Body Switchers from Outer Space by R.L. Stine Page A

yourself? You ever want to be somebody else?”
    I stared at him. “Are you kidding?” I wondered if Chad could read my mind.
    I hate being me.
    My feet always trip me.
    I can’t throw.
    I can’t catch.
    I can’t kick.
    I continued staring at Chad. I remembered watching him in gym class. Boy, could he tear up thebasketball court. He could hit home runs. He could pitch.
    Everybody wanted to talk to him, but they wouldn’t unless he talked to them first.
    He was the definition of cool at Shadyside Middle School.
    If I could pick anyone else to be, Chad would be number one on the list!
    â€œNo, I’m not kidding,” Chad said. “Don’t you wish you could be somebody else?”
    I looked down at the chocolate pudding stains on my spaghetti shirt.
    I didn’t even have to imagine what my little sister Pepper would say when I got home. I’d heard it all before.
    â€œI’d give anything to be someone else!” I finally answered.
    Chad lowered his voice. “Listen,” he said. “My dad’s a scientist. He has a machine that can switch people’s bodies.” He glanced around the cafeteria again. Then his eyes locked onto mine.
    â€œLet’s do it!” he urged. “Let’s switch bodies!”

2

    â€œH uh?” I said. I must have heard wrong. He couldn’t have said what I thought he said.
    â€œJust for an hour,” Chad continued.
    â€œWhat are you talking about?”
    â€œSwitching bodies,” he repeated.
    â€œYou’re making this up!” I may be clumsy and uncool, but I’m not stupid. Chad had to be joking.
    â€œNo. It’s true,” he insisted. “I saw my dad do it. He put a dog in one change chamber and a cat in the other. When they came out, the cat barked, and the dog climbed trees. It really works! I’ve wanted to try it out for a long time. But everyone I ask is too scared. You’re not scared—are you, Will?”
    No way! I wasn’t scared because this whole thingabsolutely could not be true. It was unbelievable! And I wasn’t buying it.
    â€œMy dad’s done it with people before. I know he has,” Chad went on. His eyes sparkled, as if he were really excited. “I looked at his lab book where he wrote down the experiments. I know how to work the machine, Will. We could do it, just for an hour.”
    I stared at him. He seemed pretty serious.
    This story sounded so wild it had to be a joke.
    But boy, was I wishing it could be true!
    Sometimes it seemed as if I had spent the last two years doing stupid, klutzy things. Like falling into my spaghetti. But that part didn’t really bother me anymore. What really steamed me was when other people laughed at me. And when they called me things like Will the Spill.
    I have my own private revenge, though. I draw cartoons. See, my dad writes stories for that cartoon show, Judo-Jabbing Adolescent Mutated Coyotes. I began drawing pictures of the coyotes when I was three. I started drawing pictures of everything else pretty soon after that.
    In the back of my notebook I have mean, funny pictures of everybody who has ever picked on me. I have pages and pages. There were always new people to draw.
    Of course, nobody knows I’m fighting back, because I almost never show my cartoons to anyone. But someday I’m going to photocopy all my picturesand put them on bulletin boards all over school. Then we’ll see who’s laughing.
    Well, I dream about doing that, anyway.
    Almost as often as I dream about being someone like Chad.
    Chad’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “Come on, Will.” He wasn’t giving up. “What have you got to lose? One hour. We’ll switch bodies for just one little hour. You said you’d do anything to be someone else.”
    â€œBut—” Oh, man! If only!
    â€œIt really works. Honest it does. It’s safe, too. The cat and dog switched back and went right