Stink: Solar System Superhero (4 page)

“Yeah,” said Skunk. “I don’t get why they voted to take it away.”

“Because Pluto’s puny like a dwarf,” Riley butted in. “Pluto gets its butt kicked by all the other planets. If an asteroid came, Pluto would be all ‘Aah! I’m scared,’ and shrink away.”

“Nah-uh!” said Stink.

“Yah-huh. Ask anybody. I learned it at Space Camp.”

“Space Camp, Space Camp, Space Camp!” said Stink. “People should boycott Space Camp for telling lies about Pluto.”

“Stink! Riley!” Mrs. D. said sharply. “What’s going on back there? You’re supposed to be working on your Science.”

Riley’s hand shot up into the air. “This is Science,” she said. “That’s what we were fighting about.”

Mrs. D. came over to their tables. “What seems to be the problem?”

“Riley says there’s no Pluto,” said Stink, “and I say there is.”

“Riley, what makes you say there’s no Pluto?” asked Mrs. D.

“You said it yourself!” said Riley. “Pluto got its butt kicked out of the solar system. It’s just a number now.”

“Riley, I’d rather you didn’t say ‘butt’ in this class.”

Stink couldn’t keep from smiling when his teacher said
butt.

“But it’s still up there,” Stink said, “even if it is a dwarf
planet
.”

“Actually,” said Mrs. D., “you’re both right.”

“Huh?”

“Scientists argued about it, too. They had to study Pluto for a long time.”

“Then they had a big meeting,” said Riley, “and voted it O-U-T
out
!”

“Yes, they did,” said Mrs. D. “But some scientists still think Pluto should be called a planet.”

“YES!” Stink pumped his arm in the air and high-fived his team.

“Tell you what,” said Mrs. D. “Why don’t we turn it over to our own panel of scientists?”

“You mean we get to be scientists right here in our class?” asked Stink.

“Sure. We can have a discussion, a debate next Friday. Riley, your team can explain why you think Pluto should not be a planet anymore. Stink, your team can argue why Pluto should still be a planet. You have exactly one week to prepare your arguments.”

“Super Galileo!” said Stink.

Riley narrowed her eyes at Stink. “Stink Moody, you are SUCH a . . . a . . . Pluto Head!”

“Thanks,” said Stink, sitting up a little taller.

The following Monday morning, Stink was in a huddle with his friends. “We have to tell everybody about Pluto so they’ll vote to keep it in the solar system.”

“Let’s tell the whole world!” said Sophie.

“The whole galaxy!” said Webster.

“The whole universe!” said Skunk.

Stink’s team made up a secret handshake. They each held out a fist and piled one on top of the other.

“P-L-U-T-O!” they shouted, then waved their hands high in the air and yelled, “PLUTO POWER!”

“Look out. Here comes Riley and her friends,” said Skunk.

“Logan, Morgan, and Heather aren’t her friends,” said Stink. “They’re just on her team because she let them touch her space rock.”

“Space rock?” said Riley. “It’s a hunk of meteor. From Mars!”

“La-di-da,” said Skunk.

“What’s your team’s name?” asked Riley. “The Stink Bombs?”

“What’s yours — the Jupiter Jerks?” asked Stink.

“It’s WAY more official if you have a name. We’re Team Kick-Pluto’s-Butt. Team KPB for short.”

“No way will Mrs. D. let you use
butt
in your team name,” said Stink. “This is a school thing.”

“Okay, then we’ll be Team Kick-Pluto’s-
Behind
. That’s still KPB.”

“Whatever,” said Sophie.

“Stink, you just like Pluto because it’s the smallest and you’re the shortest.” Riley said. “You’re always for the underdog, but everybody knows that Jupiter is the best. We even have team shirts!” she said.

Just then, Riley’s team lined up beside her, all wearing the same shirts. The shirts did not say
SPACE CAMP RULES.
The shirts did not say
TEAM KPB
. The shirts did not even have words. Each shirt had a number: 134340. The number for Pluto, now that it wasn’t a planet!

Stink looked down at his shirt.
I’M KIND OF A BIG DEAL
. He took the top off of a marker and changed it to
PLUTO IS KIND OF A BIG DEAL
.

“Look! Up in the sky, Stink.” Riley pointed. “It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a frog. No, wait. It’s a puny ex-planet getting kicked out of the solar system!” Team KPB cracked up. “You should be Team Underdog.” Riley Rottenberger sure was rotten. And getting rottener by the minute.

After school, Stink and his team met in the Toad Pee Club clubhouse, aka the backyard tent. “We need an official name,” said Stink.

“How about the Stinkazoids?” said Skunk.

“The Plutonics?” asked Webster.

“The Extra-Extra-Galactic Einsteins?” asked Sophie.

“Maybe Rotten Riley was right for once,” said Stink. “We could be the Underdogs. You know, small like Pluto, but we come from behind to beat the pants off the Jupiter Jerks.”

“And you could be Captain Pluto, our leader,” said Sophie of the Elves.

“Captain Pluto and the Underdogs,” said Stink. “I like it!” Everybody agreed. Captain Pluto and the Underdogs made T-shirts for their team. They each drew a flying planet wearing a Superman cape with a capital letter
P
.

“Let’s make signs, too,” said Skunk.

“‘Cuckoo for Pluto’” said Webster, waving his marker in the air.

“We can march around school and wave our Pluto signs.”

“We can have a Pluto parade on the playground,” said Stink.

For a long time, all that could be heard in the tent was the squeaking of markers.

At last, the signs were finished. The Underdogs went home. Stink ate supper and thought about Pluto. He took a bath and thought about Pluto. He did his not-science homework and thought about Pluto. Stink Moody, aka Captain Pluto, had Pluto on the brain!

Stink went to bed and couldn’t sleep a wink. He sneaked outside to the tent. He shone his flashlight on the signs lined up in a quiet parade. Next thing he knew, a bright light was shining back at him, right smack in his eyes. “Hey!” called Stink, shielding his eyes.

“Stink Moody,” said a deep voice, “this is the Pluto police. Come out with your hands up.”

But it was not the Pluto police. It was just Judy.

“You scared me half to death,” said Stink. “What are
you
doing out here in the middle of the night?”