Mean Ghouls by Stacia Deutsch

forehead. “I already have to explain to my parents how I got this gash. My dad warned me that head wounds don’t heal. He’s not going to be happy.”
    â€œIf you’d been paying attention, the cabinet wouldn’t have fallen,” Brenda spat.
    â€œBetsy knocked it over,” Brooke retorted.
    â€œIf you’d let me turn on a light, I’d have been able to see,” Betsy said. “You know it’s hard to see clearly without pupils!”
    â€œWear your glasses!” Brenda replied.
    â€œThey’ve been broken for a month,” Betsy said. “You stepped on them in your high heels!”
    â€œYou left them on the floor,” Brenda said.
    â€œYou knocked them off my face when your arms popped straight out,” Betsy argued. “I’m waiting for a new pair. They have to be made special.”
    If Megan could have laughed without making a sound, she would have. The girls were acting like clowns. They couldn’t stop bickering and nagging one another. And although Brenda thought she was in charge, it was obvious that Brooke and Betsy were getting tired of following her orders.
    â€œStop this nonsense,” Brenda said sternly. “There isn’t much time. We have to be ready on Visitors’ Day.”
    â€œThat gives us twelve whole days,” Brooke said after counting on her fingers. “No problem.” She touched her head. The cut was small, but deep, and a sliver of her brain was slowly oozing out. Brooke used a tissue to push it back inside her skull. Betsy gave her disgusted look and handed her a tube of hand sanitizer.
    Cupping her ear and tilting her head toward the woods, Brenda listened hard. “I guess there’s nothing out there. Let’s go back to the castle. We’ll finalize our plans at midnight on Friday at the meeting spot.”
    â€œI’ll make sure Yeverman is there,” Brooke said.
    Betsy had a moment of zombitus memory loss. “Remind me, where’s the meeting place again?”
    â€œThe tower,” Brenda replied, pointing back toward the school. Then she turned to Brooke and asked, “Did you get what we need?”
    Brooke held up a brown cloth sack. “I have them.”
    Megan could hear glass clinking in the bag as Brooke gave it a little shake.
    â€œCareful with those,” Betsy warned. “We’re going to use them all!”
    â€œThis will be the best Visitors’ Day ever,” Brenda cheered. “Afterward, no one will care that the cure was stolen.” The Bs high-fived one another, then rushed off toward the Zombie Academy castle.
    The instant they were gone, Megan took out her ZA notebook. She wrote down everything she wanted to remember.
SUSPECTS
CLUES
Brooke
Visitors’ Day
Brenda
Tower
Betsy
Glass in a bag
    Â 
    Bs meeting Friday night!!!
    Â 
    At the bottom of the page Megan wrote one last thing:
    Happy Yeverman — how is she involved???
    Megan didn’t understand why Happy would be meeting the Bs on Friday at midnight. What were the Bs up to? And what did all of this have to do with the missing zombitus cure?
    She looked at the page in her notebook and felt like that detective. The girl who solved crimes. The one in the books. In the movie. The girl with the boyfriend … Fred? Red? Ned. Yes. Ned.
    What was her name? Thinking about it was giving Megan a headache.
    On the way around the research center, the answer finally came to her.
    Megan felt like Nancy Drew.

Thanks to the Bs, Megan knew when Visitors’ Day was, so she didn’t have to go see Mr. Jones. It was twelve days away. That meant Megan should invite her parents for the following Sunday!
    Megan hurried back to the dorms to call her family.
    Her dragging leg slowed her down and tired her out. By the time Megan reached her room, she was exhausted. Flopping back on her lumpy bed, Megan took a few breaths before dialing home.
    Zach answered.
    â€œHey, dork,” Megan