it. He had helped Uncle Rastus, hadn’t he? Freed him from Farley’s clutches? That was worth something. He hoped it was, anyway.
“Let’s go to dinner,” Cody said. “I heard the girls requested lasagna to celebrate their victory.”
“Griselda’s burnt lasagna,” Ratface said. “My favorite.”
“With ketchup,” Mugsy said.
“And tomorrow morning, let’s just happen to be passing by our old dorm,” Carlos said with a mischievous grin, “right about shower time.”
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to our niece Sophia Smith for the hard work and the cheerful company, and for knowing how to decorate a girls’ dorm room. Thanks also to our nieces Elspeth and Claire Newton for painting their father’s toenails pink while he napped.
About the Authors
Sally Faye Gardner and Julie Gardner Berry
are sisters, both originally from upstate
New York. Sally, who now lives in
New York City with a smallish black dog
named Dottie, has, at various times,
worked as a gas pumper, janitor, sign painter,
meeting attendee, and e-mail sender.
Julie, who now lives near Boston with her
husband, four smallish sons, and tiger cat
named Coco, has worked as a restaurant
busboy, volleyball referee, cleaning lady,
and seller of tight leather pants. Today she,
too, attends meetings and sends e-mail.
Julie is the author of The Amaranth
Enchantment and Secondhand Charm,
while this is Sally’s first series.
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