1
TRACIWAYNEANDI sat across from each other at my kitchen table. Her math homework was spread out in front of me.
“Would you like me to show you how to do this equation?” I asked.
She glanced up from her
Teen People
magazine. “Max, couldn't you just
do
it for me? I have to catch up on my reading.”
“Uh … yeah, sure,” I muttered.
Yawning, I lowered my head to the page and started to scribble numbers and letters. My eyes were watering. I tried to blink them dry. I yawned again.
“Don't yawn so loud,” Traci said. “How do you expect me to read?”
My eyelids drooped. They each weighed about a hundred pounds. I had to lift them up with my fingers.
I messed up the equation. I started to erase.
This doesn't sound normal, does it? This doesn't sound like Max Doyle, boy genius, the kid everyone in class calls Brainimon.
Well, it wasn't a normal afternoon. I wasn't feeling like myself at all. And I can tell you why—I hadn't slept in more than forty-eight hours.
Don't ever try staying awake for two whole days and nights. Your eyeballs burn. Your head feels like a granite boulder. And it feels as if your tongue is growing fur!
Normally, I'd be so excited to have Traci Wayne in my house, I'd do cartwheels or something. I admit it. I have a huge crush on Traci.
Whenever I see her, my heart starts to pound a hip-hop rhythm, my mouth goes as dry as talcum powder, and my knees knock together like bongos.
Traci once put her hand on my shoulder, and it gave me hiccups for three weeks.
That's true love, right?
Traci usually ignores me. It's because we're in different groups at school. She's in the way cool group. And I'm in the bottom feeders group.
My friend Aaron and I are the only ones in our group. And we're not quite sure how we got there. But we know there's no way out.
So when Traci comes over to my house, it's abig-deal thing. Even if all she wants is for me to do her math homework while she reads
Teen People
.
But tonight, yawn, yawn.
All I wanted was to put my head down and go to sleep.
But I couldn't. I had to stay awake—maybe
forever
.
I'm not joking. See, I'm a normal sixth grader. But I have a problem. I have two ghosts living in my house.
Nicky and Tara Roland are about my age. They used to live here before my family moved in. Now they're back, and they don't know how they became ghosts.
They pop in and out all the time. And they're
my
problem—because I'm the only one who can see or hear them.
Lucky me, right?
Nicky and Tara are the reason I may never sleep again.
Yawn. If only I could stop yawning. And keep my eyelids from drooping … drooping.
“Max! What are you
doing?”
Traci's cry brought me back to life.
I blinked at her. “Huh?”
She pointed at my equations. “You're writing on the table, not on the paper!”
Blinking hard, I glanced down. She was right. I'd scribbled all over the kitchen table.
“Uh … just making some notes,” I said. “I didn't want to mess up your notebook paper.”
“Could you hurry up and finish?” Traci asked. “I'm getting kinda bored.”
“No problem,” I said. I turned back to the equation. But after a few seconds, my eyelids felt heavy … heavy. … I couldn't keep them open. I felt myself drifting … drifting into sleep.
“Whoa!”
I let out a cry as cold water splashed over my head.
I looked up to see Tara tipping a bottle of water over me. “No sleeping, Max,” she said. “You know you have to stay awake.”
Of course, Traci couldn't hear or see Tara. All Traci could see was the water bottle floating over my head.
“Max!” she gasped. “That water—”
I reached up and pulled the bottle down to the table. “Did you miss science class last week?” I asked. “We learned that water
floats.”
I know. It didn't make sense. But I was too sleepy to think of a better excuse.
I went back to work on the equations. But I was yawning so loudly, I couldn't hear myself think.
How did this happen to me?
Why have I
TRACIWAYNEANDI sat across from each other at my kitchen table. Her math homework was spread out in front of me.
“Would you like me to show you how to do this equation?” I asked.
She glanced up from her
Teen People
magazine. “Max, couldn't you just
do
it for me? I have to catch up on my reading.”
“Uh … yeah, sure,” I muttered.
Yawning, I lowered my head to the page and started to scribble numbers and letters. My eyes were watering. I tried to blink them dry. I yawned again.
“Don't yawn so loud,” Traci said. “How do you expect me to read?”
My eyelids drooped. They each weighed about a hundred pounds. I had to lift them up with my fingers.
I messed up the equation. I started to erase.
This doesn't sound normal, does it? This doesn't sound like Max Doyle, boy genius, the kid everyone in class calls Brainimon.
Well, it wasn't a normal afternoon. I wasn't feeling like myself at all. And I can tell you why—I hadn't slept in more than forty-eight hours.
Don't ever try staying awake for two whole days and nights. Your eyeballs burn. Your head feels like a granite boulder. And it feels as if your tongue is growing fur!
Normally, I'd be so excited to have Traci Wayne in my house, I'd do cartwheels or something. I admit it. I have a huge crush on Traci.
Whenever I see her, my heart starts to pound a hip-hop rhythm, my mouth goes as dry as talcum powder, and my knees knock together like bongos.
Traci once put her hand on my shoulder, and it gave me hiccups for three weeks.
That's true love, right?
Traci usually ignores me. It's because we're in different groups at school. She's in the way cool group. And I'm in the bottom feeders group.
My friend Aaron and I are the only ones in our group. And we're not quite sure how we got there. But we know there's no way out.
So when Traci comes over to my house, it's abig-deal thing. Even if all she wants is for me to do her math homework while she reads
Teen People
.
But tonight, yawn, yawn.
All I wanted was to put my head down and go to sleep.
But I couldn't. I had to stay awake—maybe
forever
.
I'm not joking. See, I'm a normal sixth grader. But I have a problem. I have two ghosts living in my house.
Nicky and Tara Roland are about my age. They used to live here before my family moved in. Now they're back, and they don't know how they became ghosts.
They pop in and out all the time. And they're
my
problem—because I'm the only one who can see or hear them.
Lucky me, right?
Nicky and Tara are the reason I may never sleep again.
Yawn. If only I could stop yawning. And keep my eyelids from drooping … drooping.
“Max! What are you
doing?”
Traci's cry brought me back to life.
I blinked at her. “Huh?”
She pointed at my equations. “You're writing on the table, not on the paper!”
Blinking hard, I glanced down. She was right. I'd scribbled all over the kitchen table.
“Uh … just making some notes,” I said. “I didn't want to mess up your notebook paper.”
“Could you hurry up and finish?” Traci asked. “I'm getting kinda bored.”
“No problem,” I said. I turned back to the equation. But after a few seconds, my eyelids felt heavy … heavy. … I couldn't keep them open. I felt myself drifting … drifting into sleep.
“Whoa!”
I let out a cry as cold water splashed over my head.
I looked up to see Tara tipping a bottle of water over me. “No sleeping, Max,” she said. “You know you have to stay awake.”
Of course, Traci couldn't hear or see Tara. All Traci could see was the water bottle floating over my head.
“Max!” she gasped. “That water—”
I reached up and pulled the bottle down to the table. “Did you miss science class last week?” I asked. “We learned that water
floats.”
I know. It didn't make sense. But I was too sleepy to think of a better excuse.
I went back to work on the equations. But I was yawning so loudly, I couldn't hear myself think.
How did this happen to me?
Why have I
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