I So Don't Do Spooky by Barrie Summy Page A

my division—and that’s a big if—I win five minutes of Real Time.”
    â€œReal Time?” I say.
    â€œIt’s exactly what it sounds like.” Mom’s branch is bouncing up and down like she’s jumping with excitement. “Five minutes of regular time with a human. There are minor restrictions, such as the human doesn’t remember the time. Although he does carry away the feeling of the time. Sort of an emotional tying up of loose ends. But five whole real minutes!” Her branch bounces again.
    Excitement zings through me like I’m those Christmas lights that blink. “Go right this minute and find some animals and bend their thoughts like pretzels.” Arm extended, I point my finger out toward the yard. “Go! Go! Go! Five minutes where I could see you and talk with you like normal? Überfantastic!”
    Grandpa shakes his balding head.
    â€œFirst-time Ghostlympians never win,” Mom says.
    â€œStop with the head shaking, Grandpa. Mom can’t win if she doesn’t try. We have to go for it!”
    Grandpa slowly nods.
    I stare at where my mother’s probably sitting. “Mom! Go directly to the zoo.” I’m wagging my finger so hard, it’s a blur. “Fly to the zoo! Practice on every single living animal there: bears, rhinos, squirrels, the gross two-headed snake.”
    Grandpa waves his raggedy wings. “Go, go, go!”
    â€œI will. I’ll give it my best shot.” She’d probably be high-fiving me if she could. “But”—Mom sucks in a deep breath—“let’s finish up here.” The branch quits dipping all over the place and goes still. “I went to your school’s staff meeting yesterday afternoon. One item of interest. Did you know Paula is failing Kyle Rogers? His dad is president of the school district’s board.”
    â€œUh, no. I wouldn’t normally know junk like that. All I know is Kyle’s an eighth-grade basketball star who, according to Josh, has major attitude.”
    â€œApparently his dad’s pretty upset about the F and is leaning hard on your principal, who’s leaning hard on Paula to pass him. She won’t budge. So there may be something there.”
    â€œJunie and I could eat lunch near Kyle and eavesdrop. Could you and Grandpa check out the dad?”
    Grandpa’s got his beady dark eyes trained right on me. At my questions, he bobs his head.
    Mom goes on. “In a nutshell, the staff at Saguaro likes Paula. They even tried the hummus and pitabread she brought to the meeting. And no one, except your principal, wants her to give a freebie passing grade to Kyle.”
    â€œWould our principal do anything to The Ruler?” I ask.
    â€œLike stalking? I don’t think so. Paula applied for math department head at your school. Perhaps he won’t give her a strong recommendation. There’s a district meeting on Monday to discuss the candidates. I’ll go to that,” Mom says. “You know what the staff at Saguaro’s really happy about? The robotics club. I gather Paula put Saguaro on the robotics map last year.”
    â€œIt’s true.” And I tell them about my Donner robotics-meeting experience. I finish up with, “Those kids are way scary-weird about robotics and they’re seriously annoyed with The Ruler. And they have two secret plans, A and B.”
    Still staring at me, Grandpa says, “Rats blinking, Sherry.”
    â€œYes, fast thinking of you to join their club, Sherry,” Mom adds. “Keep a hand in there, and we’ll see what you come up with.”
    â€œAnd then there were these mysterious flowers that came with a happy anniversary card,” I say. “First I thought they were for me. From Josh. Then I thought they were for The Ruler from Dad. But negative and negative.”
    â€œA stalker who sends flowers and slashes tires?” There’s a long silence where I