The Alien Next Door 4: Trick or Cheat?
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obviously!” said Harris.
“You are so going to win the contest,”
said a boy dressed like lion.
“Thank you. I think Harris has a
cool costume, too,” Zeke said, pointing
two of his tentacles at Harris.
“Whoa, nice robot,” said the lion,
looking over Harris’s costume. “That’s
really cool! Maybe you’ll actually win
the contest instead of him!”
But not everyone was as impressed
by Zeke’s “costume.”
A third-grader named Jeremy
Jenkins walked up to Zeke and Harris
in the hall. He wore a detailed monster
costume, complete with fangs, claws,
bulging eyes, and shiny, purple fur.
“These are the best costumes you
guys could get?” Jeremy sneered.
“They look cheap and homemade!
My parents bought me this awesome
monster costume. It was the most
expensive one in the store.”
Jeremy turned to Harris. “You look
like a broken microwave,” he said.
Then he pointed at Zeke. “Are you
supposed to be an alien? You look
like a giant green peanut. And those
eyeballs are soooo fake!”
“I’ve got the best costume,” Jeremy
snarled. “And I’m going to win the
contest!”
Harris saw Roxy looking at them
from down the hall. She appeared
concerned. But when she met eyes
with Harris, she quickly turned
around and walked away.
HARRIS TOOK HIS SEAT IN MATH
class. He found it hard to get
comfortable with all the metal pipes
on his arms and legs. He removed
his helmet and tried to focus on the
lesson.
Ms. Milton, the math teacher,
walked into the room. She was
wearing a kangaroo costume, complete
with a long tail and a stuffed toy baby
kangaroo bouncing up and down in her
pouch. She looked out at her classroom
full of wizards, monsters, and ghosts.
Zeke picked up a pencil with his
tentacle and tried to write.
“What’s the matter?” asked Dave
Barrett. He sat next to Zeke and was
dressed in a skeleton costume. “Don’t
aliens use pencils?”
Zeke said, knowing Dave wouldn’t
believe him, “Actually no, we don’t.
We usually use our minds to write
things down.”
Dave chuckled and all the bones on
his costume shook.
Ms. Milton smiled. “Settle down,
class. You all look wonderful!” she
said. “But we still have to complete
today’s lesson.”
Ms. Milton wrote a math problem
on the board.
“Does anyone have the solution?”
she asked.
A girl dressed like a dolphin raised
her flipper.
“Yes, Maria,” Ms. Milton said.
“The answer is 42,” Maria said, her
dolphin mouth flapping open and shut
as she spoke.
“Correct,” said Ms. Milton. She
turned to write the answer on the
board, but her long kangaroo tail
knocked a stack of books off her desk
and onto the floor.
“I can see that it’s just as hard being
a kangaroo as it is being an alien!” she
said, bending down to pick up the
books as all the kids laughed.
At lunch, the cafeteria looked like
the world’s biggest costume party.
Dinosaurs ate lunch next to witches,
and a giant daffodil was seated next
to a walking fish.
Harris took his usual seat next to
Zeke. Zeke did his best to pick up a
fork with a tentacle, but it slipped out
before he could get some food on it.
“On Tragas, we use a long, thin
utensil to eat with,” Zeke whispered.
“It easily rests on our tentacles. Or we
can just levitate it up to our mouth, if
we want.”
Roxy walked over to their table. She
was dressed in a sorceress costume,
complete with a tall hat, a flowing
orange and black gown, and a glowing
magic orb. Her usual chair next to
Harris and Zeke was empty, but Roxy
kept on walking right past them to the
opposite end of the table and took a
seat there.
She must still be mad at me, Harris
thought.
Zeke and Harris looked at each
other. Harris decided to be brave and
speak to her.
“Cool costume, Roxy,” he said.
She turned away for a moment as if
she didn’t want to talk to Harris, but
then turned back.
“Thanks,” she said quietly.
Well, she spoke to me, Harris
thought. That’s something.
A few minutes later, Jeremy walked
past their table carrying his lunch
tray. He stumbled and his juice spilled
all over Zeke.
“Oops,” he said. “So clumsy of me.
It can be hard to navigate in this
amazing costume.”
Jeremy stared at Zeke, expecting to
see Zeke’s costume ruined by the juice.
But instead, the juice was absorbed
right into Zeke’s real skin.
“What–what happened to the
juice?!” Jeremy asked, surprised.
Harris looked at Zeke. How was he
going to explain this?
“My costume is made of special
waterproof material,” Zeke said.
“Oh well, lucky you,” said Jeremy,
moving along to his table.
Roxy slid her lunch tray down and
took her usual seat next to Harris.
“Did you see that?” she asked.
“He spilled that juice all over Zeke’s
costume on purpose! He was trying
to ruin it.”
“It could have been an accident,”
Zeke said.
“Yeah, he probably just tripped,”
Harris added. Roxy seemed more mad
at Jeremy than at him, which made
Harris feel better.
“Well, I don’t buy it,” Roxy said,
looking upset and almost scary in her
sorceress costume. “I think he was
trying to ruin Zeke’s costume for the
contest!”
AT RECESS THAT AFTERNOON,
a bunch of witches, goblins, and
superheroes started a game of
tetherball. Most of the kids had to take
off parts of their costumes to be able
to play. A pile of claws, capes, clown
faces, and magic wands sat in a large
pile on the side of the tetherball court.
Jeremy, with his monster head and
claws off, called out to Zeke.
“Hey, Zeke!” he shouted. “Wanna
play?”
“Sure,” Zeke said. He floated over
to the court.
“You probably have to take off your
costume, right?” Jeremy asked.
Nearby, Roxy leaned over and
whispered to Harris. “Jeremy wants
> Zeke to take off his costume. I bet he
wants one of his friends to hide it or
rip it or something when Zeke isn’t
looking!”
“I don’t know,” said Harris. “Everyone
took off parts of their costumes.”
“That’s okay. I can play with my
costume on,” Zeke said.
“I think you’d do better with your
costume off,” Jeremy insisted. “Why
don’t you take it off? I just want it to
be a fair game. Don’t want to beat you
too badly!”
“You see?” Roxy whispered on the
sidelines.
“Hmm, Jeremy is being kind of
pushy about it,” Harris agreed.
“I’m fine like this,” Zeke said. “Let’s
play.”
Jeremy scowled, then started the
game.
Using his tentacles to whack the
ball again and again, Zeke easily won
the game.
“I was just taking it easy on you,”
Jeremy said, then he snatched up the
rest of his costume and stomped off.
On the way to his final class of
the day before the contest, Harris
stopped in the bathroom. He walked
into a stall, closed the door, and heard
some other kids come in. Although
he couldn’t see him, Harris clearly
overheard Jeremy’s voice.
“I can’t let that new kid, Zeke, win
the contest,” Jeremy said. “My costume
is still clearly much better, but I don’t
want to take any chances!”
“So what are you going to do?”
asked the kid Jeremy was talking to.
“I snuck a sack of flour out of the
cafeteria,” Jeremy said. “I’m going to
use it to ruin Zeke’s costume!”
“Good plan!” said the other kid,
snickering.
Roxy was right about Jeremy! Harris
thought. I’ve got to warn Zeke!
ONCE HE HEARD JEREMY LEAVE,
Harris rushed out of the bathroom
to find Zeke. He ran down the hall,
turned a corner, and ran right into
Roxy.
“Careful! Where are you rushing
to?” asked Roxy.
“You were right about Jeremy!”
Harris said urgently. “I just overheard
him talking in the bathroom. He plans
to ruin Zeke’s costume by dumping
flour all over it!”
“That’s terrible!” Roxy shouted. “We
have to find Zeke and warn him.”
Harris and Roxy hurried through
the school looking for Zeke. After
searching the halls and classrooms,
they finally spotted him at the far end
of a hallway. He was about to go into
the gym for his final class of the day.
But before they could reach him, they
saw Mr. Mulvaney, the gym teacher,
come up behind Zeke.
“Let’s go, son. You don’t want to be
late for class do you?” Mr. Mulvaney
said to Zeke.
Zeke pulled open the gym door.
He sensed something falling from
above his head. Before he even knew
what it was, Zeke used his powers
to redirect it so it wouldn’t hit him.
He hoped that whatever it was would
land harmlessly on the floor.
But instead, it fell right on top Mr.
Mulvaney. A cloud of white exploded
right on the gym teacher’s head, and
Zeke looked over to see him covered
in flour. Some flour had also landed
on Zeke.
Zeke spun around, sending his
tentacles wrapping around his body.
“Mr. Mulvaney! Are you all right?” he
asked.
“Who would pull such a prank?!”
Mr. Mulvaney asked, brushing flour
angrily off his shoulder.
“I don’t know,” said Zeke. “It looks
like I got some on me, too.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll get to the bottom
of this!” said Mr. Mulvaney. Then he
stormed off to clean himself up before
class.
Harris and Roxy, who had seen
all of this, rushed up to Zeke. They
quickly filled him in on Jeremy’s plot
to ruin his costume.
“Then that was meant for me!” Zeke
said, realizing what had just happened.
“It sure looks that way,” said Roxy.
“Jeremy is trying to cheat to keep you
from winning the contest.”
“That makes me mad,” said Zeke. “I
really want to beat him now!”
“Looks like you got some flour on
your costume,” said Harris pointing
to a few patches of white on Zeke’s
tentacles.
“I’ll clean up after class,” said Zeke,
then he headed back into the gym.
“Did that bag seem to fall strangely
to you?” Roxy asked Harris. “Like it
almost changed direction in midair?”
“Uh . . . no!” Harris said nervously.
“Let’s, um, get to class!”
When classes ended, all the kids
streamed toward the auditorium for
the costume contest. Harris and Roxy
arrived backstage along with the other
contestants.
Harris smiled at the collection of
costumed kids.
“Where’s Zeke?” he asked Roxy,
looking around for their friend.
“Maybe he’s still in the bathroom
cleaning off the flour,” Roxy said.
“He’s taking a really long time,” said
Harris, now getting a little worried.
“I’m going to check on him.”
Zeke stood in the bathroom, wiping
the last of the flour off his tentacles
and stomach.
Once he was clean, he headed to
the door. Wrapping a tentacle around
the doorknob, he turned and pushed.
The door didn’t budge.
Hmm . . . that’s strange, he thought.
He pushed again, harder, but still
the door wouldn’t open. Oh, no! I’m
stuck in here! I’m going to miss the
contest . . . and Jeremy is going to win!
HARRIS RUSHED TO THE BATHROOM.
When he got there, he was stunned to
see a chair propped up against the the
door, wedged under the doorknob.
Harris pulled the chair away
and flung the door open. He found
Zeke inside, hovering back and forth
nervously.
“Harris!” Zeke cried. “I couldn’t
open the door.”
“That’s because someone propped
a chair up against it out here,” Harris
explained. “And I think we both know
who did it.”
“I can’t understand why Jeremy
would go to so much trouble to cheat
just to win the contest,” Zeke said. “I
want to win, too, but cheating? What
do you even get for winning?”
“The top three get a small medal,
and the overall winner also gets a
get-out-of-homework-free pass to use
once.”
“That’s it?” Zeke asked. They both
lau
ghed.
“Well, there’s bragging rights, too.
We’ve got to stop him!” said Harris.
The two friends ran back to the
auditorium, with Harris’s robot legs
clanking and Zeke’s tentacles flapping.
Backstage, they caught up with
Roxy and told her what Jeremy had
done.
“We have to stop him before the
contest starts!” said Roxy.
Harris, Zeke, and Roxy found
Jeremy.
“You’ve been trying to ruin my
costume all day! You tried to spill
juice on it earlier,” Zeke blurted out.
“And then you tried to drop flour
on it. And you locked Zeke in the
bathroom when your first plan failed,”
Harris added.
Jeremy pulled off the head of his
monster costume and smiled.
“Who . . . me? You have no proof!”
he said.
“Attention, contestants!” came an
announcement over the backstage
loudspeaker. “The contest is about to
begin. Please come to the stage.”
“Excuse me,” said Jeremy, slipping
his monster head back on. “I’ve got
a contest to win!” Then he walked
toward the stage.
“What are we going to do now?”
asked Harris.
“I’ve got an idea to stop him,” said
Roxy. “Follow me.”
Roxy, Harris, and Zeke ran onto the
stage and over to the judges’ table. The
judges were teachers in the school,
including Mr. Mulvaney.
“Jeremy Jenkins is a cheater!” Roxy
said, pointing just offstage where