Megan Stine_Jeffery & the Third-Grade Ghost 01 by Mysterious Max Page B

desk—Jeffrey knew it. He wanted to stop her, but he didn’t know how.
    When Mrs. Merrin pulled open the desk lid, Jeffrey held his breath. Finally, he looked down. His books were there. His notebooks were there. His squirt gun was there. But the hand was gone!
    Mrs. Merrin kept the squirt gun and picked up the list Jeffrey had been writing.
    25 R EASONS N OT TO L IE
by Jeffrey Becker
         1. It gets you into trouble with your teacher.
         2. It sets a bad example for pets.
         3. In certain people, it makes your nose grow.
         4. TV commercials do it better.
    5–15. These reasons are too embarrassing to be talked about in public.
    16–25. These reasons are rated R and I’m too young to know about them.
    “A true masterpiece,” Mrs. Merrin said. But she was laughing when she said it. She walked back to her desk and started washing the blackboard with Jeffrey’s squirt gun. “I’m going to think about you a lot tonight, Jeffrey,” she said. “And tomorrow things are going to be different in this class.”
    “Things are different right now,” Jeffrey said, taking a quick peek in his desk. But the hand was still gone.
    When detention was over, Jeffrey left the school building. Melissa and Ben were still waiting outside for him.
    “Listen,” Melissa said. “Who knows what extremely important event is coming up in four weeks?”
    Jeffrey was only half listening. His mind was still on the hand in his desk. But Ben immediately began to guess.
    “The World Series?” Ben said. “Your brother, Gary, takes his once-a-month bath?”
    Melissa shook her head so much she looked like a windshield wiper. “No, Ben. I’ll give you a hint. Someone terrific is having a birthday.”
    “My birthday isn’t until January,” Ben said.
    “Not
you!”
Melissa said. “Me! And I’m officially inviting you and Jeffrey to my party.”
    “Does this mean your brother
isn’t
going to take a bath?” Ben teased.
    “Leave Gary out of this,” Melissa said. “I certainly plan to. Now here’s the deal. I’m going to have a rock-’n’-roll party in my backyard. But I need some help setting everything up. Would you give me a hand, Jeffrey?”
    Suddenly, Jeffrey was paying attention. “A
hand
?” he gasped.
    “You don’t have to help if you don’t want to,” Melissa said. She sounded a little hurt.
    “Uh, sure I’ll help, Melissa,” Jeffrey said. “But that’s four weeks away!”
    “I like to be organized,” Melissa said.
    By this time they were standing in front of Jeffrey’s house. Ben sat down on the curb. It was almost dinnertime. But Ben would do anything to avoid going home after school. That’s when he was supposed to take out his family’s trash.
    “How about some football?” Ben asked.
    “Can’t,” Melissa said. “My mom and dad are going out tonight. I’ve got to get home so I can talk to the baby-sitter before Gary does.”
    “Why?” Jeffrey asked.
    “Because the last time my parents went out, it was awful. Gary told the baby-sitter I was beingpunished. The big creep convinced her I wasn’t allowed to have anything to eat the whole night—or to watch TV!”
    “Well, we all know what’s waiting for me at home: the trash.” Ben groaned. “The kitchen trash and the bathroom trash and the bedroom trash. And I’ve got to take it all out. You know, someday I’m going to invent an animal that will eat all the trash in the house—or maybe you could just send your brother over, Melissa.”
    “I heard that,” shouted Gary McKane. Melissa’s brother had been spying on them from behind a tree. He ran out and grabbed Ben’s book bag off his shoulder. “Got anything in here I need?” Gary asked, unzipping the bag. As usual, Gary was picking on Melissa’s friends.
    “Hey! Give that back,” Ben said. “Just because you’re in the fifth grade doesn’t mean you’re
required
to be obnoxious.”
    Gary snarled. Gary always snarled when Ben used a word he didn’t