Dudes, the School Is Haunted! by R. L. Stine

 
 
1
     
     
    An invisible hand grabbed me and pulled me off the ladder.
    I landed on my back on the gym floor with an “Oooof!” My head made a
loud THUD as it banged the floorboards.
    I raised myself slowly, blinking hard, trying to shake off the shock. Then I
pulled myself up on my elbows and saw Ben Jackson laughing.
    Thalia Halpert-Rodis dropped her lipstick into her bag and came running over
to me. “Tommy—are you okay?” she demanded.
    “Yeah. Fine,” I muttered. “I was just testing the floor. You know. Seeing how
hard it is.”
    “It isn’t as hard as your head!” Ben joked. “You’re going to have to pay for
breaking the gym floor!” He laughed again.
    “Ha-ha.” Thalia rolled her eyes, then made a disgusted face at him. She
turned to me. “Don’t encourage him, Tommy. He’s about as funny as a dead
pigeon.”
    “I think dead pigeons are funny!” Ben insisted.
    Thalia rolled her eyes again. Then she grabbed my hand and tugged me to my
feet.
    I felt so embarrassed. I wanted to go hide under the bleachers.
    Why am I always such a total klutz?
    No invisible hand pulled me off the ladder. I just fell. That’s what I
usually do if I find myself on a ladder. I fall off.
    Some people are climbers. I’m a faller.
    But I really didn’t want to look like a geek in front of Thalia and Ben.
After all, I just met them. And I really wanted to impress them.
    That’s why I signed up for the Dance Decorations Committee. I wanted to meet
kids. It’s hard to make new friends when you start a new school in sixth grade.
    Maybe I’d better start at the beginning.
    My name is Tommy Frazer and I’m twelve. Just before school started this fall,
my dad got married again. And right after the wedding, we moved to Bell Valley.
    We had to move so fast, I barely had a chance to say good-bye to my friends.
And before I could catch my breath, here I was—the new kid at Bell Valley
Middle School.
    I didn’t know anyone here. I hardly even knew my new mom!
    Can you imagine what it’s like to suddenly have a new school, a new house,
and a new mom?
    The first couple of days at Bell Valley Middle School were hard. Kids weren’t
unfriendly. But they already knew who their friends were.
    I’m not shy. But it was really impossible to just go up to someone and say,
“Hi. Want to be my friend?”
    I was pretty lonely the first week or so. Then last Monday morning, Mrs.
Borden, the principal, came into our room. She asked if anyone wanted to
volunteer for the Dance Decorations Committee. She needed kids to decorate the
gym.
    My hand was the first to shoot up. I knew it would be a great way to make new
friends.
    So here I was after school in the gym two days later. Making new friends by
falling on my head like a geek.
    “Do you think you should see the nurse?” Thalia asked, studying me.
    “No. My eyes always roll around like this,” I replied weakly. At least I
still had my sense of humor.
    “The nurse left, anyway,” Ben said, checking his watch. “It’s late. We’re
probably the only ones in the building.”
    Thalia shook out her blond hair. “Let’s get back to work,” she suggested.
    She opened her bag and pulled out her lipstick. I watched her apply a thick
coat of red to her lips, even though they were already red. Then she brushed
some kind of orangey powder on her cheeks.
    Ben shook his head but didn’t say anything.
    Yesterday, I heard other kids teasing Thalia about her makeup and lipstick.
They said she was the only girl in sixth grade who uses that stuff every day.
    They were pretty mean to her. One girl said, “Thalia thinks she’s painting a
masterpiece.”
    Another girl said, “Thalia couldn’t go to gym class because she had to wait
for her face to dry.”
    A boy said, “Her face must be broken. That’s why she’s always fixing it!”
    Everyone laughed really hard.
    Thalia didn’t seem to mind all the jokes and teasing. I guess she’s used to
it.
    Before school this