Anyone But Me (5 page)

Yikes!
Katie’s safe cave was actually someone’s sneaker. And whoever the sneaker belonged to was about to crush her with his big, smelly foot!

Katie had to escape from her sneaker cave. She ran toward the opening, and leaped out onto the floor.

“AAAAHHHH!” George screamed as he dropped his sneaker. “There’s a mouse in my shoe!” He leaped up on a bench. “Get it out of here!”

“That’s no mouse,” Ricky yelled. “That’s Speedy!”

“We’ve got to get him,” Manny Gonzalez shouted.

But Katie wasn’t about to be caught in the boys’ locker room. She ran for the door.

The boys’ screams were way in the distance by the time Katie felt safe enough to stop running. She hid behind a trash can and stood very, very still. She was trying to hear if anyone was coming after her. Luckily, the hallway was silent.

Suddenly a wind began to blow. Katie lifted her little hamster nose and tried to sniff at the breeze. She didn’t smell anything unusual—just the ammonia that the janitor, Mr. Peterson, used to clean the floor. She couldn’t smell any flowers, trees, or even car fumes coming from outside the school. In fact, there didn’t seem to be a window open anywhere.

Still, the wind was definitely blowing. Katie could feel it whipping through her thick, orange fur. It swirled all around her like a tornado ... exactly as it had just before Katie had turned into a hamster!

Oh no!
Katie thought.
What’s happening to me now?

Finally, the magical wind stopped blowing. But Katie was afraid to open her eyes. She’d already been turned into a hamster. What if this time she were something even worse—like an ant or something?

Slowly, Katie cracked open one eye. She raised her hands to her face. No fur. Good. And she had fingers—five of them on each hand. She looked at her nails. They were filed short. A few of them still showed a few chips of leftover glow-in-the-dark glitter nail polish. These were definitely her hands.

Was it possible? Had she turned back into herself?

Quickly, Katie ran into the girls’ room and looked in the mirror. An eight-year-old girl with red hair, green eyes, and a line of freckles across her nose looked back at her. It was true! Katie was back!

Out of the corner of her eye, Katie saw a small orange ball of fluff rush past her into one of the bathroom stalls. Speedy! The real Speedy was really on the loose. Quickly she ran into the stall. She found Speedy hiding behind the toilet. He seemed frightened and confused.

Katie scooped the hamster up and held him in her hands. “It’s okay, little guy,” she told him quietly. “Everything’s back to normal now.”

As Katie walked back to the gym, the voices of her friends became louder. They were all complaining because Coach G. and Mrs. Derkman wouldn’t let them chase after Speedy. Katie grinned as she opened the gym door. She would be a hero for bringing the hamster back.

“Were you guys looking for this?” she asked as she walked in the door.

“Katie, where’d you find him?” Suzanne shouted from the other side of the room.

“Oh, we just sort of ran into each other in the girls’ room,” Katie replied.

“Boy, it was a good thing you were late today,” Kevin told her. “Otherwise Speedy might have been gone forever.”

“It’s never a good thing to be late for school, Kevin,” Mrs. Derkman reminded him. “But I am glad you found the hamster, Katie. Now, please take him back to the classroom and put him in his cage. And make sure the lid is on tightly.”

Katie did as she was told. She pet Speedy gently as she placed him down on his cage floor. Then she handed him a treat bar.

“You deserve this,” she whispered quietly. “We worked really hard this morning.”

Speedy slept for the rest of the morning. Katie spent the time trying to keep her mind on her lessons. But it was hard for her to think about anything other than her adventure. After all, how often does an eight-year-old girl turn into a hamster?

Katie wished she could tell Jeremy and Suzanne all about what had happened to her. But she knew they would never believe her. She wouldn’t believe it either if it hadn’t happened to her.

This was one secret Katie would have to keep to herself.

 

“Boy, did you pick the wrong morning to be late,” Jeremy told Katie as they walked out onto the playground after lunch. “It was so weird. Speedy was out of his mind. I’d never seen him like that!”

“I’d never seen George like that either,” Suzanne giggled. “I can’t believe you missed it, Katie. He was terrified of a little hamster. What a wimp!”

“I can’t believe we were ever scared of George,” Miriam agreed.

“I was never afraid of him,” Kevin argued.

Jeremy rolled his eyes. “So how come you walk three blocks out of your way to get to school—just so you don’t have to pass his house on the way?”

Kevin blushed.

The kids looked over at George. He was sitting on a bench all by himself. He didn’t look mean anymore. He just looked lonely.

“Hey, George!” Manny Gonzalez called out. “Why did the hamster cross the road?”

George didn’t answer. He obviously didn’t want to talk about hamsters.

“Because it was the chicken’s day off!” Manny finished off his own joke. Then he waited for George to say something mean to him.

But George didn’t say anything. He just scowled and turned away. For the first time, the other kids were doing the teasing. George didn’t like that at all.

“Well, I guess we don’t have to be afraid of George anymore,” Jeremy said to the others.

Suzanne nodded. “We have Speedy to thank for that.”

Katie smiled to herself. She knew that class 3A actually had her to thank for stopping George’s bullying. She was a real hero.

Katie was in a great mood when she got home that afternoon. Pepper met her at the steps. Katie bent down and gave her cocker spaniel a huge hug.

Pepper licked her on the nose.

“Well, I’m glad to see you’re happy again,” Katie’s mother said as she came out of the house with two glasses of pink lemonade. “You just weren’t yourself this morning.”

Katie laughed. Her mother didn’t know the half of it.

“So, did anything exciting happen at school today?” her mother asked.

Katie almost choked on her lemonade. It was only the most exciting—and scary—day of her whole life! But Katie couldn’t tell her mother that. Instead she said, “Our hamster got loose, and I caught him!”

“Good for you!” her mother said. Then she shuddered. “I can’t imagine having a hamster running loose around a classroom. I don’t really like little rodents like that.”

“Oh, you’d like Speedy, Mom. I know you would.” Katie finished off her drink.

“So, what do you want to do this afternoon?” Katie’s mom asked as she sipped slowly at her drink. “You want to come inside and have some cookies before you start your homework?”

Katie shook her head. “We don’t have a whole lot of homework today. Just a current events worksheet. So can Pepper and I go for a walk?”